I’ve been taking a blog-break, if you haven’t noticed. Part of this is because things have become rather hectic recently. Major changes in life have been occuring. At the end of June, my brother and his wife came to stay with me for a while. This has changed my life habits somewhat, and blogging became less of an outlet for my communication once I had “real people” in my house.

I’ve been working through several pastoral crises in my professional work, and these have consumed a great deal of time and effort, on top of the “normal” work of congregational leadership. Since they were on the top of my mind and I could not go into them here, the blog became silent for lack of alternative subject matter in my head.

I’ve been wrestling with schedule and scheduling, work versus free time, and an overall need for life balance that has been sadly lacking in the year and four months here in Warren. I am working to change the pace of ministry, away from the Heroic efforts and Titanic proportions expected by myself and by many people with whom I am in ministry contact. Sane ministry must maintain a balance of giving and receiving - with God, others and ourselves engaged therein. Having tipped too far into the “giving” side of the ledger, I needed to take a few steps back.

Having said all this, I’ve come to the conclusion that the phrase “ministry is all-consuming, keep it in good boundaries” is only partially correct, and maintains a perspective that still does not answer to the work of the New Creation. Ministry that is all-consuming is not acting within the Call of God. God does not call us to be consumed by our work for him; he does, however, invite us to do the work we see him doing in the way he does it, with appropriate activity and rest.

Another change has been in my sermon preparation. I’ve been reverting to handwritten notes, rather than the laptop, for my presentation. I am working to develop a preaching ability that moves without notes. This will not be primarily ex tempore preaching, but rather the preparation will change, and has. I am making a conscious effort to use whatever tools (laptop being one of them) at my disposal to develop teaching. encouragement and exhortation with the Bible as the canon (measuring stick) of what I do - all the while crafting the medium to the message. In the end much of this boils down to developing a deep understanding of the passage of Scripture and proclaiming it from the heart, drawing connections to congregational and individual life. Using the laptop every week helped me develop a style and way of crafting a message; forcing myself to type it all out every week sometimes works at cross-purposes to its actual delivery and intent.

So for the M Squared T blog, there probably won’t be sermons here for a while. Not until it becomes convenient and appropriate to put them here. As for the other posting, it will be pretty regular, although my attempts at once-daily posting will be frought with peril, I suspect.

Grace and Peace be with you all in abundance.

Seen on a billboard in Houston, TX:

As far as anyone knows, this was the work of some very dedicated graffiti artists.

Story here, extra link here.

Hahaha

So today I took a “Personal Retreat.”

I needed to get organized and to pray through ministry priorities. I was able to do a lot of that. My average week is overload. I’ve still got to figure out what is going to give.

Grace and Peace.

The Church Report recently released a list of the top 50 most influential churches. I get the impression that these are the top 50 most influential American churches, but more on that later.

The top 10:

1. Willow Creek Community Church (South Barrington, IL)
   Bill Hybels
2. Saddleback Church (Lake Forest, CA)
   Rick Warren
3. North Point Community Church (Alpharetta, GA)
   Andy Stanley
4. Fellowship Church (Grapevine, TX)
   Ed Young Jr.
5. Lakewood Church (Houston, TX)
   Joel Osteen
6. Southeast Christian Church (Louisville, KY)
   Bob Russell
7. LifeChurch.tv (Edmond, OK)
   Craig Groeschel
8. The Potter’s House (Dallas, TX)
   T.D. Jakes
9. Brooklyn Tabernacle (Brooklyn, NY)
   Jim Cymbala
10. North Coast Church (Vista, CA)
    Larry W. Osborne

The entire list can be found here.

Something that someone said in the discussion here jogged a couple of observations on this list:

1. Not every large American church is on the list. There are some that are larger than these. The significant issue here is if they are influential outside of their own congregation and building’s walls.

2. Almost every pastor on the list has written at least 1 book.

3. The “Pastor’s Job Description” is very non-traditional. Moreover, it seems to be shaped by the mission of the church to reach out, rather than by what “pastors normally are supposed to do.” The pastors are able to put major time and effort into the use of their top gifts, and the rest is delegated to others. They manage to do this without becoming caricatures of their true selves.

4. Each one of these congregations has raised up strong non-professional leaders alongside the professional ones. “Pastoral Care” is distributed across the leadership. Much of it is done by people in the “small groups” that these churches meet in.

5. Most of these churches began VERY small. Something like a Bible Study in someone’s home. Either that, or they made some successful transition from “traditional” to these non-traditional forms.

6. Most of these churches use small-group or cell-group models, but most are still big-event centered congregations.

And now, for a couple of criticisms of the list:

1. It’s only American churches. One could suggest that David (Paul) Yonggi Cho’s Yoido Full Gospel Church (Assemblies of God) could be considered pretty influential with 780 THOUSAND members. No, they don’t all meet for worship at the same time. [Reference] Are the only influential churches in the world American? I think not!

2. Because of the nature of the list, there isn’t much to tell whether these congregations are influencing their local neighborhoods and communities. Do they have (inter)national impact? Of course! But how are they doing with local issues, especially poverty/injustice?

3. There are some very small churches and communities with a disproportionate impact that could not be listed in a “top 50″. The WWW has helped to launch many of them to stardom. Maybe we need a “top 50 most dispropotionately influential (little-guys)” list.

All in all, however, as Bob Franquiz says, most of these churches influence us in a lot of different ways.

As for me, I’ve read Hybels (1) and Warren (2). I haven’t read Cymbala (9) (yet), but I’ve read McManus (12). I can’t get enough of Rob Bell’s (17) stuff, and I thought it distressing when Mark Driscoll (22) from the other Mars Hill started firing from the hip at the emerging folks. Stanley (3) and Osteen (5) are people I’ve seen as peripheral in my work, and one guy at church quotes me TD Jakes (8) a lot. Falwell (27)? Well. McArthur (31) isn’t my cup of tea; I used to listen to Greg Laurie (33) on the radio after my bedtime as a kid. I did so surreptitiously. Kent Hughes (37) and College Church were good parts of my Seminary experience, bringing in intellectually stimulating seminars that I attended. Michael Slaughter (38) was usually Dr. Quicke’s Prime Example Number 1 for creativity in preaching, although Dr. Q. had his issues with Slaughter from time to time, I think. I used Piper’s (42) Baptist Catechism for a while. It’s a Baptistified [heh] version of the 39 (or XXXIX) Articles which retains enough Calvin to make some people gag. However, it is a very useful system I’ve used as a model for my own catechesis development. Dr. Tony Evans (44)? Wow. I could listen to that guy preach ALL DAY. Every day. Ortberg (45)? Well, I did hear him preach when he was at Willow Creek. His reputation for never coming in contact with an iron preceded him, and he lived up to the expectation that day. And his book on Spiritual Disciplines is going to take us all by storm around here these days, ’cause if you want to walk on water, you’ve got to get out of the boat, even with all of the wind and the waves. Lucado (46), well, most of his stuff isn’t my style but he’s cool. Leith Anderson (47) spoke at Northern when I didn’t know who he was and I think I missed it. My loss. My BIG loss.

By my count, that’s 19 of the 50. Yeah, they’re influential.

Found via CMS.

I’ve just had two really long days… I’ll be back soon.

This sermon was handwritten due to the presentation style. If I get a chance to transcribe it, it will go up here.

Grace and Peace…

I found this almost a year ago, and thought it fit:

Dear Jesus,

We’ve valued your contributions these past three years but, despite the fact that your Father owns all the livestock on all those hills, an objective look at your numbers reveals that you haven’t been able to generate more than twelve solid leads.

Yeah, we recognize the fact that you’ve presented a couple of good sales pitches to some fairly large crowds, the simple fact remains that at the ‘end of the day’ you were only able to ‘close a deal’ with the same guys you came with. Now we must admit that anybody that can provide perpetual food and drink at parties is a guy you want to hang onto, but you realize as well as anyone else that each team member needs to carry His weight. At this point in time you’re just not cutting it.

We wish you well in all of your future efforts and thank you for your faithful service. We know you’ll find success, but the issue is that you haven’t found it here.

Our Best…

From Boar’s Head Tavern via The Dying Church

Why ought we measure Jesus’ followers any differently than we measure him?

Via Subversive Influence:

There is much talk in the American church about being missional. This word implies at least two theological and ecclesiological course corrections. On the one hand, missional hints at moving from church as a “club� for Christians, to church as Christ’s body, sent by God to reconcile the world to Himself. On the other hand, missional means moving from missions as an activity in which a few Christians are sent to foreign countries to convert unbelievers, to mission as God’s most basic purpose, intended for all believers. One definition of missional congregations is “those communities of Christ-followers who see the church as the people of God who are sent on a mission.�

and…

As we commit to becoming missional churches, we should expect some bumps. Becoming more missional will require “organized abandonment� of some policies and programs that do not align with our mission. There will always be tenacious advocates of any program we either abandon or radically change, and people who will take issue with every dollar diverted in another direction.

To travel this course successfully, church leaders will need a clear vision of where we are headed and why, resolve to stick to decisions, and a strong community among themselves to help deal with the arrows that will fly. But the price we will pay will be worth the goal we are aiming for, a church that is working aggressively to: follow Jesus as Lord; manifest God’s kingdom to an unbelieving world; and work with the Holy Spirit in drawing people into his kingdom.

“Bumps”? Yeah. No kidding.

But for some of us it’s probably “bump” or “crash.” I’d rather “bump.”

Rise Up and Build is a phrase we will all become increasingly familiar with over the course of the next two years. It comes from Nehemiah 2:18, where Nehemiah invites the people of Jerusalem to rebuild the city’s walls so that their city could return to life and vitality. As he spoke to them, the leaders of the city responded, “Let us rise up and build!�

Linked very closely to this passage from Nehemiah is another verse from Matthew’s account of the Good News of Jesus, 16:18. Jesus says, “I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.� Peter has just acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah promised by God through the Prophets, and as the Son of God. It is on this statement, this “rock,� that God will build his People of the New Creation, the Church.

Rise Up and Build is a congregational transformation process in which we have been invited to participate through ABC/Ohio. It ties together these two verses of Scripture as the visionary basis for congregational renewal. It acknowledges that there has been congregational decline, and that something new must be done to bring life to the Body. It also declares that God builds the congregation, and we are called to be his collaborators – yes, co-laborers with Christ himself – founded upon our common acknowledgment that Jesus Christ is God himself sent to earth as Messiah to fulfill all of the promises of God by bringing about the Kingdom of Heaven in our midst.
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Sermon 2 July 2006
4 Pentecost Proper 8
Mark 5:21 – 43

What do we expect?

[God, what are you saying to us through this passage of Scripture today? What is the message you want us to hear? How should we respond? What do you have to say to this people? What is your Good News for this passage, for this people? ]

[Intro]

[Seeing an old story with new eyes]

[Mark’s use of “salvation� for “healing�]

…

The Synagogue Ruler, Jairus, comes to Jesus and tells him that his daughter is “at her end.� He asks Jesus to come and lay his hands on her, so that she might be saved and live. The word for “healing� in this case is the same as that for “salvation.�

The same goes for the woman who is bleeding. She says, literally, “If only I might touch his clothes, I would be saved!� And she reaches, and touches, and lo and behold, she’s healed! She felt it in her body.

Once Jesus confronts her, she falls down in worship and explains her infirmity – perhaps with shame for her uncleanness and embarrassment over her particular malady – and Jesus declares, Daughter, your faith has saved you.

When Jesus and his disciples and the girl’s parents have entered the room alone, Jesus says to the girl, “Rise.� This connects “salvation� to the healing even more strongly. Jairus asks Jesus to save his daughter, and then there is Resurrection.
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