Ministry Transitions by David Guzik

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Way back in 1982, Lance Ralston and I brought together two home Bible studies and started Calvary Chapel of Oxnard. We were both young and inexperienced, but God blessed our development as pastors and our work. I’m filled with fond memories when I think of those early years of ministry.

Lance Ralston is still there, faithfully serving Calvary Chapel of Oxnard almost 30 years later. The church has grown, matured, and prospered in that time. It’s a wonderful example of faithful ministry and God’s blessing on a man and his work.

As for me, I’m on my fourth ministry assignment while Lance is still with same congregation in Oxnard. After 7 years with Lance, I went to Simi Valley and started Calvary Chapel of Simi Valley. After 14 years in Simi Valley, I went to Germany to start the Calvary Chapel Bible College campus in Siegen. After 7 years in Siegen, I find myself back in Southern California, this time serving the congregation at Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara.

Over those years I hope I have learned a little bit about when it is time to leave a particular ministry assignment and go forth to something else. Following are a few random principles that come to mind.

Don’t leave out of discouragement. There are many good reasons to leave one work and anticipate another. Discouragement is never a good reason. Though I have certainly known seasons of discouragement in serving God and His people, I can say that I have never left a work because of it. We are to serve God in season and out of season, and it just wrong to leave if the primary motive is discouragement.

A general sense of dissatisfaction may prompt you. Sometimes people stay in a place too long, because they don’t listen to the ways God may nudge them with a gentle sense of dissatisfaction. They stubbornly stay, until that sense of dissatisfaction bleeds out and becomes specific. They become unhappy with so many things, and they end up leaving frustrated, complaining, and sometimes embittered. Thankfully, that hasn’t been my experience. I’ve learned that God can simply give you a sense that what you have done at a particular place is finished for you, and it is time to move on to what’s next.

Don’t even think about such a big change unless your spouse is really in agreement. For each of our big changes, Inga-Lill and I have been in wonderful agreement. It hasn’t been a matter of one of us dragging the other along. We’ve walked together in each transition. If you and your spouse aren’t in agreement, then get praying – both individually and as a couple. God will guide you and bring you into unity into the mind of Christ (not necessarily your mind) as you seek Him. Don’t go forward until He does.

You may know what you are moving on to, you may not. I think of my three departures (from Oxnard, from Simi Valley, and from Germany). In one I knew what I was moving on to when I decided it was time to leave, and in two I did not. For me, that isn’t really the deciding factor. If God shows me my time is drawing to a close at a place, then it doesn’t really matter if I know right away what He is opening up next. He will show me in His timing.

You aren’t a failure for leaving. While each one of my departures has been difficult – mostly because of the wonderful personal relationships built up in each place – I never felt like I was a failure because I left. I simply knew that if God wanted me to stay at a place longer, I would; and I tried to leave any perceptions of failure or success up to Him. We say that faithfulness is more important success, but we often don’t believe it. Here’s a challenging question: Can you be satisfied and happy if other people think you are a failure, but you know you have been faithful? That shows how much relative value you put on success and faithfulness.

Don’t believe the lie of sanctification by relocation. Sometimes we think everything that frustrates us in our present place will be fixed just by going to another place. That is a foolish lie. If you aren’t being transformed by the renewing of your mind right where you are at, a change won’t make a difference. Wherever you go, you take you with you.

Do everything you can to leave in the right way. If you love the people you have served, you owe them the very best until the end. Be honest. Be honorable. Love to the very end. That doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t disappoint some of them at some points (some of them may insist you don’t leave at all). But do all you can so your own conscience is clear, knowing you have done what you can and should to leave in the right way. Ask God to show you those who need some specific love and attention in closing your work in a particular place.

Our world is changing. It used to be much more common for a man or a woman to leave their education, get a job, and stay with that company for 30 or 40 years, get their gold watch and retire. Today, it is far more common for people to make two or three or more significant transitions in their life. It’s certainly been true for me.

Thinking of what God has done in and through Lance Ralston, sometimes I get a little jealous. If God wanted it, I could have been the one serving that one congregation for 30 plus years. I could have been dedicating the children of those I dedicated decades before. I could have known the depth of remaining in the same place for that long. Yet, that simply wasn’t what God had for me – but it certainly was what God had for Lance. I really do think that God helping us, we have each been faithful to our callings; to the individual race God has for us to run. God will help you also to run your race, even if it means some transitions along the way.

 

Pastor and Bible teacher David Guzik has served in pastoral ministry since 1982 in many different roles. He presently pastors Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara, but previously served as the director of a small international Bible College in Germany. He founded and pastored Calvary Chapel Simi Valley for fourteen years and co-pastored Calvary Chapel Oxnard before that. He is married to Inga-Lill, and has three adult children. David holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has written several books and commentaries that are available at Enduring Word.

Clarity Produces Confidence

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Dear Everyone,

This is long … perhaps you’ll think it worth it to bear with me.

I want to spend some time talking about a phrase which has found its way into my mind and heart the past several weeks and even months. Here it is: “Clarity produces confidence.”

The meaning of the phrase (as I’ve internalized it) is that when we hear and receive the specific direction of the Lord in our lives—His guidance—the result is confidence. We’re confident because we’ve been commanded or directed by God Himself. The One who has called and guided us will also provide whatever is needed to obey and follow through with His direction. When we clearly hear His voice, then we know what to trust Him for. We can bank on His faithfulness to complete the work He has begun in us.

This concept—this phrase—is one that I’ve experienced many times over the years. When we first moved to Monterey, I believed strongly that the Lord was going to further expand the pastoral and teaching call upon my life. How did I know that? There was a dream, there were prophetic visions, there was the Word of God spoken into my heart on several occasions, and there was the confirmation of leaders and other believers we’d known in Southern California. It was crystal clear what the Lord was calling me to do. Therefore, I had the confidence to begin pastoring a church at the tender age of 25 (soon to be 26, mind you). Clarity produces confidence.

I can point to a huge number of other examples in my own life which illustrate the phrase, “Clarity produces confidence.” Some of them have to do with my marriage, some have to do with personal decisions (such as financial decisions), most of them with the myriad of decisions related to a life of ministry. But whatever the kind of situation, whenever I was certain that I was in the will of God, I was then able to rely upon Him for the commitment, strength, wisdom, or resources necessary to follow through. Clarity brought confidence. It still does.

I remember one particular incident that stands out. It happened very early in my ministry as senior pastor of Calvary Chapel in Monterey, where I served for 27 years. Sensing the leading of the Lord, we invited a very well known speaker/author/teacher to come and lead a four day evening seminar for us. We would hold it in a neutral facility and invite the entire community to come. Well, the speaker accepted our invitation and then referred me to his secretary to work out the logistics. It was then that I was informed that his honoraria would be an astonishing $500.00 per lecture! Not much money now, but back in 1979, it was a lot.

I was shocked. We Calvary guys prided ourselves on the “where God guides, God provides” philosophy. We would never ask for money, and we would never require a set honorarium for our services. So this amount of $500.00 seemed outrageous to me. Besides that, the church’s entire monthly budget at that time was around $1800, if I remember correctly. So the four days would exceed our entire monthly expenditures, and that didn’t include travel costs, hotel costs, printing, mailing, or other forms of publicity!

I was bummed. Not only was I bummed, I was disillusioned. How could this be? I thought this man was a godly leader. How could he charge so much? I didn’t know what to do. So I prayed (VERY good strategy). As I prayed and honestly poured out my heart to the Lord, the Lord used a verse of scripture that He caused to pop into my head (this is called “rhema”—Ephesians 6:17). The verse was Romans 14:4: “Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.”

What a blessing! The Lord was speaking clearly to me that He is the One that called and appointed this brother as His servant. He was answerable to Him. I needn’t worry about a thing, I sensed the Lord speaking to me. The Lord had it under His complete control Therefore, I didn’t need to think poorly of this man, I could entrust him completely to the Lord!

I was excited, and relieved. Now I knew I could trust the Lord for the finances needed to pull off the event, and for His blessing upon it.

And yes, it all went great! In the process, I got to know this minister and found him to be a prince of a man. He was the real deal. Plus, he liked me. He was also very supportive of me and what we were trying to do.

Here’s a cool thing … when the love offerings were counted at the end of the four nights, we found that the proceeds were $10.00 more than all of our expenses combined. The Lord had truly provided, and it didn’t bankrupt the church. I was stoked. Again, clarity (hearing from the Lord) produced confidence… confidence to trust the Lord and step out in His name.

Sad to say, I have not always operated like that. Looking back on my 26 years and 50 weeks in Monterey, I would say that most of what was done was done with the clear direction of the Lord, but in the last few years, I erred in that I failed to wait for the Lord in some key decisions.

Why did I not wait upon God? What was it? Why was it? Was it arrogance? Was it self-sufficiency? Was it assumption on my part? Probably a little bit of all of them. At any rate, I blew it. One major decision gone bad affected another one, until things got so messy that I ended up causing many to become frustrated and hurt, the very people I love and served with.

I had no clarity as I made those decisions, and therefore I had no confidence. One respected pastor I know, after I told him about some of the things that happened over the previous months, said to me, “It sounds to me like you lost your confidence.” Bingo! He hit the nail right on the head. It was so true… I HAD lost my confidence as a leader, as a pastor. That was new for me, because I’d operated in confidence for so many years. After he said that, it then became my quest to discover what happened. How did I lose it? The conclusion the Lord has helped me realize is that I was operating without clarity. I had not heard His voice, because I had not waited for Him.

I have been severely chastened by the Lord for all of this, and I hope I have learned my lesson. I am determined—with the Lord’s help—never to launch out into anything again without clarity which produces confidence. I don’t want to be like Joshua with the Gibeonites, or like Abraham with Hagar. I want to do what the Lord says, nothing more, nothing less. But first, I want to spend the time to determine what that is. No shortcuts.

To that end, the Lord has been kind enough to point me to an amazing passage in 1 Samuel which tells my story. Actually, it’s the story of David, but it fits my situation too.

David had been relentlessly pursued by Saul, who wanted to kill him. Previously, Samuel the prophet had anointed David as king over all Israel, but Saul was still on the throne. The Lord had said that He was going to remove Saul from the kingdom and give it to David. But David was apparently tired and wearied from Saul’s persecution of him. He got discouraged, and he forgot (at least emotionally) the Lord’s promises to him re: the kingdom. So given that as a background, we read David’s words:

And David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me anymore in any part of Israel. So I shall escape out of his hand.” (1 Samuel 27:1)

Notice that David was talking to himself. This is a good thing, if we’re talking truth to ourselves. But in this situation, David’s self talk was inaccurate. No, he would not perish by Saul’s hand. Because his premise was inaccurate, his solution would also be wrong. It was absolutely the wrong thing to escape to the Philistine’s land. He would put himself in a compromised situation. While it seemed logical that this move might discourage Saul from continuing to hunt him down, the way that seems right to us isn’t necessarily right. David had not heard from the Lord at this time, therefore he lost his confidence in the Lord. His lack of clarity brought discouragement.

The story goes on to tell what happened to David. He became affiliated with a Philistine lord named Achish. He lied to Achish about what he was really doing in the land. Achish eventually wanted David to join the Philistines in battle against Israel! Think of it… David attacking Israel. No way! Fortunately, the other Philistine lords (kings) refused to let David and his men fight with them. They thought he might betray them in battle. After all, this was the same David that killed Goliath, their champion.

But while David was passing in review before the Philistines, the Amalekites were destroying the Philistine city (Ziklag) where David, his men, and their wives had been living. When he and his men returned to Ziklag, they found it burned to the ground, and discovered that much spoil AND their wives had been taken away by the Amalekites. The next passage absolutely thrills my heart. It’s what I’ve been doing myself for months now:

1 Samuel 30:6 Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.

Don’t you just love that? David went right to the Lord, and found a way to receive strength from Him! No doubt he did it through prayer, in the Word, and in worship, but he did it! He was in a tight spot; trouble was around him on every side, so he went straight to the Lord. He wouldn’t make the same mistake again. He would wait upon God.

The next thing he did was also telling. He sought the Lord re: the Amalekites and at Yahweh’s direction, he went straight into battle against them. In other words, now that he had clarity (having strengthened himself in the Lord and having consulted Him about attacking the Amalekites), it was time to go to war. Time to fight the enemy. No more sulking, no feeling sorry for himself, no living in the past. It was time to move forward.

The Lord granted David success. He was able, with his four hundred men, to rout the Amalekites and recover everything they’d taken from him.

I can’t tell you how much that entire story speaks to me. God is good! He speaks to us! He gives us marching orders. He frees us from our past. After the discipline is over with, it yields the “peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11).

Clarity produces confidence. I hope I never forget it.

“Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day.” (Psalms 25:4-5)

Thanks for reading.

Bill Holdridge

Ideas on Doing Outreach – Daniel Fusco

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The critical mistake that many church planters make is that they think that God’s calling on their lives equals a ‘successful’ plant. Planters think that since God is calling them to an area that they will simply show up, put up a sign, and people will flock into the building because they are ready to teach the Bible. Oftentimes people get the false impression that if you simply teach the Word, people will flock into a new church. This may be true if you are planting a church in the middle of a full on revival, but in reality, in 2009, there aren’t too many place in the United States that are in the middle of a full on revival. Effective church planters need to do outreach to meet people so that they can come to the building to hear that Word of God. This was brought into focus for me when I was speaking to one of the older pastors in the Calvary Chapel movement. This pastor was there in the beginning of the Jesus Movement. He told me that not only was the Pastor Chuck Smith’s teaching anointed, but there was also a ton of outreach going on. There were concerts and Christian communes. There were outreach studies going on in schools, homes, and by the side of the road. Greg Laurie was inventing new cartoon tracks and they were being handed out. Teaching tapes were being given out. There were people, outside of the church building, meeting people with the intention of communicating the Gospel to them. A successful church plant is one that is reaching out to their community. When the people who are reached come to the church, then they will get the opportunity to hear God’s inspired Word.

In one of Mark Driscoll’s books, he gives a great and simple insight into casting vision for outreach. He asked three simple questions: Who are you reaching out with? Who are you reaching out to? And how are you reaching out? Feel free to read that article to see the finer points of these questions. But to begin our discussion, these questions are important. Who are you reaching out with? Is it just you? Do you have a small team? A large group? The answer to this question will affect the scope of our outreach. Who are you reaching out to? Depending on whom we are trying to reach, this will color the style of outreach. In the Jesus Movement, Christian concerts worked well, but might not in every context. This speaks to the need for cultural exegesis and understanding our target communities. This is where statistics and demographics can be incredibly helpful. Do we love the community that we are called to as Jesus does in such a way as to understand them? Finally, how are you reaching out? This is the culmination of the first two questions. When we understand who we are reaching out with and who we are reaching out to, then we can formulate an action plan as to how we are going to reach out. It is this third section that I want to spend some time on.

Have A Plan

It is simply wisdom to have a goal and that can be executed. If we have a plan and set some goals, we will have a better chance of accomplishing anything. So I always recommend that church planters come up with a plan, no matter how basic it may be. Set some goals and work towards their fulfillment.

Don’t be Seeker Sensitive, Be Seeker Sensible

I don’t know who coined this pithy phrase, but I like it. We need to be sensible to the people that we are trying to reach and the message that we are giving out. This is important because oftentimes our outreach ideas are not relevant to the people we are trying to reach. We have a tendency to import an outreach strategy that we saw used in another context. We need to be sensible. There is nothing worse then investing time and energy into something that isn’t sensible.

The Gospel is Free; But Getting It Out is NOT Cheap

We need to spend money on outreach. This may seem like a no-brainer, but it isn’t. It seems that oftentimes we would rather spend our money on anything else other than reaching people for the Gospel. We would rather spend money on the building a church (building) than building the church (community). Are we more concerned with getting ourselves a salary our reaching our community? Getting the Gospel out in our community will cost money and we should be prepared for this. It is money well spent (as long as we are mindful of who we are trying to reach).

It’s The Slow Drip That Works

What I mean by this is simply that it’s the cumulative effect of all the outreach attempts that work. We are apt to judge the effectiveness of an outreach based on immediate fruit. But in a church plant, it is the entire breadth of outreach that will have the effect. A continued outreach initiative, over time, will be effective. So have a broad view of it. Think about it, how many times have you heard about something before you try it? Like a restaurant? Oftentimes you’ll see an advertisement or two, maybe a billboard, then you’ll hear of a few people who went there and then you’ll try it. Churches are the same way. After someone gets used to seeing your name, if they know someone who likes it, often they will try it.

Put Your Name and Logo On Everything

This is the simplest outreach style. I call it ‘passive outreach’. To simply get name recognition, you want to put your logo, name, and website on everything: handbills, t-shirts, pens, everything. If you put your branding on everything, eventually people will notice you. As a Calvary Chapel pastor, if I am driving through a town and I see a dove, I instantly know what that means. There is recognition of the name and symbol. In our towns, if no one ever heard of us, there is a good chance that they are not stopping by for a visit.

Maintain A Good Website (and keep your name in the Yellow Pages)

In the technologically obsessed United States, it is criminal not to have a strong web presence. We are really shooting ourselves in the foot if we are not all over the web. Simply google your community and see what comes up. Put your name everywhere. On every community website that you can. The internet is here to stay and we want to be a part of it. People still use the Yellow Pages as well. Make sure your name is in the Yellow Pages. Also, don’t forget that you can negotiate with the Yellow Pages salesman. That we have in the Yellow Pages was being offered at $120 per month and we settled on $30 per month. That’s an extra $90 for other outreach ideas.

Train The Congregation in Community Engagement

Jesus’ outreach style was to train up twelve apostles. Jesus knew that having thirteen points of contact (Himself plus the twelve) would be more effective than it just being Himself. As we are teaching the people the Word, we need to be constantly raising up people who are effective witnesses on their jobs, while at school, as they recreate and the like. I am constantly downloading outreach sensibilities to the congregation as we walk through the Scriptures together.

Finally, The Church Will Be Passionate About What The Pastor Is Passionate About

Brothers, if we are not passionate about the lost, neither will the folks in our fellowship be. Just as Jesus reproduced Himself spiritually in His disciples, so will we. If our hearts do not burn for the lost, then we will never inspire them to care enough to share. Brothers, do we have a passion for the souls of men? Is it a passion that will drive us out of the safety of our offices and studies and into the places where people congregate to them won for Christ? A church planter without an outreach passion is not a church planter.

The Balancing Act

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“So it was, from that time on, that half of my servants worked at construction, while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows, and wore armor; and the leaders were behind all the house of Judah.”

Nehemiah 4:16

This is by no means exhaustive or complete…just thinking some things through…

There is no doubt that the “work” we are involved in as the Body of Christ is vast and extensive from our point of view. As we look at the “walls” that lie in disrepair and comprehend that its “breaches are many” (Isaiah 22:9), we begin to understand the scope of all that has been done, and begin to understand the reach that still has to be accomplished in our own communities, to the ends of the globe.

What greater thing is there than pouring our very lives that have been redeemed from the slimy pit and have now been washed clean, purged from the stains of our guilty consciences and shot-out lives, into the great and eternal “work” that we have been called to and given gifts by His Spirit which enable us to engage ourselves in this work effectively and profitably for the renown of Jesus’ name.

There are those that each of us know and love and care for that are fighting and laboring and toiling, expending spiritual and physical blood, sweat, and tears in this “work”. They are the ones that fill the seats on Sunday, falling asleep, nodding off during our sermons, not making it to the discipleship classes, the home fellowship or mid-week study all the time, “‘cuz their just plumb wore out”. And unfortunately, we sometimes question their dedication to the work because of these realities. These are the ones who are directly involved in the “front lines” work of the ministry. We sometimes fall into the mindset that “We are the ones on the front lines, that I am the one forging ahead into the vast hordes of the unchurched and unbelieving. “I alone am left, Lord!” (and not wrongly so, in all instances).

But here in Nehemiah 4:16 we see the position of the leaders in the “impossible” work in Jerusalem…namely repairing the breaches, rebuilding the wall. The leaders are positioned squarely behind the “frontline”. Yes, they are also directly involved in the work themselves, fighting, laboring and toiling alongside. But they are also functioning “behind the scenes”, watching, directing, re-directing, encouraging, equipping, etc.

With this picture in mind, one thought stands out. There is the necessity that we must teach, by our lives and by our words, that in the work of the Lord and in the service of the Lord, in desiring to accomplish the task that is before us, there is a needed balance, with which we will be able to be most effective in our watching and in our working.

We, as your pastors, have been separated from “waiting on tables”, so to speak, and strive to be constant in our giving of ourselves, our entire lives, to the ministry of the word and to prayer. Our desire, our goal, our calling, if you will, is to excel in being the leaders that God has gifted us to be so that you might be the best equipped, as you each are laboring and toiling on the front lines, rebuilding the walls.

Ephesians 4:11-16


When Faith Deteriorates into Hope

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My wife and I have been to beautiful AT&T Park in San Francisco to watch the Giants play on two occasions.  The first time there, we weren’t too many rows above third base and many people had a mitt with them – they were anticipating some foul balls coming their way.  The second time found us high in the right field upper deck seats and virtually no mitts were to be seen.  We had gorgeous views of McCovey Cove, the Bay Bridge, and the upper skyline of the City, but had no expectation of any balls coming our way.

Close to third base, I needed to watch every pitch because something could have come my way in a second. But high in the upper right field seats, I didn’t expect anything to come my way.  Up there, I was at the game, but not in the game.  We see something of this dynamic in Martha’s life in John 11.  After Lazarus died, Martha went from being near third base to the upper right field seats.  She went from expecting something from Jesus to expecting nothing from Jesus.  She took herself out of the field of play.  Her faith deteriorated into hope.  This is what happened to Martha and it’s what can happen to you – you can find yourself sitting in the cheap seats with Martha.  How do I know it can happen to you?  Because it happened to me.  I’ve experienced how faith can deteriorate into hope.  I’ve taken that long walk up the ramp to the cheap seats where I don’t expect much to come my way.

“If only You had been here, my brother would not have died.” 

You know the story – Lazarus is dead and buried.  Jesus delayed His arrival and it was now, after Lazarus has been in the tomb four days, that Jesus finally showed up.  Not only were Martha and Mary grieved by the death of Lazarus, they were shaken by the seeming indifference of Jesus who hadn’t come in time to heal their brother. 

Martha’s faith took a hit.  She didn’t lose her faith – but she did lose the fervency of her faith.  She still loves & believes in the Lord, but her faith isn’t as vibrant & vital as it had been.  She is disappointed with Jesus and tells him so.

On a lesser scale, I know exactly what this is like.  My faith has taken numerous hits. I have been gun shy about promoting various ministry opportunities because they have been largely without effect in the past.  Poorly attended concerts have made me reluctant to want to promote and participate in other similar events.  I just can’t be certain Jesus is going to come through for me.  Ineffective outreaches leave me not so gung-ho the next time because I can’t be sure Jesus is going to show up.  Mediocre ‘body life’ services have made me think twice about scheduling others.  Where was Jesus at our ‘body life’ service?  I have thought many times that Jesus has been late and left me with a funeral to arrange.

From our vantage point, we know what Jesus had in mind.  Jesus assured Martha that her brother would rise again.  Jesus meant resurrection today, but Martha couldn’t go there with Jesus – she said that he would rise in the resurrection on the last day.  Her expectation migrated from today to the last day.  This is precisely where Martha takes the cheap seats.  This is where her faith deteriorated into hope.  This is where she left her seat just above third base and took the long walk up the ramp to the cheap seats.

Faith says that Jesus is with me today.  Hope says that Jesus will be with me tomorrow.  Obviously, hope is a good thing to possess.  It’s one of the Big Three – …now abide faith, hope, love…  But when hope abides without faith, it takes you out of the game and relegates you to the cheap seats.  When hope abides without faith it robs you of today and shifts everything to tomorrow.  Martha had no expectation her brother would rise today.  The deadline had come and gone and Jesus had not come.  Faith says that Jesus is with me today.  Since He is not with me today, all I have is tomorrow.  All that’s left is hope.  She went from faith for a miracle today to hope for one on the last day.

This is one of the devil’s greatest, subtlest tricks – not to deny the power of Jesus, but to relegate it to another day – to make faith deteriorate into hope – to rob me of today and shift everything to tomorrow.  A tomorrow Jesus is a great hope, but I need a today Jesus.

Indications of a valid, but not a vital faith

Disappointment becomes accusation – 21 – If You had been here…

When I am disappointed, I am overcome by the Ifs of life – the would have beens/could have beens/should have beens of life.  I am not elated by what could be, I am deflated by what is.  I no longer look forward to the miracle I expected, I look around at the mess I am left with.  I shift all my expectation to heaven.  And the expectation of heaven is good, but not at the expense of a faith that says Jesus wants to move in power today.

Confession becomes profession – 22 – Martha said, Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, He will give You… 

It’s true, He will – but we know she doesn’t really believe this.  Her confession of faith was a  mere profession of truth.  When faith deteriorates into hope, the dynamic of faith becomes the rehearsal of doctrine.  When faith deteriorates into hope I take refuge in truth, not in the Lord and the strength of His might.  I retreat from a passionate personal faith into a propositional doctrinal one.

Faith becomes hope – present anticipation becomes future expectation – 24  Martha says that Lazarus will rise again on the last day – not today.

22-28  Martha’s present faith is replaced by traditional theology.  She is fearful of believing too much.  She takes refuge in hope, not faith

Martha is in a place where she needs to rededicate her life to the Lord

Rededicate?  Why?  There’s no sin in her life – and there is no life in her life, either!  And it’s more than the death of her brother – it’s the death of a dream.  She was more shook up by the seeming indifference of Jesus than the death of Lazarus.  It is one thing to give yourself to the Lord in the excitement and passion and idealism of youth.  It is another thing to give yourself to the Lord in the realism, the brokenness, and the disappointment of unfulfilled expectations.  So much has happened, so much damage has occurred, so many opportunities have been missed, so much sin has done so much harm, so many regrets have been accumulated, so much disappointment has taken a toll on the soul.  Possibly, without even realizing it, you find yourself next to Martha in the cheap seats and need to give yourself once again to God.  No, you haven’t backslid – there is moral purity and doctrinal integrity, but something has died within you.  Yes, your calling is still intact, but the passion of your calling, that intensity you experienced, that expectation of Jesus moving in power today is a thing of the past.  Disappointment has robbed you of passion and anticipation.  You’re sitting in the cheap seats surrounded by thousands of others who may be cheering, but when you look closer, they aren’t wearing any mitts, either.

Jesus seeks to reignite her staggered faith – to restore her gutted faith

Jesus wanted to move Martha and wants to move you from the cheap seats back into the place of action – from doctrinal profession to personal confession, from future hope to present faith, from tomorrow to today.

Do you have an “if only” faith or an “even now” faith? 

Martha had gone from, “If only You had been here,” to, “Even now God will give You what You ask.”  And even though she really didn’t believe that, you can.  Is He Lord only before bad things happen or is He Lord even now, after bad things have happened?  If you have an ‘if only’ faith, it will turn into mush as did Martha’s.  You do not have an ‘if only’ God, you have an ‘even now’ God.  An ‘if only’ faith cannot fully trust an ‘even now’ God.  Even now, God can comfort; even now God can restore; even now, God can use you; even now God can heal; even now, God can deliver; even now, God can bless.

Abraham had an even now God – and even after his ability to sire children had expired – even now God can bring forth children of Abraham.  Joseph had an even now God – and even after years of imprisonment and loneliness and servitude – even now God exalted him to the right hand of Pharaoh.  Joshua and Caleb had an even now God – even though the Canaanites had cities walled to the heavens and the Israelites were like grasshoppers in their eyes – even now God would drive them out of the land.  Martha, Mary, and Lazarus had an even now God – even though Lazarus was dead for four days – even now Jesus is the resurrection and the life.  You have an even now God though ministry has battered and torn you up. You have a Jesus who is the resurrection and the life today!  May your hope become faith, may your tomorrow become today, may your profession become confession, may your expectation of an even now God become glorious reality as Jesus shows up in your life and in your ministry.  It’s time to get up and change seats.

Understanding Your Context – Daniel Fusco

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When I speak with church planters, I always want to find out about the area that they are ministering. I ask them about the community, its values, its style, the demographics, etc. I find that oftentimes men haven’t taken the time to do any cultural exegesis. At first, this took me aback. But then I remembered that when I planted the church in New Brunswick, I did barely any cultural exegesis. I was a young man with a Bible who knew that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. I had seen the Lord change my life and I had a passion to see people experience that same change. So I set on out, without thinking much about where I was, the uniqueness of the area, etc. Even when we first began, although I was saying all the right things about my understanding of the community, the reality was that I didn’t really take the time to understand the average person in New Brunswick. I didn’t love the community enough to want to really know and understand them. The ministry suffered because of this. Not because I didn’t teach the Word, but because I did but not in a way that anyone could understand. It suffered because I exported the ministries that I had seen at the church that I was an Assistant Pastor at, rather than seeing my area for what it was and tailoring the ministry accordingly. So now, we’re going to look at ways of understanding our ministry context as well as some of the pitfalls that church planters face.

The Most Important Thing about Contextualization

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is unchangeable. It is fixed. It cannot be altered and still be honoring to God Himself. But how we communicate these truths need to be changeable. They will change as the times do and as the culture does. The reason that I say this is the most important thing about contextualization is that many people don’t want to contextualize the gospel because many people change the Gospel to reach a culture (this is called syncretism). This is wrong. But you can package the gospel in such a way as to keep people from actually being able to hear it. Imagine if you were interested in using a new computer. You go and talk to a ‘professional computer guy’ and he speaks to you in very technical, computer geek language. Within a few minutes, you are completely lost and your eyes glaze over and you decide that learning about the new computer is not for you. Is it that you weren’t really interested in learning or was it that the computer guy just shot soo far over your head that you just couldn’t get it? I’m sure a lot of our churches are like this. So in any discussion about contextualization needs to begin and end with the unchangeable gospel that God asks each of us to package specifically for our target audience, our community.

The Scriptures are Completely Contextualized

This was a mind-blowing realization to me. There are four Gospels. Each one has a different audience. Matthew, writing to Jewish people, quotes extensively from Scripture and is constantly looking at the fulfillment of prophecy in the life of Jesus. Mark’s Gospel has very little of this, as he was writing to a different audience. You’ll notice in Luke’s Gospel how he is always clarifying things to explain things that the average Roman wouldn’t understand about Jewish culture. Each of Paul’s epistles are contextualized to a specific area. The Galatians were struggling with the Judaizers, so Paul spoke to them about the necessity of faith apart from works. The church in Corinth was simultaneously spiritually gifted and carnal. So Paul shared to them the unsearchable riches of Christ within their context. Although all of this is God-breathed, it was inspirationally directed to a specific group of people. Not only were the words and concepts inspired, but also that those words and concepts were to be directed to a specific target audience! Jesus was incarnate into first century Judaism. He looked and dressed as they did. He understood how they were raised, as He was raised the same way. He spoke their language. If the Lord would have been incarnate say today in New York City, the Gospels would contain the same truth, but in drastically different packaging. One of the keys to understanding your context and ministering effectively within it is to ask the simple questions (with radically important answers), “If Jesus were to be incarnate today into (insert your location here), what would His ministry look like?” “If the Apostle Paul was doing his missionary work in (insert your location here), where and how would he do his ministry?” Then you should ask the question, “Why aren’t I doing these things?”

Demographic Research Is Not Unspiritual

I had always thought that it was unspiritual to look at demographics. As if using demographics somehow made your calling of God of a lesser effect. I had heard people speak ill of Rick Warren for surveying the area that he hoped to plant in to find out about what the people’s experiences with church and their perceptions of what would be the type of church they would attend. He found, among other things, that people wanted sermons that had real life application to it and they wanted a church that really valued their children. I believe that God wants these things as well for His church. Wikipedia defines demographics as ‘Demographic or demographic data refers to selected population characteristics as used in government, marketing or opinion research, or the demographic profiles used in such research. Commonly-used demographics include race, age, income, disabilities, mobility (in terms of travel time to work or number of vehicles available), educational attainment, home ownership, employment status, and even location. Distributions of values within a demographic variable, and across households, are both of interest, as well as trends over time.’ Demographics are simply a compendium of who lives in your area. It was completely illuminating to read the US Census Data for Mill Valley, California where I currently serve. The people here are 90% Caucasian. 60% of the people have a college degree and one in three people have an advanced degree. The average per family income is more than twice the national average. This simply teaches me that the people here are primarily Caucasian, wealthy, successful and very well educated. This has profound implications for ministry style and approach. Would it be wise to come into a primarily Caucasian area and harp on the need for the ministry to be multicultural? With the education of the area that I am in, I have to make sure to anticipate the intellectual arguments of very well educated people and pepper all messages with this. Demographics are a snapshot of the makeup of your community. You want to know who you are trying to reach and make sure that your approach takes into account the people you are trying to reach and not just your own personal preferences.

We Absolutely Need to Understand the Average Person in our Community

Now I hate to say this but you won’t understand the average person in your community reading Bible commentaries and listening to your favorite pastors. Don’t get me wrong, you need to study to show yourself approved and be edified. But this will not help you understand your missiological context. Are your neighbors reading Bible commentaries? It is doubtful (although we wish they would). Do your neighbors really care about what some group of Christians are doing in some place that they’ve never been that you don’t agree with? Again, it’s doubtful. But oftentimes, this is what pastors do.

I have found that in order to understand the people that you are called to minister to, there are certain things that you can do to aid yourself.

1) Purposefully vary your people context.

Make sure that you spend time with non-Christians and find out what is important to them. It is really easy for church planters and pastors to spend all of their time with folks from within their congregation. It is essential and a disciple to vary your people context. Find out where they get their information from, the books they like, the movies that seem important to them and what they laugh at and why. Talk to them about sports and politics, but not to argue with them, but to understand them.

2) Read their information sources.

Read your local newspaper if it is popular and widely read. Read magazines that are targeting a population that is similar to your own. Read the popular books in your area. You can go into the local large bookstore change and ask them for their list of the most popular books that the store has sold. It’s a good idea to buy a book or two and read it with a mind to both understand your target population and also have a point of contact to begin dialoguing with people about (like Paul’s ‘Unknown God’ reference in the Book of Acts). I have found that magazines are easier than books as they are shorter and not as involved/time consuming. Also, if your area is strongly of a certain political flavor, you want to really understand their worldview so listen to their pundits, even if it makes you a bit nuts. If you want to understand whom you are trying to reach, you’re going to have to make some sacrifices.

3) Find the Points of Commonality

As you speak to people and as you digest their information, find the areas that you can agree on with the culture at large. Most people are used to Evangelicals being completely adversarial in their approach. It turns them off, just as it would us, if we were in their shoes. In almost every culture, there are things that there is agreement on. It’s important to find those points and use them as a relational bridge.

4) Proximity Breeds Accountability

I always encourage church planters to live directly in the community that they are called to. You want to live in the same context as they do. People will consider you irrelevant if you are living in the suburbs and trying to plant a church in the middle of a city ghetto. Your contexts are different and they will see that. You want to shop where they shop, work out where they work it, have the same weather, etc. And by all means, if you move into an area, change your cell phone number to have the same area code as everyone else, there is nothing that says ‘outsider’ more than having a cell phone number from some unheard of area code. And on that note, get your license plates changed ASAP if you move across state lines.

5) Teach As If Your Community’s Seekers Are There

If all of your messages are directed at evangelical people and are concerned with evangelical sub cultural discussions, then the only people who will be interested in them are evangelicals. But in most of our communities, there are less and less evangelicals and more and more people who don’t go to church. If you ever hope to reach your community, you want to make sure that you are teaching to an audience (whether you are in actuality or not) who includes those who are not yet Christian. Don’t just invalidate the average concerns with mockery. Those are real people’s concerns. Teach the Scriptures and show the community God’s love from them by lovingly addressing their most common concerns and explain to them how that concern is either unfounded or way more important than they realize. When you teach, teach as the average person in your community is there, and Lord willing, one day they will be and there will be conversions in the church.

6) Make Sure that You Really Love Them

Love is always relevant. I often think of Jesus eating with the tax collectors and sinners. He was nothing like them, at all. But yet He loved them and spent copious amounts of time with them. Even though He was distinct from them, He was there with them and no doubt, they knew that He loved them. We need to make sure that we love the community that we are trying to reach. We need to beg God for His heart for the people. He loves them. Jesus Christ died on a cross so that those who would come to Him might have life and have it more abundantly. God give us your heart of love for our communities.

From The Archives…

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“Ask what I shall give thee.” 1 Kings 3:5

 

These are the words of the Lord God of Israel to the third king of Israel, Solomon. And I take great great comfort in these words from God because they are so applicable to me today.

The context of God’s offer is an interesting one. At least ten (10) times, definitely more, does God’s word speak of the Lord establishing Solomon’s throne. (“Let God be true and every man a liar.” Romans 3:4).

Then, at the beginning of 1 Kings 3 we see Solomon breaking one of God’s laws for the king…he joins himself, and thereby the kingdom and people of the Lord, to Egypt, by marriage to the daughter of Pharaoh. He then brings her to Jerusalem, but not until the temple of God is built (which is 7 years), and not until his palace is built (which takes 13 years), and not until the city of Jerusalem is walled in. Even if these events took place concurrently and were all accomplished within 13 years, in the midst of this activity something is strangely missing. And that missing component is the voice of God.

Why the long silence?

King Solomon has compromised. The result? Verse 2 of 1 Kings 3 begins thus, “Only the people sacrificed in high places.”

Only?

All those years before the temple was built the nation sacrificed in high place.

Verse 3 tells us, “And Solomon loved the Lord…only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.”

Only?

Verse 4 says “The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place…And the king made a ‘great’ sacrifice, as well. A thousand burnt offerings!”

And what happened to Solomon? Is he struck dead? Does he contract leprosy? No. Verse 5 tells us, tells me, that God came to Solomon.

“And God said, “Ask what I shall give thee.””

In the midst of compromise and sacrificing and burning incense on high places, the greatest of high places, God, in His mercy, appears to Solomon in a dream and says, “What do you want Me to give you, Solomon?”

What comfort! What encouragement! To know that God comes to me when it seems so long in not hearing His voice because of compromise. Just as He is stirring my heart this last week, He comes, through the Living Word, and asks me today, “Ask what I shall give thee.”

“Ask of Me, and I shall give the the heathen (the nations) for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” Psalm 2:8

“Call to Me, and I will answer thee, and shed thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” Jeremiah 33:3

“Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and the door shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8

“And he cried, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me…but he cried so much the more, “Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.”

“…He asked him, saying, “What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?” Luke 18:38-41

He is asking me, He is asking you…

“Ask what I shall give thee.”

“What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?”

“Ask of Me…”

Call to Me…”

“Ask…”

“Seek…”

“Knock…”

“What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?”

Lessons Learned On the Trail

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Church planting is often referred to as trail blazing ministry. I think that would’ve been true maybe ten years ago but that is probably not the case today. The reason is that so many people are walking that path today that it has become a highway. Don’t get me wrong many people are blazing new ground in very hard areas to reach but with the technology and resources out there it has become incrementally easier than a decade ago.

Blazing a new trail is hard work. I ride mountain bikes on some of the best and most beautiful trails in all of California. Those paths are well defined and have been put there by people who did a lot of back-braking work. Just recently a guy in our church decided to develop a new trail which runs right behind my office. We decided to meet after church one Sunday to do some manual labor on the trail. We never made it.

First he decided to pre-ride the trail before I got there and ended up bending his derailer on tree stump that was sticking out. Just as he was getting hauled off the trail by a friend I started on the same trail. I got to a bridge, which I promptly rode off, and bent my front rim. My friend had to come pick me up.

The thing is that established trails are so much more fun because they are defined. They may be difficult due to hills and soft sand but all in all you have a good time while you are out there. New trails are no fun at all. They are poorly marked out, many elements that can do serious damage to your bike, and you often have to backtrack because you got off the path. Usually when you are frustrated by time you are done riding.

This got me thinking about blazing new trails in ministry. You see many of us want to be seen as out in front of the pack blazing trails (i.e. as church planters) but few of are willing to truly do the legwork necessary to develop new trails of ministry. The reasons for that are not always clear seen.

Here are three needed to cut new trails:

  1. You Have To See a New Path No One Else Does: The hardest part of starting a new trail is determining the direction you want to go and having an idea how you want to finish. My friend is a biology teacher. He chose to cut his path along the natural flow of the animals who live in the area. It wasn’t logical or efficient but the trail developed quicker than if he had used other indicators like ease of use.
    This is more than just vision. This is being able to see things that others can’t right now. It is being able to see the connection between what you are doing right now and where you want to go. This take fortitude.
  2. You Have To Go Over the Path Multiple Times: Once you complete the path you will often find that no one is ready to follow you yet. This is because they can’t see what you do. This necessitates you going over and over the path to make clear designations. People want to know where they are going. Our turning from trail blazer to trail guide helps calm their fears.
    So many people take the Lewis and Clark approach to ministry. They do something once, get some notoriety, and then they hit the speaking and book circuit. Being known for the trail that we cut should only be a fruit of the whole reason we cut the trail in the first place
  3. Your Path Has to Go Somewhere: Some of the best trails are never ridden because they go nowhere. Mountain Bikers want ride trails that connect to other trails so that they can go somewhere. Blazing a new trail for the sake of doing something new will end up in a dead end or an unused trail. I have met so many people in ministry who have developed great programs, systems, and events that never caught on because people couldn’t see the value in it. Don’t get caught up in doing a new thing without seriously considering the benefit of it. Being trendy only last for a while because something new comes along.

The best paths that are blazed are those that God has led us down out of necessity. They are total faith walks. Let God use you to blaze new trails.

Saturday Reflection – Dr. Tim Keller speaking at Google on “The Reason for God”

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¿ Apostolic ?

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I recently heard a Christian leader say that “church planters” hold an apostolic role in the church, and that they ought to recognize their call as apostles. Yes, he made a distinction between “the 12” foundational apostles of the church, and explained that an apostle, according to mere definition, is [essentially] one who is sent. A modern day missionary. A “church planter.”

I don’t necessarily have a problem with the title of “apostle” being used for a “church planter.” I think we all recognize the difference between modern day missional pioneers and say, the Apostle John. My concern is that some, who are giving counsel and advice to up and coming planters, are painting a picture of the “church planter” as being some sort of rogue lone ranger, on a mission to which all else refuse to embark.

As I listened to the remainder of the exhortation, seeking to keep an open mind, I found myself thinking, “every true apostle must always begin as a servant.” The reality is that an apostle leads as a servant throughout their ministry. I’m not sure where this splinter cell mindset is coming from, but I don’t think we observe it in the scriptures.

Without a doubt, the church planting, missional, total abandoned, standout apostle of the New Testament is, Paul. Nearly two-thirds of the book of Acts is dedicated to the ministry God wrought through the converted Pharisee. The majority of the New Testament epistles are attributed to the Roman born, Hebrew of Hebrews, and aside from Christ Himself, Paul is perhaps the most well known figure of the first century. But lone ranger, he was not.

Paul’s calling and ordination to the task of an apostle was of God and not of men (Galatians 1:1). Be that as it may, it was not until he was sent out with the blessing of a church that he actually went; and when that day came, he was not alone. The thirteenth chapter of Acts gives a brief summation of the commission. Paul and Barnabas, assembled with the three other leading teachers at Antioch, were ministering to the Lord when He, by His Holy Spirit said, “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.” Following the call they fasted, prayed, laid hands on them and sent them away.

Nowhere do we see Paul or Barnabas giving Simon, Lucius and Manaen an earful about the greater work they had lost sight of or were missing, out on the frontier. Paul did not leave as a misunderstood pioneer without a gracious blessing from his sending church. As often as he declares his apostleship in the New Testament, he bears witness to his servanthood. Was Paul the apostle uncomfortable around other pastors, or something of a misfit? I think not. He recognized and wrote that those called to leadership within the church, whether apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors or teachers (or pastor-teachers if you read it that way), are all called to the same work; equipping the saints for the further work of the ministry and building up of the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-12).

A renewed fervor in church planting is praiseworthy. A desire to see people brought into the kingdom and bearing much fruit is right. But an unwillingness to submit to the leaders of a local church and serve an established body, because of a pressing desire to be the pioneering apostle is, I believe, a mark of immaturity.

I have not planted a church, but would go in a second, were God to call me to do so. But as a pastor of a church I am ready and willing to fast with, pray for and lay hands on those that have proven themselves faithful stewards, as servants among the gathering of God’s people. Hasty, impetuous individuals who push their way out into the field to lay claim to a plot of ground upon which to build a pulpit, prove themselves often times to be no more than self-willed children, unwilling to wait in the proving-ground of ministry for the sincere endorsement of those whom God has made overseers for their souls.

Your leaders understand you far more than you realize. Learn to submit, and let them serve with joy and not grief; it will profit you greatly.