I decided a long time ago that prayer – coming into the presence of God daily – was going to be the top priority in my life. I made this decision long before I knew I was called to pastor a church. I just knew that no matter where I was and what I was called to do, abiding in the presence of God through prayer had a non-negotiable component of my life on this earth. Some people may think that because I pastor a church, prayer comes easily and naturally to me. I am glad to say that over the years this spiritual discipline has become much easier and more fulfilling than ever. It has become more of a “want to” and less of a “have to” in my life. But like every other type of commitment, the spiritual discipline of prayer started out as just that — a discipline.

As time has passed, this commitment to staying in the presence of God has been my strongest anchor during times of stress and pressure. It has also been the aspect of my life most challenged by the enemy on a continual basis. Just like everybody else, when I fall under pressure I am tempted to take matters into my own hands rather than wait on God and glean wisdom and peace from abiding in Him until He releases me to act. It’s not just about coming into God’s presence at the beginning of the day, but it’s about staying in God’s presence throughout the day. It’s about staying in the presence of God under pressure.

As leaders, we are under pressure often…

…the pressure to decide…NOW please!

….the pressure to raise money

…the pressure to say “yes” to so many things (good things but not necessarily the healthy or right thing for you)

…the pressure to live up to expectations, or risk disappointing people you care about

…the pressure to have a perfect marriage and perfect kids

…the pressure to give in when your leadership is challenged

…the pressure to buckle when your personal boundaries are challenged, and let’s not forget…

…the pressure to come up with a new, exciting, culturally relevant, theologically sound, methodologically appropriate message about the same book for the same audience every weekend!

Wow! Sometimes just the pressure of that last one is enough to make me think, “I better skip prayer and just work on this one thing today.” But the funny thing is, everything in my life is made lighter, easier, and more efficient by prioritizing prayer and the presence of God.  When pressure begins to cave in on you and you feel tempted to carry the burden of ministry in your own strength, remember to stay in the presence of God.

In this blog post, I’m sharing a recent message pastors can use to cast vision or to launch small groups in your own church. You can also check out this month’s podcast session about how we set up the structure for the biggest growth in small groups at Celebration Church.

What about you? How has your church patterned itself for starting and sustaining thriving group life?

When I plan out my sermon series each quarter, I pray and then seek the perspective of the staff before implementing them during our weekend services. However, even though the topic usually doesn’t change as the series launch date draws closer, I often find that there is something beyond the surface content of the message that God wants to accomplish in our church. It’s that deeper spiritual work that I try to elevate and push forward as I teach any particular series to our church.

For example, last year we did a series on family which took place just after Easter weekend — a typical time to focus on such a topic. Now, I don’t know about you, but after 13-plus years of teaching on family, I sometimes feel that the topic can become a little worn out. It can be difficult to find fresh ways to communicate the timeless truths of Scripture that surround this topic. That’s when the “now word” came into play.

I distinctly felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit telling me that what our church really needed was encouragement — they were doing better than they thought they were in this area. Although the title of the series was Fam vs. Wild (overcoming obstacles to family health), the constant theme that the Holy Spirit kept weaving through this series was the theme of encouragement. It was like a divine whisper in every message saying, You can do this. Don’t give up. You’re doing better than you think you are.

The “now word” is like the spiritual subtext of your message. It goes beyond what you are teaching to elevating what God wants to deposit into your church through the message, and knowing what layers of growth God wants to add to the church. The “now word” answers these questions:

• What does God want to add to our church?
• What areas do we need to be challenged in?
• Where does God want to take us a local expression of His church?
• What will keep us on track, passionately serving God without waning in zeal?

As speakers we put a lot of effort into planning our services and the messages series for the year, but let’s not forget that each weekend is an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to do something catalytic in our congregations. You can – and should – plan and prepare the message, but don’t forget to seek God for the “now word” within it.

Week 1:  I will kick it off on a Sunday and cast vision and preach a message around prayer, fasting and spending time in God’s word. This week, we make it our goal to get as many people as possible to commit to daily devotions and begin the fast. Keep it simple to get them involved and just start the journey. You can find out more about how our church approaches daily devotions here. We also keep this week simple by not cluttering it up with meetings (even prayer meetings) or church activity. The first week of fasting can be difficult and many people experience some discomfort and fatigue at first because their body is detoxing and adjusting. But by the end of week one, people have adjusted and are enjoying it.  So now we are ready to build upon week one in week two.  Remember in the first week, we simply want people to get on the bus – to get disciplined and focused on God. Commit to daily devotions (a daily personal time in prayer and God’s word) and begin to fast.

Week 2: This week is the big prayer week. In week two, we build on the momentum of week one by incorporating additional prayer meetings. Upon the foundation of devotion to the word and personal prayer we laid in the first week, we hope to add the layer of more corporate, intentional, fervent prayer. We do this by opening the church at various times throughout the week for corporate prayer and prayer with our staff. We add prayer meetings in our men’s and women’s streams as well as small groups.  We also add extended prayer and worship in some of our services.  The entire church is in prayer mode this week. In my experience, learning how to pray intently is better caught than taught. There is something “catching” about being with other praying believers that ignites a fire in your own heart and stirs up a greater hunger and desire for prayer.  Week two is about building that prayer hunger and intensity.  Jesus taught his disciples to pray. Are we doing the same?

Week 3: The last week of the fast is about experiencing God like never before. To lay hold of God and go to the next level in our walk with him for the upcoming year.  In years past, we have had Awakening services at our main campus. When people show up at these gatherings after two weeks of fasting and intensified prayer, the faith level is so strong and the spiritual atmosphere is on fire! People experience the presence of God like never before and receive so many breakthroughs and even miracles. This year, we are having four Awakening Revival Nights, that will be incredible services that culminate the fast. These services are open to the entire city and we will even have people come from around the world to attend.  They will be absolutely amazing and I hope you can attend and see for yourself!

If you are a pastor who is trying to create a culture of prayer and fasting in your church, don’t forget to be intentional about how you structure your 21 days. Make the most of this heightened season of spiritual focus and momentum.

There was a question about the obvious exceptions to the ideal situation of being blessed and sent out by your senior pastor and ministry team of your local church. There has also been a question raised about the text of Act 13:1-3 and whether or not it contains a principle of submission to authority within it.

First, there are a FEW obvious things that could be exceptions to being sent off under good terms by your pastor. If your pastor denies Jesus, falls into heresy, has a moral failure and is non-repentant, thus ship wrecking his faith, if he is removed from his position, disqualified, or the church fails and he quits the ministry, then these extremely rare cases would be an exception. However, you should still seek to plant your church in relationship with someone who knows you, believes in and can attest to the call of God on your life, can support you relationally, and provide credibility to your ministry. Again, I can’t state how important this is for YOUR success. It actually has little to do with your senior pastor’s comfort or happiness. It has to do with setting YOURSELF up for strength and success as a church planter going into a new environment where no one knows you and people will be questioning your credibility. In ARC, we sometimes encounter church planters who for one reason or another are not being launched out of their local church. The reasons range from dramatic (“shipwrecked faith”) to doctrinal (“We want to be a non-denominational church, and I come from a denominational background”) to missional (“church-planting is not a part of my local church’s outreach strategy”). In such cases, we require that the church planter find a sponsoring church, develop a relationship with the senior pastor of the church and be “sent” from that church after a short time. Yes, it delays the start time a bit, but the long term benefits are well worth it. Remember, ministry is a marathon, not a sprint, and loneliness and isolation are one of the main reasons so many pastors leave the ministry annually. Also remember that this is not about if God will use your ministry, if lives will be changed or impacted or whether or not you are called. This is about STRENGTH and HEALTH. You need both for success and longevity.

Secondly. A question was raised if there is a chain of authority implicit in the gathering of Paul and the men gathered together in Acts 13:1-3. My answer to this is yes, there is an authoritative relationship implied. Notice that the Bible says that teachers and prophets were gathered. These leaders in the early churches were responsible for teaching doctrine and leading the churches. I am sure Paul was leader, too, but all the same, he submitted himself to the leadership of others. When the Bible says that “they” (likely the entire church together with its leaders — cf. 14:27 and 15:2) laid their hands on Paul and Barnabas and sent them off, it is referring to a custom of the ancient world, centuries old by that time, whereby blessing, agreement, and investment with authority was confirmed. This was not a peer to peer activity, but a act performed by someone in authority to someone under their authority. No, the exact words “senior pastor” aren’t used, but this scene would have been recognizable to the first century reader as an impartation of authority upon Paul and Barnabas by those above them in leadership.

More important than that is Paul’s evident belief that his greatest chance of success and blessing would result from the agreement and authorization of the elders there. You can easily study more about this on your own, but this moment of commissioning by the church elders was a launching point in Paul’s ministry. There was a due process of order that he had to go through, and I believe that church planters should still submit themselves to due process which should culminate in the act of being sent out by people who know you personally and can confirm the call of of God upon your life and timing of the launch of your ministry. Yes, there are exceptions, but they ARE exceptions. I would not qualify something such as “outgrowing your pastor” as an exception. You should still be able to be sent off under good terms.

This is so important to the success of a church plant. A church planter needs to be sent out by a pastor and ministry team who recognize and affirm the calling of God on his life, and are in agreement about the timing of the decision to plant. The Apostle Paul gives us a great example of this principle.

In Acts 13:1-3, the elders at the church in Jerusalem were gathered together praying, and the Holy Spirit said, “…Set apart for me Paul and Barnabas for the work to which I have called them. Then, when they had prayed and fasted, they laid their hands on them and they sent them away.” Now, there can be no doubt that Paul was called by God to plant churches and preach the gospel. The circumstances of his calling were dramatic and left no question about God choosing him for a mighty work! And yet even Paul did not just start his ministry solely based on his incredible experience with God. He went to the elders at Jerusalem and prayed with them, let them get to know him, and waited till God released him for ministry under their covering and with their approval.

Notice that it wasn’t the elders who called Paul and Barnabas and empowered them for service. They received that commission from the Lord and by the Holy Spirit. The laying on of hands by the elders was a sign of their witness to the call of God upon Paul and Barnabas. It was so that the church could be in agreement with their work. This is what being “sent out” means. It means that there is the power of agreement and authority behind the work that God has called you to do. This is a powerful component of the process of church planting because it gives you credibility in the eyes of others and validates your ministry. The Bible says “..every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” (2 Corinthians 13:1) There has to be a senior pastor and a ministry team the church planter has served under that can validate their character and calling. I don’t care what kind of corporate board a church planter has, he must have confirmation in his calling from his senior pastor and the blessing from the church he has served in.

The blessing of your senior pastor and your ongoing relationship with him and your local church should be an incredible resource for you as you move forward with your church plant. Make sure that you wait on the timing of God and that you are sent out from the proper authority and under authority as you plant your church.

Stovall

Stovall
 
 

Stovall

When I finally made the decision to make necessary changes to bring my lifestyle and ministry style into alignment with my values about my family and health, it was a little difficult at first. I had been going so hard for so long, it felt unnatural to give myself some margin in my schedule. It didn’t take me long to adjust, though, because the benefits to me personally and to my family were immediate and substantial.

Here are some simple changes I made that gave a lift to my health and family life:

• Take one day to fill back up. After preaching four times on an average Sunday, I am completely FRIED on Monday morning! Nobody should be around me (and they probably don’t want to be!) I use Mondays as a day to fill back up emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Maybe Mondays don’t work for you, but you need some time to put in what you poured out. If you don’t do that, you will be running on fumes, and you will eventually run out of gas.
• I check out Friday afternoons…from ministry. When I am done putting the finishing touches on my message for the weekend on Friday afternoon, I leave it alone, literally, and I give my full attention to my kids and my wife. Kerri and I might spend the afternoon together or not, but over the weekend until Sunday morning, my family gets all of me and the best of me.
• I changed around the structure of our church services. I know a lot of pastors love Saturday night church, and have great successful services on that night. But for us (my family and our church staff) moving our Saturday night service to Sunday night was a crucial for long-term health. This was not an easy decision to make, because we were bursting at the seams during our prime –time Sunday services, and Saturday nights were really working for us. But Saturday services meant that my family lost me at noon on Saturday and didn’t get me back till Sunday night at 9PM when I was an exhausted mess! The same was true for the families of our staff members. It proved to be a risk well taken that paid huge dividends in morale and momentum. And it gave me a family life again. I’m so glad we did it, and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

For a complete explanation of how I manage my time and energy, listen to my podcast on Energy Management.

Being more than Mr. Super Pastor means that you understand which things will be most important when you look back over your life. It means that you structure your days, weeks, and years with that end in mind, even if it seems risky at the moment. Saving the world is good, but don’t forget to bring your family along with you for the adventure.

Stovall

I had a major wake up call about a year and a half ago when I got diagnosed with a congenital heart condition known as a bicuspid valve. In addition to the valve condition, the doctors also discovered that I had an aneurism in my aortic root, which was so large and had such a great risk of rupturing that it required immediate open-heart surgery. As I was preparing to go into surgery, wondering if it would all turn out alright, my mind really never turned to the church or ministry for very long. The one thing that occupied my heart and mind was Kerri and the kids. I wondered if they would be ok should anything happen. Did they know how much I loved them? Had I invested enough into them? What legacy would I leave them?

As often happens during times of trial, my true values became crystal clear. In my heart, when I measured the importance of my family next to that of ministry, it wasn’t even a contest. My family won, hands down! The problem was, I had to take a hard look at some choices I was making and ask myself whether my lifestyle was in alignment with what I truly felt was important. If it wasn’t, I had to ask myself why not, and be willing to make the necessary adjustments.

For about the first decade of Celebration Church’s existence, I kept the throttle down at all times. I never let up. I lived with the constant pressure of growing the church spiritually, structurally, financially, numerically, and strategically – you name it, I was driving it to the max! To tell the truth, even though it was a lot of pressure, I thrived in the peddle-to-the-metal ministry lifestyle – at first. I love what I do and I love watching people and organizations grow. I love reaching the lost. I love ministry. But when all these things get the best of you all the time, your family has to get by with the worst of you: your leftovers. I knew I had to make some adjustments, but it was still hard to ease up on the throttle and trust God to do the driving – at His pace.

What are some signs that tell you when you are pushing the limits too hard and fast? What adjustments do you make to move toward health?

Stovall