Slipped, But Caught!

Our movement's general supervisor (the person who oversees the Foursquare churches in the United States) is a total inspiration to me. Her name is Tammy Dunahoo. Her term of leadership will end a few months from now. One of her passions is to raise up more young leaders in our movement. As one of her swan-songs, she is asking several young pastors to share short devotional thoughts with the rest of the movement. She will include them in emails that she sends out to all our U.S. Foursquare leaders.

I am humbled and honored to be one of the young leaders that she asked to share. Some version of what's below will be included in one her upcoming emails:

If I should say, “My foot has slipped,” Your lovingkindness, O Lord, will hold me up. Psalm 94:18

The Lord has recently been showing me that I’ve slipped. In my eagerness to do a good job, my foot has slipped off the rock, and I’ve unintentionally been seeking confidence in my own performance.

Rather than keeping my eyes on Jesus, I’ve succumbed to pressure and expectations. My pride has told me that I’m the man for the job. But I’ve ended up overwhelmed and alone. And somehow I’ve forgotten that giving my heart to people is more important than the answers or vision I have for them (1 Thess. 2:8, 1 Cor. 13:1).

Like Aaron, I’ve tried to please people. Like Moses, I’ve struck the rock. And like Peter, I’ve heard the rooster crow. So now what? Jesus’ words to Peter have helped me:

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 22:31-32

Jesus didn't predict Peter's failure to shame him, but to encourage him. For the last few years, I’ve resisted looking at my failure. But as I’ve accepted it, I've felt Jesus' encouragement. Although I've slipped, God has caught me! Now I'm more sure than ever that I want to spend my life encouraging others to turn to Him.

It's interesting that exactly the time that the Lord begins to humble me, the Lord honors me through Tammy's invitation. Sound like God?

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When to Say No

Here's an excerpt from an email I wrote this morning to one of my young pastor-friends (even younger than me!) from another church:

Remember, the point of saying "no" is not just so that you won't be overtaxed / overburdened (although that's part of it), the main point of saying no is so that you can have the time and energy that it takes to promote other leaders. Most ministries run as one-man or one-woman shows. God wants us to mobilize and utilize teams of people. But if we're running around singing, teaching, and organizing, then we won't have time for the very personal investment that it takes to raise people up so that THEY THEMSELVES can take on the ministry activities that they want us to do for them.

You will always feel overtaxed in ministry. That's unavoidable. But you want to make sure that you're spending your life raising up ministry-leaders, not spending it just trying to do single-handed ministry. For a little Bible study on this, check out the advice Jethro gives to Moses (Exodus 18:17-24). You'll kill yourself and your people if you try to do it alone. So... say "no" to things that give you lots of responsibility but no team to do it with.

Which is Trickier: Ministry or Baseball?

I was confessing to one of my friends this morning how steep my learning curve is in counter-intuitive-Kingdom-ministry. What produced results in other endeavors hasn't translated into ministry. In academics, athletics, and other jobs, I've achieved success through hard work and determination. Not so in ministry -- it seems to be less about hard work than it is learning a whole new mentality and lifestyle.

"I swing hard," I said, "but I seem to strike out a LOT."

"That's OK," he replied, "even the best ball players hit the ball way less than half the time."

That was encouraging.

Let Us Rebuild!

You see the bad situation we are in, that Jerusalem is desolate and its gates burned by fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a reproach. Nehemiah 2:17

My heart has been drawn to this verse for the last several months. It comes from the story of the rebuilding of Jerusalem's wall. Here's an overview of the story:

160 years earlier, Jerusalem was sacked by the Babylonians and their king named Nebuchadnezzer. God had been warning them for hundreds of years to change their ways or suffer the consequences. They didn't pay attention. Nebbie set up puppet kings (named Jehoiakim and Zedekiah) and instituted a heavy tribute tax on the nation. Through Jeremiah, God kept warning the Jews that even though things were bad, they would get worse if they didn't change. They still didn't pay attention. So God sent Nebbie back to finish what he started. He leveled the city, destroyed the temple, and killed or took captive everyone who lived there.

Although it seemed like the end of the story, it wasn't! In fact, before any of that stuff happened, God saw it coming, and sent prophets who told how it would all play out. Jeremiah prophesied that they would only be in captivity for seventy years (Jer. 25:11, 29:10). And one hundred years before he was born, Isaiah even prophesied the name of the guy (Cyrus) who would release them (Isaiah 44:28, Ezra 1:1-4)!

Right on the seventy-year-ordained-schedule, Cyrus released 50,000 Jews back to their homeland to rebuild the temple and the city. The story of Nehemiah picks up ninety years later.

Those 50,000 people are either dead or really, really old. The temple had been rebuilt decades ago (that's the story found in Ezra), but the city was still a disaster zone. In other words, people were worshiping God, but they weren't experiencing many of the blessings that are supposed to go along with being one of God's children. Their city was a mess. Their walls were broken down. Neighboring nations mocked them. None of God's promises seemed to be functioning in their lives.

And then Nehemiah shows up.

In Hebrew, Nehemiah's name means "the comforting spirit of God." Remember when Jesus told us of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter? In this story, Nehemiah serves as a wonderful picture of the Holy Spirit's role in our lives (for more study on this, check out Rebuilding the Real You by Jack Hayford).

He doesn't show up with judgment (i.e. "Look what a mess you are!"). Instead he includes himself in their plight, "You see the bad situation WE are in." And he offers himself and the authority and resources of the King to assist in the project.

This is a long way of saying... The Holy Spirit is inviting us into a time of rebuilding our church. There have been lots of miracles and fruitful steps of obedience that have brought us to where we are at. But there's still lots that is broken down. There is no shame, no condemnation, no sense of failure or ridicule. Just an honest assessment and an invitation to join in His work.

I invite you to join with me as we follow His lead...