BLeach

The Strike Continues

Life is full of opportunities for preachers to practice their sermons.  That's been my experience at least:)  And this week has been full of reminders that the person I was preaching to this past Sunday was me.

It seems like my hurried sickness is getting worse!  I'll spare you the task list:)  Suffice it to say that "slowing" is easier said than done.  I'm convinced though.  Maintaining a growing and passionate relationship with Jesus is the most challenging pursuit of my life. 

Meanwhile I came across this quote today while writing a paper for school.

Why all this clutter (even of important or noble things) in our lives?  Are we helpless pawns, caught in the jaws of an unrelenting fate?  Of course not.  One can hardly think of another profession in which the leaders have more freedom to set their own schedule than that of the parish pastor.  Sooner or later we must admit that we tolerate or initiate this clutter, because it serves an important purpose for us.  As stressful as it may be, it keeps us from having to face a reality we dread even more--that of coming home to ourselves (Norman Shawchuck).

On Strike Against Busyness

As a church we just wrapped up a study of the spiritual disciplines.  If you want to continue exploring them, I highly recommend John Ortberg's The Life You've Always Wanted.  Great, great book.  On Sunday I borrowed some thoughts from his chapter on hurried sickness.

Today we have more time saving devices than any people group in world history, but feel like we have less time.  Have you ever wondered why?  Here's some big news about busyness.

We think we can't rest because we're so busy.  But maybe the reason we're so busy is that we don't know how to rest.  What if busyness is a symptom of our inability to rest rather than the cause?

Several of us decided to take a deep breath this holiday season and declare a strike on busyness!  If you're interested in joining us, here are some tips on practicing the discipline of "slowing."

• Drive in the slow lane.  I know, for some of you this is beyond imagination.  But why not try it for one week?  Stare your hurried sickness in the face!  Give your horn a vow of silence.  Let the slow cars pass you and speak a blessing over them on their way by:)
• Eat slowly.  Pick one meal this week and wait five minutes between bites.
• Pick the longest line at the grocery store.  And once you're in it, let at least one person pass you.  If you're like me you'll feel your heart rate speeding up and realize how sick you really are.
• Review your day with God.  Before you go to sleep, take five minutes to be still.  Watch your day unfold like a video in your mind.  Pray for the people you interacted with.  Ask God for forgiveness and fruit.  Thank Him for his grace.  And sleep!

I don't think we hurry because our lives are so full.  We hurry because we suffer from a vague fear of wasting our lives.  So we fill our day with incessant activity, not really sure where we're going but getting there fast.  Meanwhile we hope to stumble into meaning.

The disciplines of solitude and slowing help us cut through the clutter with a laser-like focus on personal mission.  Then, like Jesus, we stay connected to the heart of life and remember, this is why I have come.

Holiday Rewind

Leah beat me to the punch with a blogging recap of our Thanksgiving week.  So if you're interested in reading a bit more, go here.

I'll just say that it really was a blast to spend the week with her my new family.  Here's the sixty second rundown:

• We laughed alot.
• We watched Elf.  Will Ferell at his best.  I think I like that movie better every time I see it.
• Ashley (my new sister-in-law) turned twenty six!
• Saw a car chase stunt show at MGM Studios that rocked.
• The Packers made us look like Turkeys.  Can you believe that a few weeks ago I was tempted to go public on this very blog with my hopeful optimism for the Lions?  Now the "p" word looks like a very distant possibility:(
• I was indoctrinated into the Disney culture.  Four theme parks in three days.  Didn't even pick up a golf club.
• Enjoyed thinking about God's great Providence.  Last Thanksgiving I was almot three months away from even meeting the future Leah Leach.  And now I'm enjoying a whole family of new relationships. 

Amazing grace indeed.

Life Group Love

Wow, I really had a blast at our Life Group last night.  We wrapped up at the normal time but nobody wanted to leave.  We all just kept hanging out, asking questions and encouraging each other.  I'm finding more and more that there's just no one substitute for a healthy small group environment within the life of a local church. 

For phase 2 of our group experience we'll actually be walking each other through personal interviews in order to develop spiritual growth and ministry plans for 2008.  We really want our Life Groups to be transformational environments.  I'm really looking forward to seeing how God speaks personally to each of us about the changes He's wanting to make in our lives.

Tag-Team Sermon Prep

Tuesday is an out of office study day for me.  Today I'm hanging at the Coffee Beanery  with my good friend Norflette Shumake.  Flette pastors Solid Rock on Detroit's East Side.  We're experimenting with some pastor to pastor sermon preparation. 

He's working on a message for Sunday about thanksgiving.  I'm working on week 4 of the Deep series which will be an exploration of this verse.

We spent the morning talking through each message.  We're also dreaming about some opportunities to collaborate on a series or two in 2008.  For me, having a friend at the next table over energizes the whole study process.  It's even better than caffiene:)

No doubt about it.  Relationships make ministry rich.

Performance Previews

I just finished a full day of annual leadership reviews.  This year I'm using a format that finally feels like it fits.

When I first began a formal evaluation process, I experimented with some traditional models that some other pastors gave me.  But to me the evaluations felt too general and stiff.  We looked back and critiqued strengths and weaknesses, but the process lacked vision. 

Now I design our evaluations to be more developmental than historical.  They're more of a preview than a review.  I'm trying to use them to forecast future performance rather than just critique past performance.

We do reference the past to gain perspective, but we don't stay there.  Instead, our leaders complete a process of self-evaluation, identifying strengths, weaknesses, and trends from the previous 12 months of ministry.  Then we clarify specific goals that will inspire strategic growth.  Finally, we develop an action plan for each goal.  We'll continue to review the action plan throughout 2008, making mid-course adjustments as needed, and then the goals themselves become the basis for evaluation next year.  To me it feels like a more concrete process that's going somewhere.

I've heard it said that the best indicator of future performance is past performance.  But aren't you glad that the power of the Holy Spirit gives us the potential to do something tomorrow that we've never done before?  People grow.  Leaders develop.  And there are few things more motivating to me than facilitating that process.

Long Distance Tag-Team

Thanks for your prayers.  God is doing some memorable things this weekend in the mountains of Oregon!

To all of my Church of the King family who are beginning to worship together right now, I'm praying for you.  I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.  And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Phil 1.3-6).

Our final service here is set to begin in a few hours.  Meanwhile, it's so cool to have my dad preaching for me back home.  This PK (pastor's kid) pours into some other PK's while PD (pastor's dad) takes care of business back home.  I love you dad.  Thanks for tag-teaming with me today!

Oregon PK Retreat

It took me three flights, but I finally made it!  I'm in the mountains of Oregon this weekend speaking at a PK (pastors kids) retreat.  I'll be preaching four times while I'm here. 

As a PK myself, I grew up going to similar retreats in Michigan.  God definitely met me at them.  I feel honored to have an opportunity to give back to a group of students who face a unique combination of opportunities and challenges.  I'm praying that something will happen in their life that will cause them to mark this weekend as a spiritual milestone.

Meanwhile, the scenery out here is breathtaking.  I'm looking forward to finding some trails tomorrow and taking a prayer walk down by the river...while working on my Chris Farley impersonation:)

Encounter::Suffering

This month our church is on a journey of spiritual formation, and the experience is reminding me that spiritual depth doesn't develop because of left brain activity alone.  At some point we have to meet God face to face.  Since that encounter is often relational and experiential before it is cognitive, it can be difficult to explain.  So this week we're exploring the process through pictures.

Today's thought: We encounter God through suffering.

I'm not really sure how to explain it, but suffering has the potential to become a profound spiritual experience.  Unfortunately, we don't really have a theology of suffering in the American church.  Instead, we often assume that Christianity proves itself through prosperity. 

I love it when God demonstrates his blessing materially and situationally.  But full bank accounts and smooth waters don't prove faith.  Trials on the other hand...

For example, take this quote from my favorite New Testament author: "I want to know Christ."

Yep, me too. 

Don't you?

But have you read the rest of the verse?  The encounter sounds a bit painful; even a little bloody.

Yesterday I spent some time with a good friend who's really hurting.  I listened as she spilled her guts, earnestly searching my internal "pastor file" for the right words to ease her pain.  I'm sure you'll be surprised to hear that I didn't come up with anything profound:)  Just one question.

What if this encounter with depression could turn into an encounter with God?

Encounter::Knocking

Today marks the half-way point of The First 15 Challenge.  As a church community, we're exploring spiritual formation.  The good feedback I've been getting from those who've taken the challenge has helped me reflect on the nature of the devotional life.

I don't think our relationship with God can be contained in left-brain activity alone.  At some point we have to meet God face-to face.  That encounter is difficult to explain.  Fortunately, Jesus offered several metaphors to help us picture the experience.  This week I'd like to explore a few of those.

For starters, encountering God is alot like knocking.

Doors serve an interesting purpose.  Sometimes we close them to keep people from bothering us.  Other times we open them to let people in.  When I'm expecting company, I'll often open my door as they arrive.  I want my friends to know they're welcome in my home.

Jesus stands on the other side of a door.  But it isn't a locked door.  You won't find a don't disturb sign hanging from the doorknob.  It's a door called invitation.  And His promise is clear.  If you will knock, He will open it, and invite you inside.

What's inside?

That's a question that Jesus answers with an invitation.  Why don't you come in and see?