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Opened with Expectation and Closed in Profit
That is a good book which is opened with
expectation and closed in profit.
~ Amos Bronson Alcott ~
To really get your leaders on board with the vision that God has given you you are going to have to shape not only their thoughts but how they form them. Through the years countless books have been written on the church and what is going on inside and out. Most ministers/pastors devote a great deal of time to reading these books along with their normal Bible Study routine. Through these avenues we find inspiration and God begins birthing visions based on what hHe is revealing to us through these combinations of Scripture and teachings.
Here is the problem
Most church lay leaders are not deep in their Word much less reading other books about the church and culture so when we go to those leaders with a completed vision it is like we are talking an alien language. So in the process once the vision is developed we will go back from the beginning
1. Take your leadership into a deep study of the Scriptural foundations of what the church is and what the church should be doing. It has to all start in Scripture. As your leaderships sees you delving into Scripture and see the fundamental components of what you are leading them into their minds, eyes and hearts will be opened and they will be ready for the next step
2. Assign your leadership to read what you have read. As they read what inspired you they will start to glean terminology and methodology and see what roads you are going down this will prepare them to go even farther.
3. Discuss the readings with your team. These discussions will help you direct the ideas that are forming in your team’s minds and it will plant concepts that God has already birthed in you but in smaller form than the completed vision.
In this way once you have laid the groundwork then the vision casting will unfold with more acceptance and excitement. As you talk they will understand and identify and they will feel connected enough to support the vision. Ultimately setting up a more successful task and satisfied leadership.
Tomorrow I will identify another way we can build our leadership.
Outside the Box.
Many years ago when I started college the big thing was to go into the computer industry there were all kinds of jobs out there for you (or so they said) if you only got a Computer programming or Computer engineering degree. I went for it and hated it and wasn’t very good at it ( which may be why I hated it) but it taught me some things I value.
What I liked was the fact that through programming I could tell the computer an operation to complete define the parameters to which to work in and (if coded properly) the computer would execute the operation. There was great satisfaction in seeing this accomplished even at the very basic level. But more importantly than anything I learned a very valuable lesson about God.
I have spent much time arguing with non- believers about God and His existence and inevitably I will be confronted with the “logical” and “scientific” argument against God. The laws of science and physics make it impossible for God to exist, so they say. But this always makes me snicker a bit but it shows how naive we are as humans and how we are puffed up with ignorant arrogance . You see the idea that somehow God is defined by the laws that govern our universe is the equivalent of saying that a computer programmer is defined by the laws of the program he has created.
Think about video game developers for a moment. The develop worlds and situations that play out a certain way the create boundaries in which characters cannot move past they limit items that can be interacted with. On the flip side of that they make them with abilities that exist only in the fantasy world and give them more lives than cats. But no matter how many games they create the parameters of the games do not apply to the creator because the creator exists outside the box. In Genesis 1:1 we are told that God created everything, heavens and earth. And in John we are told that all things were made by Him and without Him nothing was made. That means that God created everything we know INCLUDING the laws, or parameters, that define us. Because God is outside the box it is ludicrous to even try to make the parameters apply to Him. Job 38:4 tells us that God laid the foundations of the earth we might think in a material sense of the word but the actual laws that allow us to exist scientifically had to be created before anything could exist. Things like Space and time have no bearing on God, HE created those things to govern us. And because He is the Creator he can bend and change the rules as he sees fit, gamers call them “cheats” they are ways around the rules that developers put in the game. It is their prerogative and it is God’s as well. Video games can’t understand their developers and we can’t understand our Creator.
Ultimately this argument might not go far with non-believers but for me it helped gain perspective and it makes me grateful for a God outside the box.
Cut ‘em Loose
Something me and my wife had to learn the hard way early on in our ministry was when to cut people loose. That is, to cut them out of our social circle. We have found in the ministry that people will take advantage of your friendship and try to use it to their advantage. Some will take your shared secrets and spread them around some will use their infuence to gain control some will even try to upstage you and some will just flat out lie about you. I remember a time when a friend took ideas from us and passed them off as their own all while putting us in a bad light.
As painful and as cruel as it may seem there comes a time when you have to cut people off. Ministry is a delicate thing and we have to be careful to guard ourselves against our integrity being marred and if you have people in your inner circle who are not adhering to the standards of integrity then it is time to cut them loose. I would even venture to say that you should be proactive. We were in a situation that was heresay at best but it was not the first instance and though we never knew exactly what had happened or what had been said we knew that it was happening far to often. So we cut ‘em loose.
It hurt. It really did and it still does looking back now years later , but it was necesary.
Proverbs 30:7-9
Francis Chan Posted a video not long ago about this verse. It says
Prov 30:7 There are two things, Lord, I want you to do for me before I die: 8. Make me absolutely honest and don’t let me be too poor or too rich. 9.Give me just what I need. (CEV)
Chan challenges that as Americans we are taught that to have a big 401k and a whopping savings account is the measure of success. But Biblically we are taught to be seeking only for provision for today. Notice the Lords Prayer
Mat 6:10 Come and set up your kingdom, so that everyone on earth will obey you, as you are obeyed in heaven. 11.Give us our food for today. 12.Forgive us for doing wrong, as we forgive others. (CEV)
Jesus didn’t teach us to pray for more than we needed. In Acts the new believers became aware that all they needed was to have what would sustain them .
Act 2:44 All the Lord’s followers often met together, and they shared everything they had. 45 They would sell their property and possessions and give the money to whoever needed it. 46 Day after day they met together in the temple. They broke bread together in different homes and shared their food happily and freely, (CEV)
