Professionalism in The Ministry

Have you ever stopped to realize how many “poor” churches there are out there? Not necessarily the ones who don’t have very much money, but rather the ones who look like they don’t have very much money. The ones whose grass is badly in need of cutting, whose carpets are stained and dirty, whose air conditioning and heat do not work, and whose pastor couldn’t care less. I know that not every church can be as professional or look as good as some, but there are little things that every church can do to make itself presentable.

As I have attended different churches growing up, I have noticed a few things. For example, my cousins go to a church of maybe 30 in a town of maybe 200, yet their church is clean every Sunday. How do I know? I helped clean it each Saturday night we were there. It did not take much. A vacuum, a broom, some bathroom cleaner, etc. And it took maybe 2 hours of our time. But on Sunday morning, the church looked presentable. It well-represented the Lord.

Where do we get off thinking the church can be cluttered, dirty, or trashy and the lost will still come and focus on the message? Why do we excuse a dirty church on a lack of funds? Personally, if there is being said but rather what was overlooked in the preparation for Sunday. Sure, call me carnal and tell me I need to grow up and focus on God’s Word, but get my point. The lost look at God’s house and automatically assume an image of God based on it. They see clutter and assume an unorganized God. If He can’t take care of His house, how can He take care of my soul? Extreme? Maybe…..but more than likely not. (Hey, if people make a big stink about not using a dirty gas station’s restroom, what makes you think they’ll sit in a dirty or cluttered church for an hour?)

So what do we do? We take time to clean up God’s house. Don’t excuse a dirty church for more time spent in prayer and preparation. This is part of the preparation! No one will give a rip about how well-prepared your message is if the room they are sitting in is cluttered and dirty!

I guess my point is, people assume an image of God based on the professionalism of your ministry. How are they seeing God?

Does It Really Matter?

Too many people today place much time and energy into debating whether or not women should wear pants. Is it modest? Is it feminine? Is it biblical? Is it proper? You know what I think? I think we should forget the debate and focus on God.

Where in the Bible does it tell us that women are not to wear pants? I know it tells me that women should look like women and men should look like men; that there is to be a distinct difference. And yes, I do believe there is a distinct difference between women’s pants and men’s jeans. So why have we made such a big issue out of this?

A friend told me of a recent case involving a well-known Christian lawyer and an employer. Apparently, the employer was telling his female employ that she was to wear pants as part of her work uniform, but this particular employee was a Christian and did not believe in wearing pants. So she hired this lawyer to argue her case in court.

Come on people, is this a good use of the Lord’s money? When we have courts taking down the Ten Commandments, doctors killing unborn babies, and schools banning prayer, are we really going to stand in court and argue whether or not a woman can wear pants?

I think this is another example of someone imposing their personal preferences on someone else. Don’t tell me how you think I should interpret the Bible. Let the Holy Spirit work in my life and show me what I should and shouldn’t wear.

I say it is high time we shift the focus from the rules and regulations of Christianity to our hearts. Too long we have gone around with our nose to the ground seeking to enforce rules. Rather, why don’t we lift up our eyes and seek to cultivate hearts that love God. Why don’t we seek to know Him more? As we focus on God and on worshipping Him, He will show us the path He wants us to take and the standards He would have us set up in our lives.

Let’s not make this issue bigger than it really is.

women in church leadership

1 Tim 2:12

But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. (KJV)

And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. (NKJV)

I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. (NIV)

I don’t let women take over and tell the men what to do.  (THE MESSAGE)

I include four versions of this verse to emphasize a point.  There is nothing in any one of them that precludes a woman from leadership in the church. Of course I believe God’s Word does preclude them from being a senior pastor or in pastoral leadership. It is kind of hard for them to be the husband of one wife. But on the other hand nothing in God’s Word says they can’t lead. It just says they can’t usurp or steal the leadership from a man.

If there is man to do the job. Let them man do it! Of course in the old testament case of Deborah and Barak… Barak was timid and an introvert and he lacked basic leadership skills and courage to do the job. Therefore God used Deborah to bring about victory through the courage and leadership she provided. Yet she did not usurp authority over Barak becuase he was not showing any.

I think the same is true in our day and age. Many times lazy Christian men regrettably do not take the leadership in their homes or churches.  It gives women a chance to lead. They are not usurping authority they are simply assuming it. They are letting God use them.

Some of the best leaders I know of are women. They are organized and many times very committed in their service and leadership. One of my favorite worship leaders Darlene Zschech is a woman. She did not usurp a man’s authority to become that, God used her to fill a niche at Hillsong Church. When God asked for a servant she volunteered and her ministry has touched thousands.

My hope is that men will stand up and fill the roles of leadership in the church. But I belive balance is needed in the is area. In all reality God does not look on us as male and female – for with Him there is neither male nor female, slave or free man. God is looking for usable vessels.  Those surrendered to Him will be used.

On a staff that I once served on their was various women who led entire ministries and they did an excellent job and were used by God in a special way. Also there was many fine young men that led in a way that was pleasing to God. I am not trying to create a battle of the sexes here but I am saying that each gender should just surrender to being used by God. Those that say and practice that women cannot be in ministry leadership are dead wrong according to the Bible. I believe on every ministry team there should be a balance of input and leadership from both men and women.

Women must be careful that they do not roll right over men. Being a man but I hate to admit it but many times women have the jump on us in the areas of innovation and creativity. If we all will approach our various rolls from the standpoint that we are just servants of God then none of us will have a problem with any other ministry colleagues regardless of gender. Because everything we do will be to see God’s Work go forward through the combined energy of men and women working together.

God Bless.

Raising the Dead

First Thessalonians 4:16b “…and the dead in Christ shall rise first.”

Many of our churches today seem to be trying to win this race. They want to be first in the resurrection so they remain dead! But it’s high time we woke up! We will not reach our generation if we remain lifeless. It’s time to wake the dead.

How do we wake the dead? How do we take a meaningless repetition of old songs, an offering, and a message and transform it into an energetic time of worship and praise of our God with a relevant message? It all hinges on one aspect of the service—the music.

Music sets the mood for the service and the overall effectiveness of the message. Music is such a powerful tool. And it is just that—a tool. God gave us music to praise Him. Yes, man has distorted that tool, but man has distorted just about everything God has given us. So instead of throwing out all music because some is bad, we must use the tool correctly.

Example. If I set a hammer before you and asked you what it’s used for, you would probably say to pound in nails, hang pictures, etc. But what if I told you I found that hammer at the scene of a violent crime and that it had been used to commit a murder? Would you outlaw all hammers because one had been misused? Follow me here.

Okay the parallel. God has given us music as a tool and because some of it is being misused, we automatically label any type of music with a beat as bad. The beat in music is not bad. Gasp. Yes, stay with me. What the beat causes you to do and the spirit it creates in you makes it either good or bad. If it causes you to think wrongly, lust, or sin, then yes, it would be bad. But if it helped you in worshipping your God, then no it is not a sin. It is helping you do something good—something God commanded! Psalm 100:1-2 says, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.”

Think about your day of worship yesterday. Did you come before God with singing? Did you make a joyful noise unto Him? Far too often, we confuse the singing of old songs we’ve known for years and don’t even have to read the words as our worship. I doubt God is truly praised when we merely repeat words. But when we focus our hearts on Him and we worship Him through vibrant praise and a meditation of body, mind, and soul on Him, He is honored and glorified!

Now, do I think so-called Christian contemporary music is wrong? No. Do I believe that some forms of Christian rock are okay? Yes. Also, do I believe that there are some songs that can create a fleshly rather than Christ-like spirit in the body? Of course! I am not saying that all music goes in church! It still must be Christ-honoring and uplifting. But I challenge the thinking that only hymns written before a certain date are acceptable. We must not think that God stopped working in hearts after 1943 or whenever. He is still powerful, still almighty, still omniscient, still sovereign, and can still work in lives today! He still moves men to write songs that honor Him.

My point is this: God wants you to worship Him, truly worship Him. He wants you to come to Him, fully aware of His greatness and your insignificance. He wants you to lift your voice to Him and ascribe Him the worth He is due. He wants you to pour out your heart to Him through praise and honor. He deserves it after all He has done for us! Now, how is the best way to do all that? Exactly. Now focus your mind, soul, and body on Him and praise your God for how great He is and for all He has done for you!

The Dead Zone

Sunday morning. Time for church. Time to collectively worship God with other believers through praise, song, and a helpful message. I don’t know about you, but I get excited about praising and worshiping my God. I usually pop in a praise cd on my way to church to help get me in the worship mindset. When I get to church, I’m usually just bursting full of praise and my mind is set on my God.

Yet, so often I come into church to be met by a wave of coldness. No it’s not the air conditioner (although might I add that our worship center is entirely too cold, but that’s another post for another day). It is not even the congregation, per se. What is causing this coldness? What is turning my heart from a heart of worship and praise to a passive heart? It is the overall routine and monotony of the service.

Do you know what I’m talking about? The pastor or whomever gets up and says the same thing they say each week to greet the crowd and welcome the visitors. I’m sure if I wanted to, I could stand up and recite the schpeel along with him. Then we sing a few lifeless songs and a choir number that would sound better at a funeral.

Oh and to prepare us for the message Mrs. Smith will stand up and sing a song that I swear was written to put children to sleep at night. After the song, the last thing I want to do is listen to a sermon. I want to curl up in my pew and fall asleep. Which is exactly what some church members do. (Well, not literally curl up in the pew, but you know what I mean.)

Now, how is it that I can be pumped up to worship God and to hear from His Word, but that energy is taken from me by the people who are supposed to be leading me in praising my God? Maybe it’s just me, but aren’t they supposed to be helping me in this? Why am I coming to church if I get more excited about worshiping God than the worship leader?

This is all too common in many of our churches. And I think it’s time for a change. God never meant for church to become a routine, a monotony of repeated songs and a rehearsed message. He wants us to praise Him from our hearts and to gain knowledge and help from His Word.

It’s sad to say, but many pastors are not correctly shepherding their sheep in this area. No I am not attacking pastors, but I am merely challenging their methods. What do you think God would want? A group of lifeless people repeating songs from memory, or a group of energetic believers praising God from their heart and truly meaning it.

We have seen this for far too long. It is time to take our churches out of the dead zone. It’s time to let them fall back in love with God and worship Him with all their hearts. It’s time for change.

An Audience of One

There are so many schools of thought and personal preferences regarding music in christian circles that it almost is impossible to state any preference without fear of being criticized by someone. Their is so much strife and legalistic behavior over music in the church that it would seem simpler just to eliminate it all together. Problem solved!

Then we must remember that we are instructed by God’s Word to sing and make music, to praise and worship through song and instruments. To dance before the Lord. To sing to the Lord. The Psalms are full of such instruction. These admonitions all indicate that our worship should be energetic, joyful and should be an example to those who do not yet know Christ.

Music is not meant to be evangelistic in itself. That is the purpose of Biblical exposition. But God centered worship, flowing from a joyful heart will be an example to the unbeliever. We must look at the value music has in our worship and our church ministry.

In Colossians we are told to “sing songs and hymns and spiritual songs.” Obviously the Apostle Paul left it slightly ambiguous as to the style. The Holy Spirit inspired him to write that because God new there would be different styles down through the centuries. He knew that music would be different and diverse and that there would be a great variance of opinion.

The instruction is the following – songs, makes sure it is actually music. Hymns-a rhyming song or poem and spiritual songs – fairly descriptive make sure it is spiritual, worshipful and brings glory to God. I didn’t read anything in there about evangelistic songs. It is because he also wrote that “the natural man won’t receive spiritual things” So if we sing songs to be evangelistic they aren’t really going to understand them.

Salvation comes through the “foolishness” of preaching not music. In the same passage Paul writes that “what ever we do should be done with all our might to the Lord” so if we are supposed to be singing to the Lord we should be full of joy and energy because we are loving God with all our soul, mind and strength.

Redefining the Standard

“Well, Johnny, I heard you listening to some contemporary music last night. You know you shouldn’t do that. It will pull you away from God. You must stay away from that heathen music.”

Sound familiar? In some form or another, I’m sure we’ve all dealt with these situations. A well-meaning authority figure questions your music, movies, or overall behavior. But this isn’t a question of your decisions, but rather your personal convictions.

The problem with some people’s view of standards and personal convictions is that they do just that—standardize it. They group everyone in one category and then set before them rigid rules. That’s not what God intended. Yes, God wants us to develop convictions in our lives, but that’s just it; He wants us to develop them. We can’t be told what to believe or be forced to accept a universal set of standards. We must develop them on our own through prayer and time in God’s Word.

Personal convictions cannot be forced on anyone. Many people would like you to believe that developing personal convictions means taking on the convictions of those over you. Not so. This is a false sense of conviction. When you leave those people or those over you fall, you are stuck with their convictions and no firm foundation of your own. When someone challenges your convictions or pokes holes in your theory, who will you run to? Brother so and so, or God’s Word? When things get tough, you will go ultimately to the thing or person upon which your convictions are founded.

Now, in developing your own convictions, you must consider your past life experiences. Okay, let me give you an example. Sam used to be a hardcore rocker before he was saved. He partied, drank, and attended concerts. Now that he’s saved, he’s trying to set up standards and guidelines in his life to help him from falling. He listens to some Christian rock and it causes him to think about his days as a rocker. It draws him back into that lifestyle. This obviously is not a good style of music for him. He must set a conviction in his life that he will stay away from Christian rock. This is all based on his life experience.

Steve, on the other hand, has grown up in a good Christian home and doesn’t have any bad experiences in his past. He loves God, church, and his family. Steve also listens to Christian rock—the same music Sam tried to listen to. But Steve doesn’t have those past experiences surface when he listens to it. He hears the lyrics and takes the message of the song to heart. He is drawn closer to God as he listens to the song. This conviction (or as some would see it as a lack of conviction) is also based on his life experience.

But what many churches and church movements do is they set a universal standard and say that no one is allowed to listen to certain types of music. If God had wanted a universal set of standards, don’t you think He would have given them to us in His Word? He gave us the Ten Commandments (Even then, He doesn’t expect us to keep them! They are a guide to show us our need of Him.) so why wouldn’t He have given us His “Ten Standards” or “Ten Personal Convictions”? This is because there is no set standard that fits everyone.

Personal convictions are developed by the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of each believer. My convictions will be different than yours because number one, we don’t have the same life experiences, and number two, the Holy Spirit moves differently in my life than He does in yours.We shouldn’t criticize someone based on their personal convictions. If we do, we are really criticizing the work of the Holy Spirit in their life. That doesn’t seem smart to me! (Granted, there are people who will take this principle and fail to set any convictions in their life, claiming grace, but that’s another subject, and I seriously doubt they spent time in prayer and meditation before they set those standards. But who’s questioning the work of the Holy Spirit in their life!)

I would challenge you to prayerfully consider your convictions and standards. Have you ever prayed over them for God’s will to be done? If so, then do not listen to those who would try to standardize all convictions. After all, it is you who will be standing to give an account before God, not them.

Why Old Fashioned?

Old Fashioned! I strongly dislike those two words. They invoke images of horse-&-buggies, men in tall hats and ladies with bonnets in the minds of most if not all 21st Century Americans. Most fundamentalists spout the term with a glint of pride in their eye. But nothing could be more detrimental or misrepresenting than those two words. They are clumsily attempting to label their values as historic or somehow older thus more valid than all these new fangled ideas (there’s an archaic term for ya). Yet I believe they are doing damage to themselves every time it comes out of their mouth or shows up somewhere on a reader board in front of their church.

Is God’s Word old fashioned or relevant to today? Is it descriptive of a society in general that forgets about God and small remnants of people that obey God? Does it show the natural progression of man from disbelieving God to believing he himself is a god? If we look around us we would see that God’s Word relevantly deals with the issues we face today. The Bible is more relevant than tomorrow’s online news. Since our faith is based on it how can our faith be old fashioned.

I wonder when it came about that Christians first fancied themselves old fashioned. I wonder who was sitting there in his study and said “by the beard of Zeus they call me old fashioned because I’m old fashioned…” It may not have happened that way but now is the time to move on. The time is now to label ourselves in a relevant and understandable manner.

Our Post Modern day and age doesn’t need old fashioned Christians it needs relevant Christians. Believers who have a clear understanding of the times and realize the need of the hour is not a label but a love for those around them.

Church Lingo

Part of the problem with church people is church lingo. Church speak I believe should be banned. The amount of archaic words that drift through the halls of churches on any given Sunday would confuse even the most astute ears.  Brother this, sister that, beloved, etc…  I am sick of it! It is not understandable to many and definitely not understandable by any un-churched individuals. Since when were we too big for our britches to just be called by our first name. Of course growing up in a pastor’s home I thought my dad’s first name was pastor. Pastor’s should be respected but you don’t need to call them brother.

Teachers that use archaic words easily lose their audience. One of the teachers that is a big mentor to me is very good at teaching like he is conversing one-on-one with you. It is just his regular voice using regular words and people get him. They understand because he speaks plainly.

There are of course some very archaic words in most any version of the Bible you choose to pick up. Honestly one-hundred years ago there were still remnants of those words floating around in everyday conversation.  We can really weird people out if we are not careful. Of course with the advent of text messaging and email our vocabularies and spelling seem to matter less and less. I am waiting for them to come out with the “Text Message Bible”. They say it will be a really good read. But I digress – the reality is folks that we are living in a post modern age where the peculiarity of believers should be their life of faith and peace not the archaic lingo they use.

They should know us by our love not the “Old-Fashioned” things that slip out.

Unsalted Crackers

Everyone loves Saltine crackers. They go well with so many things… a square of cheddar cheese, a bowl of chicken noodle soup, crumbled up in a bowl of chili, with flat ginger ale when you have the stomach flu. They are useful, ubiquitous and versatile. They usually come with the right amount of salt sprinkled on them to give them flavor.

A number of months ago a Christian young person I know, who is heavily involved in church and very committed to his faith made this statement. “I am tired of unsalted crackers”. How ironic. We are the “salt of the earth” the gospels tell us. “If the salt loses it’s flavor how can it be salted?”

My fear is that many of our churches have become the unsalted crackers of our modern age. Many Fundamental churches are awash in this condition. It is not because of a certain music style, a teaching style or a series of personal preferences. It is the fact that church has become a system, a thing to do.

I would have to admit I feel the same way as the above-mentioned young person. I am very frustrated with the system as it is.

Sermons tend to be very verbose and too long. They leave me with no practical use or memorable principle. Worship is trite and routine. There is no vibrant worship of any style. Music is invariably dull. Service is for the highly esteemed individuals that the staff chooses to represent them on stage, in front of a children’s class or teaching the youth. People are groomed for their ministry “jobs”.

There is emphasis on appearance. Hair short on men, long on women. Dress up for church because that is giving your best to God. The leadership is always very grave, dressed up and very decorous.

This leaves young people and adults alike looking for flavor, grasping for authenticity. I believe the commercialism of the seeker churches, the doldrums of fundamental churches and the general church system at large has pushed many to chase the emergent church. A style which I believe is good at heart but not in practice. The reason being that they are grasping at authenticity with such vigor that they tend, for the most part to ignore basic doctrines.

Is the answer good fundamental churches? Is it the emergent churches? Or seeker mega churches? No! Am I against the church? Absolutely not! The local church is the answer. The reason I am publishing this blog is in defense of the local church.

There has been people in every age who have stood up and made a change. In my small way I am attempting to do the same. I am not saying that a new movement has to be started. That may be the case in the future but I am saying the local church is the key because the local church is made up of individual believers who can stand up and demand salted crackers. Those of us who are passionate about being fed from God’s Word and worshiping God with song, with service not system. We must be willing to demand a change.

We need to stand up and demand a change from our leaders… we want authenticity and we want it now!