Ju. Jones

It feels good to be back in my blogging rhythm.  However, I’ll be taking a break from blogging for a few days.  I’ll be enjoying some much needed rest near the ocean.

Throughout the Old Testament, God always reminded the Israelites of His presence.  In Joshua 1, God reminded Joshua that He was with him wherever he went.  In Isaiah, God again said, “Do not fear, for I am with you.”  What is one thing you would change about your life if you realized God is always with you?  What risk would you take if you truly realized His presence was with you?  What sin would you refrain from if you truly realized that God was always with you?  Here’s the great thing.  He is.  We not only serve a God who loves us, but who is always with us.

My wife and I had of our most fun and memorable dates last night. Believe it or not, all we did was go out to eat…kinda. Last night was the first week of our Great Date Experiment. It’s based on a resource I ran across on North Point Community Church’s website. If you’re married, you may want to take a look at it. It’s a great tool if you’re looking to inject a little more “umph” in your date nights with your spouse.

Change requires change. Change is one of the few things that begins with itself.  If we want to experience change we must be willing to change or at least begin changing things around us.  Every Israelite king that wanted to see their nation transformed understood this reality.  If the nation was to return to God, there had to be changes; immediate changes.  High places had to be removed.  Idols had to be thrown in the trash.  False prophecy had to be chased out from the land.  The people had to repent, which required not only a change of mind and heart, but a change in action.

Could it be that the change that we desire to see in our ministries hinges on the changes that we are afraid to make?  We desire to see God move in our communities and cities in the way that He’s moving in others.  We want to see that same kind of “fire from heaven” type revival where unbelievers are coming to Christ, backsliders are returning, families are being restored, unmotivated people are becoming excited about the kingdom, and church is being influential.  Yet, when we are exposed to changes that are necessary to accomplish those things, there’s serious pushback.  Many a times, the push back comes from our own hearts.  Our unwillingness to change leads to us becoming an antagonist against the very change that we want to see!  We become critical and skeptical, instead of open and revolutionary.  Now all of a sudden the church that begins to experience the change we want to see is a fadish, shallow cult experiencing false conversions.  The leader that had the guts to make the hard decisions that we refuse to make is an arrogant, false prophet that needs to repent for leading hundreds and thousands of young people down the paths of destruction.  We allow our hearts to become callous against the move of God and we become Pharisaic.  The best favor we can do for ourselves is to simply change.

For some reason, I’m stuck in this whole quitting the ministry for the ministry mode. Maybe because it’s where I am, but that’s what blogging is for, right? One of the ways to get stuck in the “doing THEIR ministry” mode is by getting in the routine of picking up dropped balls. In ministry, balls will drop. Their are so many to juggle. One can drop at any moment. This is especially true if your dealing with volunteers who already have limited time and additional responsibilities. Because of the sense of ownership you have towards the vision, your natural instinct will be to pick up the dropped ball. The more dropped balls you pick up, the less dropped balls you have. For instance, someone forgets to get the drinks. You say, “You know what? I’ll get the drinks.” Someone else didn’t get a chance to do the bulletins. You say, “Forget it. I’ll do the bulletins. I already envision what I want them to look like anyway. Besides, if you want a job done correctly, you might as well do it yourself.” We end up frustrated, pulling all nighters, and forsaking time with the family. But guess what? Everybody will have drinks and bulletins…at your expense!

What we fail to realize is that we are subconsiously creating a system that looks like this: The volunteers/employees do what they can and whenever a ball is dropped, Super Leader will come to the rescue!” Guess what happens if you ever decide to let a ball drop? They look at you as if you’re the bad guy! The only person to blame is us.  We are the ones that create that expection. “I thought you would end up getting the drinks! I assumed you would do the bulletins!” Then comes the all time line, “That’s what you always do!”

As a pastor, I’m learning to let balls drop. The people that are given the responsibility needs to feel the weight of a dropped ball. They need to feel the Holy Spirit conviction and learn from the mistake themselves. I’m learning that God doesn’t call me to pick up the ball, but to be a loving support for when they pick the ball back up.

Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:5, “But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill YOUR ministry.” As a leader, you have to distinguish between YOUR ministry and THEIR ministry. If not, you’ll keep forsaking YOUR ministry for THEIR ministry. THEIR ministry is the one that God calls you to equip them for according to Ephesians 4. YOUR ministry is the equipping. Sometimes, people will make you feel guilty for not doing THEIR ministry (Why don’t you start a program for this group of people? When are you going to do something about homelessness in our community? When are you going to build a bridge between the church and the business community? What are you going to do to follow up with first time guests? When are you going to start a class for new believers?) If you never get before God and come to grips with what YOUR ministry is, you will become consumed with doing THEIR ministry and feel a sense of emptiness. You’ll say, “God, why am I doing so much and feel like I’m accomplishing so little? Why is that I feel as if I’m in your will and out of your will at the same time?”

Here’s what I think MY ministry is (at least for right now): preaching God’s word, casting vision, and developing leaders. Everything else that’s on my plate is somebody else’s ministry that awaits them. My goal is to work myself out of those ministries, so that someone else can have the opportunity to do THEIR ministry. The amazing thing is THEY can do THEIR ministry much better than I can and probably ever will.

In the life of a pastor, there are some Sundays where everything seems to go well. You’re thankful for every Sunday, but there are those memorable, extraordinary ones. For me, yesterday was one of them:

1. The praise team did a great job, despite the fact that our worship leader lost his voice. This is one of the signs that our leaders take to heart the importance of apprenticing.

2. The stage design was off the charts. Our creative team pulled out a home run.

3. We had the largest offering in the history of the church. I spoke on the importance of serving and giving. It was a blessing to see people respond immediately.

4. Here’s the icing on the cake. One of our regular attenders shared that God supernaturally healed her of cancer. She’s been ill since coming to The Bridge. This Sunday, she said, “No more cancer. It’s all gone.”

5. We had our first death at The Bridge a few weeks ago. It was a blessing to see our people at the memorial service. The body of Christ has really stepped in and shown tremendous love and support to the family. Amazing!

5. As soon as I came home, the first thing I did when I walked in the door was pray. For every mountain is followed by a valley and vice versa. Now, my wife is sick. Surprise. Surprise. I’m expecting God to heal her cold, as well.

I learned along time ago. God’s greatest revelations for your life don’t come from sermons, but personal time with Him. Since rededicating my life to Christ, I’ve always appreciated sound, relevant teaching. I’m a pastor. I sure do hope I appreciate messages (duh)! As a spiritual thirsty, deer panting college student, I took notes in church EVERY Sunday! I learned some great stuff from my pastors and teachers. One day, I was going through my stash of church bulletins with notes and compared them to the ones in my journal. The things that God whispered to me in my times with Him won hands down! My conviction stands even to this day! The messages I prepare every Sunday pales in comparison to the things God reveal to me for my personal life. As preachers, we have the amazing opportunity of turning some of those priceless revelations into life changing messages. But there’s nothing like the raw, uncut, undiluted, hardcore, unedited insights that we scribbled down during those moments with him.

Take it from the one who’s been on both sides of the fence (the preacher and the seeker). Keep on valuing the messages God speaks to you from spiritual authority. But there’s no substitute for ancient, old-school, raw, prostrate laying, before His throne moments with God. Any trade off for those moments is a bad one.