Priorities in Ministry

A little over a year ago I sat across from a young man who said he was hearing the Holy Spirit tell him to go into full-time ministry.  He believed that the first step he needed to take was to attend a Christian college to study theology and music ministry.  It seemed to be a tremendous step of faith, but after praying about it, I sensed God was really speaking to him.  He is an incredible musician and comes from a stable family that could support his tuition.

Everything seemed to line up.  God's will and man's desire to obey.

Then I warned him.  I said, "You've just told me that you desire to be in full-time ministry.  Your life is about to get real hard.  The forces of darkness do not want you to make that decision and will try to stop you any way they can."

He agreed and said he'd stay on guard against such attacks.

Needless to say I watched over the next year as this young man's life was interrupted by difficulty and he eventually decided to not go.  It was a sad day.  Thankfully, I'm encouraged to hear that he is back on track and following the call God has placed in his life.

Ministry is hard work.  People frequently tell me that I must keep God first, family second, and my job (ministry) third.  This catch-phrase sounds Biblical and even looks great on this blog right now; eliciting warm feelings of being an "ideal Christian family man" and "keeping my priorities in line".

Unfortunately this tiered list of do's quickly falls apart with the question: Why does my love for God and the calling he's placed on my life get split into two different categories?  Aren't they one and the same?

"No Jonathan, what you don't understand is that keeping God first means doing your devotions in the morning and going to church on Sunday.  It also means you should keep your wife above your job."

Although that response reeks of American Christianity, it begs another question.  What if my "job" causes me to lose my life?  

Let's take Chinese pastors for example.  Could you ever imagine telling them to stop putting God's calling above their family life?  It sounds ridiculous, but that's how watered down our mission has become in American church culture today.

The calling that Chinese pastors have is the same one we have in America.

Most of the Apostles are believed to have been married with children.  We definitely know Peter was married because the Bible speaks of his mother-in-law.  We assume the other Apostles were, because a requirement to be an overseer was to be the husband of one wife (1 Timothy 3:2).  And yet, most of these men threw themselves into full time ministry; traveling the world preaching the Good News, probably with their wives and children by their side.  Except for John, they were all executed in gruesome ways; some even watched as their wives and children were raped and murdered before the executioners turned their sword to the Apostle.  All because of their "job"?

My point is this.  Jesus did not call us into a life of comfort.  He did not say "When things get rough in your family, or you feel the strain of ministry (aka job for pastors), or your health is failing, that's when you need to back off and get your priorities straight."

Actually He had some harsh words about the strain of ministry:

"If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.  Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple ... So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple." (Luke 14:26-27, 33)

How should Christ followers interpret this passage?  How do you interpret this passage?

American culture and God's calling are diametrically opposed to each other.  I would go so far as to say that American culture is an enemy of God.  If we are unwilling to forsake all, continuing to speak these fake-Christian talking points to each other, we will constantly be defeated in our mission.

Since I have a beautiful wife that I love deeply, I have one final thought.  I will continue to pour as much love as possible into her life while maintaining the calling God has placed in mine.  I'm not giving permission to ignore my wife so I can sit at my office and do work.  I'm talking in more broad terms about enduring hardships in ministry as a couple.  And yes, sometimes the trials and struggles we endure will not synch with the ideal American dream.

But they don't have to.

Small Group Dynamics

Small groups launched this week and I couldn't be more thrilled!  I have been journeying with a group of 8th-9th grade guys for the past year and it has been phenomenal to see God move in each of their lives.  Paul and Noah Cooke, Jesse Gonder, Levi House, and Marc England Jr (Dos) are some of the most Godly young men I know.  And yesterday we decided to begin a new study on the book of Revelation with an emphasis on current events.  What a great way to encourage these guys that their time on earth is short and to be prepared for the second coming of Christ.  Should be an exciting series!

Wanted to share a few thoughts from a book I've been reading on small group dynamics*:

1.  Small groups should be value-driven not curriculum-driven.
2.  Small group relationships are more important than small group attendance.
3.  Effective leaders make sure the content serves the mission, not the other way around.
4.  The mission of a small group leader is to develop meaningful relationships with students and help shape them into the people God designed them to be.
5.  Small group ministry goes beyond small group meetings (see #6).
6.  Good leaders are always on the lookout for ways to make connections with students outside of the scheduled meeting time.
7.  A small group leader can't control a student's spiritual journey, but they can provide a nurturing context for growth to take place.
8.  Small groups are more than just opportunities to impart information.  They allow students to experience a real, meaningful connection in a relationally starved world.
9.  Small group leaders who take their call seriously will go with their students after the meeting ends.  Not physically - but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

*Small Group Strategies: Ideas and Activities for Developing Spiritual Growth in Your Students
by Laurie Polich and Charley Scandlyn
Youth Specialties  2005

Purpose in every step

“I have become a servant of everyone so that I can bring them to Christ”, were tearful words from Paul I’m sure.  The rest of 1 Corinthians 9 continues with his personal plea to pursue the lost with all the strength his battered body could muster:

“When I am with the Jews I become one of them …” (9:20)

“When I am with the Gentiles, I fit in with them as much as I can…” (9:21)

“I try to find common ground with everyone so that I may bring them to Christ …” (9:22)

As an Army Soldier I can relate the question of the church’s mission to our nation’s military.  What is the purpose of the U.S. Armed Forces?  To train soldiers who will perform well?  To develop better technology than our enemies?  To build bases all over the world?

While these are all good functions of our military, none of these is its primary directive, which is to fight and win America’s wars, at home and abroad. 

The same is true of the local church.  I think it’s good to encourage Christians through Bible studies and church programs, but it seems the same to me as continuously training soldiers how to shoot a gun, without ever sending them to war.    

Our primary job as a church is to seek and save the lost.  It’s what Jesus came to do, and it’s what we’re commanded to do first, even before teaching them to “obey all things”.

“So I run straight ahead to the goal with purpose in every step” (9:26).  What is the goal that Paul is talking about?  He is running for an eternal prize, training his body to do what it should, to preach the gospel to those who need to hear (9:27).

Two chapters later Paul exhorts the Corinthian church again, telling them to “follow my example as I follow Christ’s” (11:1).  I believe Paul put all his heart into training church elders and infant-minded Christians into greater Biblical understanding, but his primary purpose reflected the primary purpose of Christ’s, which was to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).

The local church should reflect this same purpose in all it does without compromising Biblical principles.

An excellent story illustrating how the church is a lifesaving station that has slowly evolved into a Christian club can be read below:

http://executableoutlines.com/top/lifesave.htm

Should we segregate children from adults in Sunday School?

As a youth ministry worker, this topic intrigues me. A documentary recently published (and viewable online for free) called “Divided”, seeks to condemn youth ministries as unbiblical because they’re never mentioned in the New Testament (although neither is the word “trinity” but that would take much longer to explain). I agree that the Bible depicts a strong family model for discipleship (Deut. 6:7, Prov. 22:6, and Eph 6:4). As Gene Getz says, “each believing family in a given community, ideally speaking, was to be the ‘church in miniature’ and the father the primary spiritual leader” (1 Timothy 3:4-5). But at what point does a father and mother allow other influential Godly men and women to help instruct their children in the knowledge of the Lord? As Gene Getz explains in his book Elders and Leaders, we must look through the lenses of Scripture, history, and culture to reach decisions on such delicate matters (28). Getz further explains that the church can “use cultural insights without compromising divine absolutes” (29). The history of educating American youth began in large, single-story buildings of 30-40 students, ages 5-16. As the American education system grew, culture had to adapt and segregate it’s children using age as it’s primary criteria. Since those early pioneer days, the act of separating children by age has become an American tradition. We train our children, for eight hours a day, five days a week, 9 months a year, for 16 consecutive years, to learn in an age-segregated environment. We teach them to “find kids your own age to play with” and to have birthday parties where they invite other children in their age group. Why would the church separate from this culturally ingrained learning style for one hour a week, because the first century church implied that children were present at home church gatherings (Acts 2:46-47; 4:32-35; 16”31-34)? Christians are often guilty of adding to Scripture what isn’t intrinsically there. To combine adults and kids into a large corporate worship service each week is not commanded in the New Testament. Rather, the New Testament directive to “teach what is in accord and sound doctrine”, and “to encourage the young men to be self-controlled” (Titus 2:1,6) is not hindered because the form of that command has changed.

Comparative Christianity

I do not stay awake at night wondering about the self-esteem of high school students.  

I do not stay awake at night wondering if our seniors will find a good college.

I do not stay awake at night wondering about the sports students will play.

What keeps me awake at night is thinking that the majority of students I come in contact with will potentially be in hell for all of eternity.

The greatest hindrance to knowing the truth has become our own American culture of church, where we have thought it right to compare ourselves by ourselves, consequently never realizing where we stand in eternity.

My prayer is that students today will take a radical stand for the cause of Christ.

"And you will know them by their fruits..."

~ Matthew 7:20

Do parents wield a leash of power?

Yes, this is our dog: a psychotic black lab named Koda Bear, who enjoys sticking her head out of my sunroof as I drive.

My wife Susanna and I were walking her the other day and realized that she is such a good dog!  As we walked along the South Bend riverside, we removed her leash and she bounded ahead of us, sniffing and jumping at every new discovery.

If someone approached her or if she wandered too far ahead, we called her name and she quickly returned to our side.  I have never seen a dog so obedient and loyal to her master's voice.

We pondered why Koda was so obedient compared to other dogs we've had in the past, who would have been yanking at the leash throughout the entire "walk".  We concluded that it was because Koda was raised on an open farm, where she never had to wear a leash.  She learned at a young age to follow the voice of her master, without being forced to do so by a harsh object.

We related this analogy to our future job as parents.  We don't want our children to obey us because we wield power over them, rather, we want them to experience freedom to make their own decisions and willingly choose to listen to a loving voice steer them in the right direction.

Values and Morals

Most secular psychologists today are educated and trained to be "value free", meaning that they should give advice that does not impose their value system onto their clients.

The overriding question arises:  How does a person dissect their values/beliefs from their morals?

Simply put, what a person believes determines how they behave.

Window on the Word

English pastor Robert C. Chapman (1803-1902) penned these true words about the Bible:

This book contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners and the happiness of believers.  Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable.  

Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy.  It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you.  

It is the traveler's map, the pilgrim's staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword, and the Christian's character.  

Here paradise is restored, Heaven opened, and the gates of hell disclosed.  Christ is its grand object, our good is its design, and the glory of God its end.  It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet.  

Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully.  It is given you in life and will be opened in the judgment and will be remembered forever.  It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the greatest labor, and will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents.

Richard Allen

Once a slave, who paid for his freedom through working off his master's debt, Richard Allen became a fiery preacher and proponent for the free worship of African-Americans.  In 1799 he was officially ordained as the first black deacon of the Methodist Church, and opened the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first fully independent black denomination in America.

As Richard sought God for a way to bring his people out of poverty and shame, God guided him through a process that made a tremendous difference in many lives - not only of the citizens of Philadelphia but also of many black heroes to come.  Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and Biddy Mason all attended the AME church.

If we are lazy and idle, 

the enemies of freedom plead it as a cause 

why we ought not to be free, 

and that giving us our liberty would be an injury to us.  

By such conduct we strengthen the bands of oppression, 

and keep many in bondage.  

Will our friends excuse - will God pardon us - 

for the part we act in making strong the hands of the enemies of our color?

Richard Allen

(1760-1831)

Don't let integrity slip away

As I recount the tragic story of Benedict Arnold, I can't help but think of how dangerous and slippery a deceitful heart can become.  A highly decorated American general, Arnold never thought his name would one day be known as "traitor".

It began as a slow fade: stealing supplies from troops at Valley Forge so that he could sell them to make a little bit of cash on the side.  Once he lacerated his mind from his morals, it became easy to meet with General Andre, a British officer, to sell classified documents describing the defense system at West Point Naval Base.

Through a series of "coincidences" his plan was discovered, and his reputation was ruined forever.  What if the young militia men hadn't stopped Andre?  What if Andre hadn't let it slip that he was a British officer?  What if Tallmadge, the only American who suspected Arnold was a traitor, had not been passing through the area?  The British would have attacked, and West Point would have fallen.  The American army would have been divided and conquered.  The Revolutionary War would have been an unsuccessful colonial revolt against the most powerful empire in the world.  The colonial leaders would be hung as traitors.  Arnold would be known around the world as a great British war hero who had single-handedly turned the course of the war!  He could well be living in luxury as a governor of the once-again-peaceful American colonies instead of in an English hovel, despised by both Americans and Englishmen.

Choosing to sacrifice integrity for personal gain never works.

I pray that I can live a life of sincerest integrity, never compromising myself for flashes of worldliness.

MIN 660 - Principles and Practices of Prayer

What a wonderful course this has become!  Grace Theological Seminary has already proven to be a great place to continue my education.  I feel as though I am not just learning spiritual truths, but also developing spiritual disciplines.  It's more than an education, it's becoming an eye-opening life experience.

Reading through Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala, has been such an encouragement.  It has challenged me to not only pray more, but to come before God with the right attitude.

"God is attracted to weakness.  He can't resist those who humbly and honestly admit to how desperately they need him.  Our weakness, in fact, makes room for his power."


"I was tired of the escapist mentality I had witnessed since childhood - always glorifying what GOd did way back in some revival, or else passionately predicting 'the coming great move of God' just ahead.  The truth is, I knew there were countless churches across the city and the nation that had not baptized a hundred truly converted sinners in a year, and most not in several years."

This quote really got me thinking.  How many students in the youth program have truly come to know Christ this past year?  Am I constantly proclaiming a coming movement of God without taking the steps of faith he has asked of me?

"Anybody who could make any money was trying to get away from our area."


This reminded me of South Bend and the decline in jobs and business opportunities.  I have been doing research on the latest statistics for the 46628 zip code and they are staggering.  I'll make that a separate post in the near future.

"One day I told the Lord I would rather die than merely tread water throughout my career in the ministry... always preaching about the power of the Word and the Spirit, but never seeing it."


"As one pastor told me with a smile, 'I don't steal sheep from other churches, but I do like to leave my gate wide open'."


In South Bend, all we do is swap Christians from one church to the next.  Where are the true converts?

"You can tell how popular a church is by who comes on Sunday morning.
You can tell how popular the pastor or evangelist is by who comes Sunday night.
But you can tell how popular Jesus is by who comes to the prayer meeting."


"The condition of the church may be very accurately gauged by its prayer meetings."


"God's first people were not called Jews or the Children of Israel or Hebrews.  In the very beginning their original name was THOSE WHO CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD."


"The truth is that the devil is not terribly frightened of our human efforts and credentials.  But he knows his kingdom will be damaged when we lift up our hearts to God."


"If our churches don't pray, and if people don't have an appetite for God, what does it matter how many are attending the services?"


"There is to be no one who shares the stage with the Lord."


"The feature that is supposed to distinguish Christian churches, Christian people, and Christian gatherings is the aroma of prayer."


"Does the Bible ever say anywhere from Genesis to Revelation, 'My house shall be called a house of preaching'?  Does it ever say 'My house shall be called a house of music'?  Of course not.  The Bible does say, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations'."