Stewardship --- The Austin Group

We Can Do Better!

Over the weekend a terrible tragedy occurred when an Arizona Congresswoman was critically shot, thirteen others wounded, and six killed as a young man went on a shooting rampage. Evidence seems to suggest that the Congresswoman was the primary target of his attack. I don’t know any more about this situation than you do, but it appears that the culprit was an angry young man with some serious emotional issues.

The weekend is over and it is now time to start the process of blame. That is one of our favorite pastimes – when something terrible happens we need to blame somebody. When a hurricane destroys a major city, blame the President. If your retirement account is not growing like you want, it must be Congress’ fault.

Concerning the shooting in Arizona, blame was quickly attached to several sources. There is the State of Arizona with inadequate gun laws, local law enforcement officials who should have read the warning signs put out by the shooter, a community college that expelled the young man but did not force him to get psychological help, politicians who "targeted" the Congresswoman in campaign ads, even the victim herself who had the audacity to support health care reform.

Given the vitriol that constantly surrounds all of us, I am one of those who thinks it was only a matter of time until a tragedy like this occurred. We are fed a steady stream of slander and hatred toward everyone who dares to think differently or is even willing to ask a tough question. I am amazed that we have anyone who is willing to hold public office.

But, it is not just in the political realm. A few weeks ago at the conclusion of a football game, a player for the Dallas Cowboys was photographed getting an autograph from a player on the other team. Writers, talk show hosts and callers harped for a week about the sorry sight. They were stunned that players could actually be civil to one another after a game. Fans wanted the intensity of the game to carry over into all of life. They want players who are so angry and viscous during the game that it takes several days to calm down.

This Doesn't Sound Good

I am reading through a boring book that is filled with interesting information. I hate it when that happens – someone has very useful material but their writing skills tend to make it difficult to locate and extract the nuggets. It is kind of like panning for gold in a desert creek instead of a Rocky Mountain stream. The gold is just as valuable but the experience of getting it may not be inspiring.

The recent nugget I discovered is the observation, after examining and reviewing and dissecting numerous surveys and studies, that ninety-seven percent of all money that people give to the church is spent on the people who give it. After wading through their research and conclusion, I think the ninety-seven percent figure might be a little overstated, but not by much. Think about it! We build and maintain buildings, conduct activities and events, hire staff to meet our needs, which consumes most of the money churches receive.

That’s discouraging!

The problem is that we have constructed massive organizations that require huge amounts of money to sustain. A successful church is expected to have multi-million dollar buildings, professional staff to minister to everyone in the family, as well as first-class media and entertainment resources. Anything less makes it very difficult for a church to sustain growth.

How many parents with young children are willing to attend a church that does not have children’s activities? How often do parents make church choices based on who has the best youth program? How important is it for a church to have professional quality musicians and state of the art video productions?

Fads and Traditions

If you have lived very long you have seen numerous fads come and go. By the way, that is basically the definition of a fad – something that comes and goes. A fad is an activity, product, or attitude that captures the attention of a large number of people for a short period of time. They might stay popular for a few months (go-go boots) or a few years (Dungeons and Dragons), it is hard to determine the reason. Sometimes, a fad will die away only to become a fad once again with a new generation (hula hoops or lava lamps).

All of us have succumbed to the spell of a fad at one time or another. Even your father probably owned a Leisure Suit or two at some point. I have been guilty on a number of occasions; however, I would like it to be known that I never owned a Pet Rock or a Chia Pet.

It is interesting that there have even been fads among Christians. I hesitate to call them "Christian fads" since I am quite sure that a fad cannot actually be a follower of Christ. What I am referring to are fads that are followed by Christians as an expression of their faith. The best way to explain this is by listing some of the more popular fads among Christians:

• WWJD ("What Would Jesus Do") stuff
• Purpose-Driven stuff
• Prayer of Jabez
• praise teams
• The Living Bible
• the Left Behind books
• seeker-friendly
• Bibles designed for specialty groups, i.e. policemen, single moms, nurses, etc.
• Cowboy churches
• The Message translation

Before you run off to the comments section in order to leave a scathing paragraph accusing me of criticizing good stuff, let me hasten to add that by labeling these things as fads is not a claim that they are bad. I am not using the term as a pejorative; I am mainly referring to duration. Prior to going down that road, let me introduce another term that I think is related – tradition.

 

I Would Like to See a Miracle

Let me say right up front that I do not have, nor have I ever had a difficult time believing in miracles. Reading about the miracles of Jesus in the New Testament or the very unusual doings of men like Moses and Elijah in the Old Testament has never caused me a problem. The reason is because I believe that God exists beyond the laws of the universe and if He chooses to break in and do something unusual (should I say miraculous) then that is fine with me. It seems perfectly logical to me that if God can simply speak the entire creation into existence, then He would have no problem suspending the laws of nature for a moment.

However, in spite of the fact that I have no problem believing in the miraculous, I have never actually seen a miracle. I have heard about many miracles. Just a few weeks ago at our Bible study, a young lady asked prayer for a friend in the hospital. It was reported that he was near death and they were hoping to be able to move him to Houston where he would need a heart transplant. We prayed. The next report I heard was that the young man was doing well and would soon be released from the hospital.

Less than a year ago I spent nearly two weeks in the hospital; at times my family was concerned that it might be the end for me. Yet, here I am, as good as ever. I have no hesitation in giving the credit and glory to God; as far as I’m concerned, it was a miracle. But I did not see a miracle, even though I might have actually experienced a miracle.

I have been to religious services and events where miracles were planned and expected. I have watched on television as preachers purport to work miracles of healing. I have watched people throw down crutches, and claim to be free of back pain, and testify of disappearing cancer, but I have still never seen a miracle.

There is a widely viewed video on YouTube about a woman named Delia Knox. She was injured in a car accident twenty-two years ago and has been in a wheelchair ever since. The video records her experience at a recent revival service where she was healed. It is clear that she tentatively rose from her chair and walked around the room with some minimal assistance. This occurred while people were waving their hands, screaming and moaning, and rolling on the floor. I still don’t know if I have seen a miracle.

Celebrity Preachers

Perhaps you heard about the young pastor recently who preached a twenty-four hour sermon. This was not a case of the Holy Spirit falling upon the preacher and inspiring him to keep at it. It was a planned event. He actually designed and advertised the sermon as a means of promoting his new book. By all accounts, he has been a successful pastor, starting and growing a rather large congregation. He had just finished writing the book and felt like the message would "change lives." Speaking as a writer who has published a few books myself, I agree that if you do not have something important to say that needs to be heard, don’t bother writing a book.

To be honest, when I heard about this twenty-four hour sermon, my first thought was that I am glad I have lived long enough that people have forgotten all the dumb stuff I did in my twenty’s. Hopefully this young man will live long enough as well.

The underlying issue of this whole business is preachers performing some kind of stunt in order to attract attention and draw a crowd. It raises the question of celebrity preachers. The basic definition of celebrity is quite simple. A celebrity is someone who is widely known. We have raised the idea of being a celebrity to new heights. There are magazines, websites, and television programs that exist for the sole purpose of revealing insights about celebrities.

It is a viscous cycle – do something that get’s noticed, appear in a magazine or newspaper, other magazines notice, people follow you around, do something else, everyone notices, get on more magazine covers, do something stupid, one last burst of notoriety, loose all your friends. The amazing thing is that so many folks are striving to be celebrities it is almost like a chosen profession for some – "What do you want to be when you grow up? A celebrity!"

Bored at Church

I have a friend who is the pastor of a small church nearby. He is in the final semester of a graduate degree, and one of his courses is about family ministry. The professor is also the Children’s Minister at a large church, so he tends to view family ministry as children’s ministry. When he speaks of having two hundred and fifty children last Sunday, my friend has a difficult time seeing the relevance to his church that is happy to have 2.5 children on average.

Family ministry has been a fascinating concept to me for some time. I know that pastors feel the tension of wanting to help families, but feeling like they do not have sufficient resources to provide what families want. It is tough for church leaders, like my friend, who are unable to provide all the bells and whistles that we have come to believe families want and deserve.

One of the big problems for the church is the feeling that we must provide the same quality of experience that our children have come to expect. My grandson is playing football this fall and I have been amazed at the entire experience. I confess, it has been a little overwhelming for me. I am aware that this is Texas where football is more than king. In fact, I probably should capitalize the word "Football," because it borders on being a deity. However, I was unprepared for ten-year-old pee wee football.

I expected that we would gather in a park somewhere, everyone sitting on a blanket, shouting encouragement to kids who were running around having a good time. Instead, games are played at high school stadiums, and yes, I use the word stadium appropriately. These fields have immaculately stripped artificial turf, bleachers that will seat thousands (complete with wheelchair access), fully-stocked concession stands, PA announcers identifying ball carriers and tacklers, at least a half a dozen coaches on each team, cheerleaders with rehearsed routines, players wearing hundreds of dollars worth of equipment, at least three officials, first-down chains, electronic scoreboard, and everything else you would see at Texas Stadium, except for the huge video monitor and beer.

Another New Adventure

For a long time now I have thought that starting a new church would be a great adventure. I could envision Sharon and I moving to a small town in Colorado that had no church at all and starting from scratch, or perhaps New England or California. I have a rather adventurous spirit and unafraid to tackle new things, and Sharon has great patience and always supports whatever crazy idea I might have. But such a task never fit into God’s plan and provisions for our lives.

Last year our friend Charlie began a Bible study here in Fort Worth. He actually had two groups going, one in the morning and one in the evening. He encouraged us to attend so we started with the Thursday morning group. It was a great time of study, prayer, and encouragement. After a few months, it became more convenient for us to join the evening group. It was a more eclectic group and once again we felt like we belonged immediately. The sense of community infuses both of these groups.

Both have continued to flourish and there was some talk about wanting to share a worship experience. There was enough interest from folks in both groups that we decided to move toward that goal. Last Sunday evening we had our first worship time together, made up of people from the groups and from some who have never attended either group. There were twenty-five in attendance, in an apartment complex meeting room that will hold thirty at the most. It was a great time!

That was the birth of "Bread Fellowship," the name we have attached to our new community. If you have been a reader of my stuff over the years, you know that I have some strong opinions about church and how it should be done. There are a number of contemporary trends that disturb and concern me. In saying that, you might easily dismiss those concerns as the ramblings of another longtime believer who yearns for a return to "the good old days." I am aware of that possibility, but I don’t think it is the case. I am not opposed to change; again if you know me at all you know that I thrive on changing things up. What concerns me is making the wrong kind of changes or making them for the wrong reasons.

Don't Label Me a Heretic Until You Give This Some Thought

I have been in church all my life. My father was a pastor and back in the early days, the church nursery was in the sanctuary, on my mother’s lap. The first church building, very early in my memory, was in a Quonset hut that doubled as a mechanic’s garage during the week. In case you don’t know, a Quonset hut was developed by the Navy during World Ward II as a prefabricated structure that could be erected by unskilled labor. After the war, the surplus buildings were sold for $1,000 each and many are still standing to this day. If you remember the barracks buildings on the old Gomer Pyle television show you have seen a Quonset hut.

I was taught from the beginning that church was a special thing, a very good thing, regardless of the meeting place. Church has always been where I found my friends. It has always been church folks who have most cared for me, prayed for me, provided for my needs, and helped me to grow up, and continue to help me grow in my faith. I met my wife at church and together we have spent countless hours serving Jesus by serving the church.

For many years I was the pastor of a church, and for many years I have worked as a church consultant. I have been in numerous churches of all types and sizes. Just a couple of weeks ago I met a young seminary student named Jeremiah from Colorado. When I asked about his home church, he spoke of one that my parents had helped to start several years before he was even born. I have preached in his home church and told him that I knew their building originally was constructed as a duplex and later transformed into a church meeting place. It is a small world sometimes.

I have worshipped with churches that met in storefronts, former restaurants, school auditoriums, a day care center, homes, tents, a former shopping mall (I’m not kidding), a high rise office building, the back of a print shop, and just about any type of structure imaginable. Christians have been very creative, and that is a good thing. I have also worshipped in beautiful, elaborate structures, filled with Christian symbols and stained glass windows. I have preached in large auditoriums where most folks watched me on a screen, and just recently I preached in a church that had no need for a sound system of any kind. Once I even preached to more than 7,000 people in a convention center.

I have worked with churches that were pastor-led, deacon-led, family-led, and poorly-led. I have been immediately challenged about a point I made in a sermon, thrown out of a funeral, had a chicken slammed on my desk in the pastor’s office, listened to name calling and accusations during committee meetings, lied to, threatened, asked to referee a business meeting, and a bunch of other stuff I can’t even remember. I have even left a church service early because I was afraid they were going to drag me up front and try to heal me. Just about the time I think I have seen everything at church, something else happens.

 

The Advantages of Being Small

I preached to a full house Sunday, an experience coveted by every preacher. It does not matter that it was about one hundred and fifteen in a sanctuary that would comfortably seat about one hundred and twenty, the place was packed. It was exciting. Every preacher, if he has something to say, loves to have a large audience. Before I am tempted with pride, let me hasten to add that they were not there to hear my sermon. It was an ordination service that drew the crowd.

The experience reminded me of the many wonders of the small church. For thirteen years I was the pastor of a church that considered it high attendance if we had seventy-five people in Sunday School. For the past eighteen years I have had the privilege of preaching in more than five hundred churches (I don’t think that is ministerial calculation). Although a good number of them have been large, some as large as several thousand, the majority of them were small churches.

Let me say at the outset, if you can be successful in a small church, you can be successful anywhere. The reason I say that is because being a pastor is all about leadership and leadership is all about relationships. In a small church, relationships are magnified. There is no place to hide, no one else to blame, and no secrets. I know a lot of guys who are pastoring small churches, but they are not leading small churches. They are just holding on for the ride. Usually they are very unsatisfied, looking (praying) to move somewhere else, and the church is maintaining the status quo or worse.

Let me hasten to add that a small church can be healthy without experiencing significant numerical growth. That is not the usual sentiment of church folks since we tend to judge the wellness of a church on the basis of butts, budgets, and buildings. If a church is not growing in these three areas, we tend to think it is unhealthy. That may be true in many situations, but not always. There are factors, other than disease that can keep a church small. It might be that the community is not growing or even shrinking. That is the case in many rural places far away from a major metropolis. Even in a growing city, the community surrounding the church may be shrinking.

The Unfairness of God

I thought maybe I was creating a new word with the title of this article but spell check let it slide so I guess not. However, it might be a rather unusual concept, to speak of God’s unfairness. After all, the only thing that most of us want in life is to be treated fairly.

Many, and I mean many, years ago when I was working as a police dispatcher, I received a job offer from a neighboring police department for the same type of work. They wanted me because I had worked for them before. However, the problem was that my current employer paid better. So they broke down and offered me more money, which meant that I was paid more than my co-workers, including the supervisor. I was fine with that, in case you were wondering.

I was told to keep quiet about it, but somehow the supervisor discovered the discrepancy after several months. To say that she was angry would not do justice to her attitude. Although she knew it was not my fault, she did the only thing she could do and that was to take it out on me. She tried to make my working situation miserable. Her problem was that I was young and did not care what she said. After all, I knew the department was willing to pay me more than her so I felt secure. It was not fair.

As you probably know, I am a big baseball fan. There is a loud clamor among baseball officials to allow instant reply to help the umpires get things right. The most vocal argument in favor of the use of replay is that they want to make sure everything is correct so it will be fair for everyone.

Most of us can be happy in nearly any situation as long as we feel like everyone else is in the same boat. We need to have things equal. We demand fairness. I don’t mind paying ten dollars for a five dollar item as long as everyone else pays the same. It is only when I discover that you got it for six dollars that I get upset.

One of the Internet travel providers, I think it might be Orbitz but I’m not sure, advertises if another traveler gets the same deal at a lower price, they will pay us the difference. It is just their way of making sure we feel like we were treated fairly. They know it is important to us and we are likely to use their service because we will be treated properly.