by Tim | Dec 15, 2010 | God, My World, The Scriptures |
I’ve heard this said before, and as awkward as it sounds, I agree with it: “If I had to choose between the truth or Jesus, I’d pick the truth.” Before anyone things I’m a heretic, let me explain: Unlike many other religions, Christianity is based on truth. For example, if Jesus didn’t really rise from the dead, Christianity is a lie. And if Jesus didn’t really rise from the dead, I refuse to continue as a Christian. That’s because I want to know the truth. I’m a Christian because I believe it is the truth. Some people just want to find a religion that makes them happy, or that agrees with their sense of right/wrong, or that brings them fulfillment. Christianity for them is a good option for choosing how to live one’s life. But that’s not the basis of Christianity. It’s basis is that the events recorded in Scripture actually happened, and that Jesus is who He said He is. That means we can trust Jesus and we can trust His word. The apostles didn’t die for their faith in Jesus, because they could “dig” His way of life (it was actually a difficult way of life). They died for the faith, because they knew He had risen and He was the Son of God who died to save the world from its sins. If you are currently struggling to figure out which religion one should follow out of the many choices out there, let me give you some advice: go with the truth. Don’t go with what simply appeals to you. If after investigation, you determine that...
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by Tim | Dec 3, 2010 | Miscellaneous |
Dear People Who Read Me, To the countless masses of who read me so dutifully and faithfully, I ask a favor. After being hosted by (company name redacted) for a year or two, I feel it is time for me to move on to another place to rent out space. While I paid my rent each month, the space was a little cramped, and the landlord didn’t do a good job of fixing things up in a timely manner. So I’m trying out a new web host company to see if this works out better. How can you help? Well, of course I’d appreciate any money you could spare to pay the rent (it’s a bit higher here), but I’m realistic–I don’t expect that to happen. But what would help out is if you wouldn’t mind browsing through several blog posts today. I’d like to see what happens to my home (server) when lots of guests (web traffic and hits) stop by. My webmaster, Tim, (who dutifully and faithfully writes everything I tell him to) will monitor my status to see if this new home will hold up. And if you notice me being more sluggish than usual when you click on pages or anything, please send me a note (you can comment below on this post, or comment on Facebook), so I can pass it on to Tim. I mean, really…is this too much to ask? I’ve been giving you lots of deep thoughts and spiritual insights for almost a year now. It’s just a small way to give back. Live Long And Prosper, Out Of My Falkan...
by Tim | Nov 30, 2010 | The Church World |
Most congregants in your typical local church remain largely ignorant of what goes on “behind the scenes” at their church. It’s not until they are thrust into some sort of lay leadership role that much of this stuff becomes apparent. Many people thrust in these roles are unable to cope with the things they see or hear. Many leave the church, disillusioned.Perhaps it is a good thing that only a few people in a local church see these things; otherwise we might have a mass exodus from the Church. Some argue that this mass exodus is already happening. Maybe people see/hear more than we dare admit. Fewer and fewer people are attending church as time goes on. Despite our best tactics to get them to come, people continue to be turned off to church. As a person who has served on staff at a few churches, I can’t say I’m entirely surprised. As much “junk” as lay people see when they rise to leadership roles, often staff members see even more. Some of the things that seem innocent enough to congregants, if you were on staff at a church, you might feel differently. In my last blog post, I lamented over the way most churches are run: either with a government atmosphere or a business atmosphere. As a staff person who has served in both environments to a degree, I feel I can confidently say that neither atmosphere is spiritually healthy, even though it may appear so to many of the congregants. While it may look good to the congregant that their church is bringing in new visitors, that...
by Tim | Nov 27, 2010 | God, The Church World |
Churches who have been around for awhile (say 30 or more years), tend to be run a certain way. The way I’ve often heard it said is, “Churches tend to be run like a business.” I hate the business model of church. Yet, in my experience, this isn’t really how these older churches are run. In my opinion, they’re run more like the government. Most people complain about how the government is run. The stereotype is out there that whatever the government does, the private sector could do it much better, with greater efficiency, and with better results. I think this is a great example of how these older churches are run. They are full of plenty of bureaucracy. For example, if you want to paint the walls of the church, the color must be approved by the trustees, and then the money has to be approved by the finance committee, and then the date needs to be approved by the calendar committee, etc etc etc. Simple, unimportant things tend to take up way to much of the church’s time and become too important in people’s eyes. So we moan about such a business-like mentality. To me, it seems more like a government mentality. You also find quite a bit of politicking going on in such churches. You need to know who to please, whose bad side you don’t want to get on, who the movers and shakers are, etc. You learn what the sacred cows are–and not to mess with them. If you want to get anything done, you have to “work the system.” To retaliate against this...
by Tim | Nov 23, 2010 | God, Our Culture, The Church World, Youth Ministry |
I’m no longer a youth pastor, but I’ve been recently reflecting over my tenure in youth ministry. It hasn’t been all happy thoughts. In fact, much of it has been disappointing thoughts. I think being in youth ministry is one of the hardest areas of ministry, because you’re working with people who are usually not at all mature. Not only are they not mature in faith, they aren’t mature as people in general. They’re not stable. You can’t rely on them for very much. Yet you pour your life into them, looking for fruit, only to often find quite a bit of frustrating and disappointing results. I think with technology today, it makes it even harder. In the past, you could pour your life into kids, and just pray and hope that it would make a difference in their lives as they grow older, not knowing how their life would turn out. But today, with things like Facebook, you stay connected with them. I look at my friends on Facebook from both churches I youth-pastored at, and I am often extremely disappointed to see their attitudes, lack of faith in Christ, poor life-choices, etc. Part of me wonders if it was really worth it. Did Christ really do anything in their hearts? That’s why near the end of my tenure at my last church, I became increasingly aware that the best way to really disciple youth is to see their parents become genuine disciples of Christ. Too many parents think that being a Christian is just going to church and volunteering somewhere there. It’s been called “churchianity.” The parents...
by Tim | Nov 18, 2010 | God, The Church World |
Perhaps you’ve heard attempts to explain the Trinity like I have. The egg illustration (shell, white, yolk) or water illustration (water, ice, steam) immediately come to my mind. The problem is, all these illustrations come up very short in explaining what Christians fully mean by the word “Trinity” when trying to explain God. The Trinity is one of the doctrines of the church that is hardest for me to make sense of. I wrestle with it very often–even sometimes question its truthfulness. I think what it is trying to describe will always elude me to some degree. It’s not easily explained with rational arguments or illustrations. That being said, today a thought came to me. Maybe the concept of the Trinity is harder to understand than it really needs to be. The Church is supposed to be a reflection of God. We are supposed to illustrate who He is to this world–it’s our main job. But what do we see instead, a Church that is fragmented. A church that is not One. Yet that’s what the Trinity tries to portray, three persons–all equally God as singular persons, but yet one God. What if the Church looked like that? Local churches (who do not need other bodies to fully be the church), yet not many churches, but One Church. Just like God himself. Perhaps if the Church would do a better job of being one in unity, fellowship, resources, camaraderie, mission, outreaches, etc., then we could have something on earth that better reflects a Trinitarian God, and it might be a little easier to conceptualize God as...
by Tim | Nov 16, 2010 | God, The Church World |
I’ve written quite a bit about my frustrations with how church leaders view their ministries and whether they are successful or not. Yesterday, while at the bookstore, I saw a book I never heard of before, written a few years back by John Piper entitled, Brothers, We are Not Professionals: A Plea To Pastors. Not having read the book, I’m not sure what it all entails, but I love the title. I was thinking…you know, out of over 2,000 years of church history, it’s only in the past 60 years or so that churches have developed this mindset of “driven” ministry that seems to be commonplace all around us. It really is spiraling out of control, IMO. This idea that we must do everything “well” and do all we can to grow a successful church with a plethora of staff, ministries, resources and congregants simply isn’t the model of a healthy church given to us in past centuries. Instead, when we look back at history, we remember people of faith who were earnest to draw close to God and boldly follow His call, often losing it all in the process. It was those times when the church sought success, personal gain, or power that we are most embarrassed to look back on. This morning as I was driving, I was reminded of a sermon I heard awhile back on Jesus’ words in Luke 10:20: However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. The disciples, budding leaders as they were, had just returned from some “successful” ministry. Today, I...
by Tim | Nov 6, 2010 | God, Our Culture, The Church World |
This is something I’ve thought about quite a bit in regards to leading our church. What do we want our church to be like in 10 years? For the months of September and October, I met with our church leadership team and then our church body on a weekly basis to hammer through some of these things. As I’ve thought about this question, I keep coming back to the underground church. While so many churches are trying to become more like Willow Creek, or Saddleback, or North Point…I think the underground church even better exemplifies the kind of church Jesus desires. Why? I think the underground church relies more on the Holy Spirit, because it doesn’t have so many resources at its disposal like the American church has. Yet it seems like churches in the US are in a rat race to obtain more and more resources–bigger buildings, larger crowds, better giving. How is the underground church able to grow so exponentially w/out any buildings, paid staff, large crowds, or enormous giving? I think the underground church could care less about talent and cares more about spirituality. I keep seeing over and over how our churches in America crave talent. We want someone super-talented to work with kids or youth. Someone super-talented to lead worship. Someone super-talented to preach on Sundays. I think this is one of the worst trappings we find ourselves dealing with in America. First, it eliminates 98% of our congregations from leading ministries (and we wonder why so few are involved in our churches). Second, it infers that we rely on man’s abilities far more...
by Tim | Oct 25, 2010 | God, My World |
This past month, our church has been meeting, among other times, at 6:18 am on Wednesday and Sunday mornings to study Scripture together and pray. My favorite part of this study is hearing the Holy Spirit speak through others at the study. My second favorite part is driving home on Highway 85, seeing the mountains on the right and watching the sun come up on the left. I can’t remember when was the last time I saw the sun come up before we started doing this. I guess in Alabama, it is so hilly, etc that you can’t really see the sun come up unless you’re on top of one of the hills at that time. A bigger obstacle, however, has been that I never get up in time to see it rise. 🙂 Come to think of it, when I had video jobs in Atlanta, I’d see the sun come up as I drove east on I-20, but once again, it wasn’t nearly as visible as here. In Ault/Nunn the ground is so flat, there are very little trees or buildings. On the way to the Bible study, everything is pitch black. On the way home, however, the sky is already lit–although the sun isn’t here yet. It usually arrives by the time I get home. Watching the sunrise got me thinking. This marvelous thing happens every single day, and very few of us enjoy the grandeur of it. If you want to see the “bigness” of God, get to a place where you can see the sunrise. One day, while waiting for the sun to rise, I...
by Tim | Oct 21, 2010 | My World, The Church World |
If you’re on staff at a church, you know that every day leading up to Sunday becomes just a little more stressful. It seems like Sundays come around all too quickly. While everyone else complains about how slow the week goes, and how long it takes for the weekend to arrive, I have the opposite feeling. That’s how it felt when I was a youth pastor, and still feels the same way as a pastor. It’s as if there’s not enough days in the week to get everything done that I’d like to get done. On top of this, Sunday is the busiest and most stressful day of the week–the day of the week most people consider their Sabbath day of rest. For the staff person, this simply isn’t so. I’m more worn out that day than any other day of the week. So when Monday comes, I feel like just crashing. If I do this, however, that leaves only Tuesday through Friday to be in the office and get things done for Sunday. When you already feel like there aren’t enough days in the week to get things done, it presents a challenge to take one of those days off. For the past two weeks, I’ve decided to just take Mondays off anyway. When it comes down to it, how can I call myself a pastor if I refuse to follow one of the Ten Commandments? This past Monday, Audra gave me Sarah while she showered and got ready for the day. That turned into Sarah falling asleep on me and not waking up until 11 am. So...
