All to Him I Owe

The average church is filled with good people who have lots of opinions! I regularly receive a variety of opinions ranging from my preaching style to the setup of our auditorium. One dear lady even regularly lets me know whether my tie is fashionable or not. As a pastor wading through the multiple opinions that are present in the local church I have found the following principles helpful.

1. Opinionated people are inevitable – because they are inevitable it is important for us to develop a thick skin that enables us to receive opinions with discretion and appreciation.

2. As I receive the multiple opinions, I have to filter them through the following two questions: #1. Does this distract us from our overall mission as a church? #2. Does this negatively affect the spiritual wellfare of our congregation? My level of seriousness about the opinion is determined by the answer to those questions.

3. So, whose opinions do I give the most weight to?

• The people with the most expertise in that area.
• The people who will be most affected by this new thing or change.
• The people who represent larger groups of people within the congregation.

As much work as it takes to manage the multiple opinions that flow through a church body, I really am thankful for them. Those opinions have brought great things into this ministry. If I had the choice of people with no opinions or a congregation full of opinions I would always choose the congregation full of opinions.

Most people begin simply “attending” a church. However, over time they must move from simply being an attender to a contributor if they are going to receive the greatest benefit from the church. Here are four things that help a person transition from attending to contributing.

1. STAY – they must make a choice to stay in a church. Some people seem to sit on the edge of their seat waiting for something to happen that gives them a reason to leave. Others sit on the edge of their seat constantly evaluating all of the other churches in the area to see if they have something they would prefer to have. Instead of sitting at the edge of their seat a person must settle in with an intent to stay in a ministry in order to gain the most benefit from the church.

2. SATURATE yourself with the preaching and teaching of Gods’ Word – The unseen thread that holds the church together is the Word of God. Some treat the preaching of God’s Word as a part of a buffet of choices that they can choose from for their own feeding. Instead of choosing what you will listen to or sit under, simply decide to settle in and saturate yourself with the preaching and teaching of God’s Word that you have chosen to stay in.

3. SERVE – There are two kinds of serving that people do. One method of serving is to serve for the sake of control. This person serves in attempt to keep things within their management and desires. They serve for the sake of a title, or a position. You can tell if this person is serving for control by watching how they respond when they begin to lose control. The other kind of serving is to serve out of a heart of humility. This person serves not to control but to help with any need that is there. Churches need humble minded servants, not controlling servants.

4. SACRIFICE – A person who begins to genuinely sacrifice will begin to contribute to the good of the church in the greatest way. Philippians 4 helps us define sacrifice by “giving to the point that I have created a need within my own life.” Very few people truly live generously sacrificing to the point of creating a need. Instead, we give to the point of comfort. A person who begins to sacrifice will find that the benefits they receive from the church are far greater than anything they gave up.

Strive to contribute….not just attend!

Certain people ought to be required to wear a label that says,

“Warning: Contents under Pressure.” Nearly every Pastor has applied

pressure on a person and gotten a reaction similar to a bottle of soda

exploding. When that response occurs, one of two things often happens.

Either the Pastor becomes gun-shy and afraid of ever applying pressure

again, or he gives an explosive reply himself and adds pressure to an

already pressurized situation. In order for Pastors to be able to balance

applying the right amount of pressure to people and responding

correctly to their reactions, we must have a solid, biblical understanding of

pressure.

First, we must remember that pressure can be a good thing if it is for the

good of the individual. God is our example for knowing how and when to

apply that kind of pressure—pressure that brings about change in the lives

of others. His chief agent is the Holy Spirit, without which nobody would

ever realize his need for a Savior. What Christian has not found himself

under the conviction of the Holy Spirit and been brought to a place of decision

because of His pressure? James 1:2-4 says that we should rejoice at the pressure

God brings into our lives; it enables us to become what God wants us to be and

is for our good. Unfortunately, Pastors often apply pressure in order to see a

job completed, not for the good of the person involved.

Second, we must know how much pressure to apply to a person. 1 Corinthians

10:13 tells us that God, the master manager of pressure, never

gives us more than we can bear; He always gives the perfect amount.

People don’t come with pressure indicators or warning labels, so how

do we humans know how to give the right amount of pressure?

If we have our peoples good in mind, we will consider the agents of

pressure (i.e., the Holy Spirit, a husband or wife, or assignments at work)

that may already be at work in an individual, outside the workplace. In

other words, we need to keep a ministry mind-set while being a Pastor.

We should not be afraid to ask personal questions in order to get to know

them better and find out what’s really going on in their lives. Knowing,

then, the pressures already going on in a person’s life ought to affect how

much pressure we apply at work. For instance, if I know that one of our people

had a tremendously stressful weekend, I may postpone a

pressure-causing meeting with him until later in the week. Notice that I’m

not removing the pressure, just waiting for the right time to apply it. Our

knowledge of pressures outside of church may allow us to use the pressure

we’re applying to help this person in another area of his life.

But then, how do we know if we’re about to apply too much pressure?

Remember three things. First, a little pain is not a bad thing. Everyone

who exercises regularly knows that there will always be a certain amount

of stretching and pain in order to stay in shape. The same is true in the

lives of individuals: the pain of the pressure keeps people growing, improving,

and learning. The answer is never to remove all pressure. We should

always be tracking the growth of our people to see who needs new pressure

or pressure in a different area to keep them growing. Their growth is the

reward of the Pastor who applies a little pain in the process.

Second, we must remember that each point of pressure must be applied

by someone with an eternal perspective. In other words, we’re not trying to

quickly solve all of our peoples problems or bring him to a place of

perfection all at once. The weightlifter who now bench presses 300

pounds did not start with 300 pounds: he worked with smaller amounts of

weight and added pound by pound as he grew stronger. We must continue

to add pressure to our people but not all at once.

Third, we must make it as easy as possible for our people to let us

know in the right way that they are under pressure. We should keep an

open-door policy, make routine trips into their lives to give them

the opportunity to flag us down and let us know what is going on, ask them

questions on a routine basis, and ask others that work with them how they

are doing. We must be looking for the other areas of pressure in their lives

and keeping good track of them.

In short, in order for us to manage pressure correctly, we must be more

concerned with helping our people grow spiritually than we are with

getting a job done.

We just finished our 2011 Missions Conference here at FBC. Throughout this past week, I have been amazed at the amount of questions I was asked concerning the “why” behind our conference. The “why” was not “why are we having a missions conference.” The “why” was “why are we doing it the way we did?”

For some in our church this was the first time they had ever seen a missions conference. For others this was a different way than they were used to. So, in a few paragraphs let me explain the three key philosophies behind the “why” of our missions conference.

1. We used the missions conference to inform and update us about missions not to motivate us to do missions. Here at FBC our congregation is excited about missions and missionaries. There is not a need to bring a special speaker in to motivate us to do  more, we are excited about missions and actively trying to do more. That is an evidence of God’s work in hearts. When people are receiving the gospel, giving the gospel, and living in light of the gospel you will find that missions mindedness is a natural result. So, instead of attempting to motivate us we choose to let the missionaries simply share their ministries, their stories, and their testimonies. We didn’t have a special speaker. Our speakers were our missionaries. We left this week with a personal glimpse into the lives of these men and women. We left with a sense of their burdens, and a knowledge of God’s call on their lives. Armed with this knowledge we are better prepared to be a genuine help to the missionaries we support.

2. We conducted a missions conference that was missionary friendly not church oriented. There is a tendency among some missions conferences to plan a week based upon what a church likes, or wants to do and then impose that upon the missionaries in attendence. It is not unusual for missionaries to leave conferences exhausted because of an intense schedule and hard tasks required of them. As we planned the week we sought to create a schedule that gave missionaries a break and allowed them to enjoy the week. Each missionary had one service they were responsible for and then they were able to just relax and enjoy all the rest of the services. One neat aspect you would have seen in the services was a time of “gift-giving.” We sought to shower each missionary with tangible, and financial gifts to put the focus on them! Three times during the week there were aspects scheduled just to help and encourage the missionaries. There was no question as we left this week that our missionaries were the focus of our week.

3. We attempted to treat our missionaries as individuals not as a part of the whole. One of our missionaries this week shared a story about an experience he had recently. He said that a church they were at was giving all of the missionaries new shoes. So, even though he had just recently received two new pairs of shoes he was told he needed another pair. He shared with me that if he had been able to he would have asked for a couple of new ties. His were thread bare and showing stains. Instead of treating him like an individual with individual needs he was treating as one of many. This last week we went individual. We tried to think individually about each missionary and to try and help them. Each service was different because each missionary who presented was different.

I’m already making plans for our 2012 Missions Conference. There is a special blessing that comes from ministering to God’s servants. I try to remember it this way, “God’s work is increased when God’s workers are encouraged.” I firmly believe we encouraged God’s workers this week!

Within our congregation here at FBC, God has graciously given us four couples that are on full time staff at Wolf Mountain Christian Camp. Last night as part of our missions conference I shared 5 things our church needs to know as we minister with them, and 5 ways we can better pray for them.

What we need to know:

1. They are a team made up of individuals. It is easy for us to lump them into a group and forget that each one of them is different and has different skills, abilities and needs. Let’s resist the urge to always treat them as a group.

2. They live on the camp property so that they can serve campers 24/7. This results in many long hours for these folks. They easily serve between 50 – 80 hours a week and are constantly on call. It should never surprise us to find that they are tired as they come through our doors. Weekends are busy times in the calendar of a camp.

3. They are supported by churches so that they can keep camper cost affordable. We won’t see these folks sometimes because they are out raising support, or presenting their ministry in churches. This means also that they are not the “richest” individuals within our congregation and sometimes a simple “green handshake” could go a long way!

4. They love camp, but they also like having conversations and enjoying stuff that isn’t related to camp. Let’s resist the urge to always talk about camp and continue to get to know them as individuals.

5. A good church family helps them succeed at the mission God has called them to. If we will strive to be a loving, caring, church family to these folks (like we should be to anyone in our church!) we will be an invaluable resource to the staff and to the camp as a whole.

___

5 Ways we can pray better for Wolf Mountain Staff:

1. Pray that God will give them strength and good health.

2. Pray that God will help them find uninterrupted time with Him in His Word.

3. Pray that God will help them avoid a sense of being overwhelmed at the amount of opportunities before them.

4. Pray that God will enable them to “change the hats” of ministry that God ask of them with grace.

5. Pray that God will enable them to have grace to minister one on one in the midst of busyness.

Announcements are a necessary “evil” in the ministry. Even though e-mails are sent out, a bulletin is given, and fliers are mailed, there is still a need to present announcements from the platform in our effort to keep people informed. Take note of these 5 principles we are using to help guide our platform ministry and the way we make announcements.

1. Identify the intended audience in the very beginning of your announcment.

“MEN, you are not only wanted, but needed for the workday on Saturday…”

“TEENS, our activity for Friday night…”

2. Make sure the announcement has clear answers to the following questions:

• What is happening?
• When is it happening? (start time and end time)
• What do I do with this information? (what is the expected action?)
• Who do I go to if I have more questions?

3. Make it memorable – say them humorously, get audience feed back, or just have different people make the announcements. I keep a running list of ideas in a journal I keep of ways to make announcements fun and memorable.

4. Bring it to a conclusion quickly – you want them to still remember the opening line of your announcement. If they can’t remember that, they probably won’t remember the announcement was for them.

5. Avoid “information overload.” – if there is an abundance of details to be communicated than it probably should be written down for people to see and take with them.

Rand Hummel brings vast amounts of wisdom and experience to this topic. He has served the Lord at the Wilds Christian Camp in NC since 1978. This book grew out of his experiences in counseling.

The format of the book is simple. Rand, gives a verse, explains it, then applies it. It is readable, practical and easily understood. Below are a handful of my favorite quotes that challenged my thinking most.

Pg.15 – “Anger is one sin that feels right at home in the hearts of foolish, unreasonable, selfish men…”

Pg.18 – “Are you a slow burner or a flame thrower?” [Proverbs 14:29]

Pg.22 – “Although our wrath and anger are aimed to hurt others, they work as a spiritual boomerang that quickly comes back to hurt us.”

Pg.29 – “Those who are in love with themselves will soon have only themselves to love.”

Pg. 71 – “It takes more than a house to make a home.” — this statement is within a section describing how a parent can make the home a place kids want to come home to, not run from.

Pg. 103 – 104 give excellent definitions to the works of the flesh listed in Galatians 5:19-21

I stepped into this book thinking that anger was something others struggled with however, I quickly realized I needed this book! I highly recommend it and and especially encourage all dad’s to get and read this book.

Charles J. Brown was the pastor of a church in Edinburgh Scotland for over 40 years. My attention was drawn to him as a result of a description I read of him, “Upon hearing him [Charles Brown] preach I was struck with his liveliness and warmth in the pulpit.” Another writer said this of him, “Truly the Word of Christ dwelt in him richly in all wisdom, so that alike in the pulpit and at the communion table, at his prayer meetings, in his classes, in family visitation, and at the sick bed, he fed his people with what had first enriched his own soul.”

He was asked to give a series of different addresses to a class of students of divinity. The lectures were gathered into print and circulated for a number of years. This book is a collection of those lectures. The following topics are covered:

Chapter 1 – The Connection between Godliness and the Christian Ministry

Chapter 2 – Public Prayer

Chapter 3 – Preaching, Its Properties, Place, and Power

Chapter 4 – Elements of Pulpit Power

His comments are practical and helpful! It is an easy read and one that can be done in one sitting. For my friends in ministry I highly recommend chapter 3 and his comments about preaching without notes and bringing life to your pulpit!

This is a book I will read again!

In Acts 20:18-35 we see 10 characteristics of a Godly missionary. (These principles were part of the introduction to the sermon preached on August 14 in the AM service).

1. [vs.18-21] A good missionary serves the Lord where they are now, not just where they want to be.
2. [vs.19] A good missionary serves the Lord with a sense of privilege not pride.
3. [vs.19] A good missionary endures despite the suffering and sacrifice.
4. [vs.20] A good missionary makes the proclamation of Christ’s message of the gospel their primary task.
5. [vs.22] A good missionary believes their call to missions is God’s will!
6. [vs.24] A good missionary gives little value to his own life in comparison to the value he places on the will of God for his life.
7. [vs. 25] A good missionary is willing to sacrifice the comfort of relationships to pursue God’s call.
8. [vs.26-32] A good missionary is burdened for the spiritual condition of the people he leaves behind.
9. [vs.33-35] A good missionary truly believes that it is more blessed to give than to receive.
10. [vs.35,24] A good missionary serves with joy recognizing the tremendous privilege they have to give the gospel.