Simplifying.....and Prioritizing Life

In Richard Foster's book of discipline he divides discipline into
three parts:


Inward, Outward, and Corporate discipline. He places
simplicity under the category of the Outward Disciplines. Here are his nine
ways to order our world so that we can create simplicity in our
life.

First, buy things for their usefulness rather than their
status

Second, reject anything that is producing an addiction in
you.

Third, develop a habit of giving things away.

Fourth, refuse to be
propagandized by the custodians of modern gadgetry.

Fifth, learn to enjoy
things without owning them.

Sixth, develop a deeper appreciation for the
creation.

Seventh, look at a healthy skepticism at all "buy now, pay later"
schemes.

Eighth, obey Jesus' instructions about plain, honest
speech.

Ninth, reject anything that will breed the oppression of
others.

Tenth, shun whatever would distract you from you main goal: "Seek
first the
kingdom of God."

[Wow, do I have some growing to do!]

What If....

From Perry Noble:

I had some “what if” thoughts the other day that I wanted to share…

• WHAT IF the church really believed that Jesus was as powerful as Scripture
  says that He is?
  
• WHAT IF we were not afraid to BEG GOD for ridiculous things, knowing that He
  is able?
  
• WHAT IF we REALLY believed that Acts
  2:41-47 was actually the starting point of all that God wants to do through
  the church and NOT the watermark?
  
• WHAT IF we really believed that a life dedicated to Christ means that we are
  completely His…not just on Sunday?
  
• WHAT IF every church became a cheerleader of other churches and not critics?
  
  
• WHAT IF we really believed the church existed to CHANGE the world and not
  just to “meet my needs!”
  
• WHAT IF we really believe that teenagers and children are worth the
  investment and poured resources into them instead of making them sell doughnuts
  in front of department stores?
  
• WHAT IF we really believed God’s Kingdom should grow through the church
  instead of being stagnant?
  
• WHAT IF we were willing to lay aside our personal preferences for the sake
  of reaching those who are far from God?
  
• WHAT IF we refused to participate in slandering and tearing down another
  person?
  
• WHAT IF we sought to embrace God’s plan for our lives (and churches) instead
  of trying to get Him to bless ours?

Random Thoughts

Leadership Thoughts from Romans 9-16

If faith comes from hearing the message, someone needs to step up and preach the message so those outside the faith hear it. (10:14)

I have a responsibility to inspire others to fulfill God's purpose in their lives. (11:13-14)

I'm glad God values wisdom and knowledge, but I'll never know what he knows. (11:33-34)

Am I a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God? That's real worship. (12:1)

God gifts us differently. Which is another way of saying it's silly for all of us to think we'll have the same gift. (12:6-8)

"Honor one another above yourselves." (12:10)

God establishes leadership authority including the government. And, one specific way that we're supposed to submit to God's authority is by paying taxes. (13:1-7)

"Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification." Imagine how the world would view the Church is we embraced that statement. (14:19)

God wants unity within his Church. (15:5-7)

Faith produces hope. (15:13)

I love it that our faith embraces the leadership role of women. (16:1-5)


Thoughts from Perry Noble:

"When the Gospel takes root in someone's life, everything changes."

"A 95% commitment to Christ is 5% too short."

"God doesn't want anything from you. He wants everything."

"God will forgive us for our past sins, but he will always deal with our current sins."

"We will never understand what he expects until we discover who he is."

"Until we understand what he expects, we'll never give him our very best."

Referring to Malachi 1:10: "This is where the fertilizer hits the fan...if you know what I mean."

"If your offering means nothing to you, why do we expect it would mean anything to God."

“Are you doing what you’re doing because you’re called to do it?”

“We don’t volunteer for this stuff. We’re called. If we’re volunteering, we’re stupid.”

We need to understand our priorities.
Our calling: (1) Be with Jesus. (2) We are supposed to preach. (3) We are supposed to have authority.

“God is not green, Kermit is. God doesn’t want us to save the planet while people are going to Hell.”

“It will be a cold day in Hell when I preach a message on recycling at the neglect of the Gospel message.”

“I’m crazy enough to think God has at least one more big move in him.”

“Stop walking in fear. Start walking in the authority that God has given us.”

“Do you really want to be a prostitute the rest of the life, or do you want to do what God has called you to do?”

“Sometimes God will call you to do some things that don’t make sense.”

God to Perry: “Boy, you do what I tell you to do and let me take care of the results.”

“You and I are going to experience temptation and spiritual warfare on a level that others in our congregation will never understand.”


From Mark Batterson (Author of In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day)

“I covet the favor of God.”

“God, you are so far behind what my human imagination can conceive of.”

We underestimate God…by a lot. Our dreams are too small.

“We confess are sin all the time, but when was the last time you confessed the smallness of your dreams.”

We need to start dreaming and stop imitating.

“It always starts with a dream that God conceives in our heart.”

“We all need dreams that are way beyond our ability to accomplish.”

“I’d rather have one God idea than a thousand good ideas.”

“We can do all things through Him who strengthens us.”

Bring 'em Back!

Why don’t guests come back to our church?

Good question! I am glad you asked.

I have been in the business of church for 30 years and this subject has no simple answers. However, there are some principles of which I would like to make note that might be helpful in your consideration of this issue for your church.

Are you doing things well? Of course all of us say “Yes, we are a church of excellence.” That question, by the way, is tantamount to someone asking a person if they keep their kitchen clean. Almost everyone says “Yes” to that one as well. But the reality is that “clean” for one person is “not clean” for another. The same is true in churches.

I have been to plenty of churches where there is no other way to describe it other than just plain sloppy. It has a “home” feel for the home folks but for the guests it is a mess. So let’s start here.

• The restrooms should be spic and span. I mean really clean. You should be able to eat breakfast in there. Well, that might be an extreme. SPOTLESS! CLEAN! No exceptions!

• Be better than Wal-Mart and Disney! The hospitality must be superb. You say, “But we live in the North or Northeast, and our people are not as warm as those folks from the South.” That is a lousy excuse. Get friendly and do it from the minute the guest enters your parking lot. Why not? Examine your hospitality and be willing to ratchet up your efforts with change. This is where everyone has the capacity to be better than everyone else…better than Wal-Mart, better than Disney, better than anyone!! Be the best in hospitality.

• Visitation. One of the things you must do is visit those who visit you. You might say, “We don’t do that in our area of the country because it is culturally unacceptable to do so.” Nice excuse but you asked the question above or at least clicked on this article for some advice. On Monday, immediately following Sunday services, mobilize your troops, including the senior pastor, and get out and say thanks for coming to your church. That is the least you can do. Take your guests a small gift from the church while you are at it. You are not forcing your way into people’s home. You are simply knocking on the door, giving a gift and saying thanks. If they invite you in that is fine. Who knows, in that case you might even be privileged to lead them across the line of faith to Jesus.

• Develop a turn-key guest system. You must have a complete process to take people from their thought of attending your church all the way through to them coming onto the parking lot and entering your building. Then everything from deciding to come once, twice, three times, etc. to making a profession of faith, moving into discipleship and community, experiencing the joy of giving and moving into full membership must be on your radar screen.

In addition to these core areas of church appearance and hospitality, be sure the three fundamental “sales” components of the church are in place; preaching, ministry in music, and ministry to children.

• Not Billy Graham. The preaching needs to be good. People want to hear Bible messages that are relevant to their lives. It does not have to be Billy Graham but it has to be well-prepared, well-thought out, and well-delivered. It might even be nice if it was anointed of God.

• Hillsong? The ministry in music has to be good. It does not have to be Hillsong but it has to be good. Whether you like it or not, you are competing with some great music on the market today. So be good, well-prepared, and fully directed by the Spirit. If your church is still stuck in worship wars you need to determine a way to whip that one. The new guest to your church who does not know God does not care which style of music is up for this week. It just has to be good music.

• The ministry to children has to be good. The age group of adults with young children is one of the most fluid in ministry today. If you can minister in a meaningful way to a child age two or age ten, you will capture the hearts of parents. Once a family buys into your children’s ministry you create an automatic feeder for your youth ministry in the years to come.

To answer your question as you think it before you ask it, “No, you don’t have to wait until you have full-time staff to do these things.” The issue is good preaching, good music, and good ministry to children. You can handle the good preaching and good qualified lay persons can do the other with your leadership.

So these are just a few starter-kit thoughts. Use these to zero in on the fundamentals.

• Make the place as neat as a pin.
• Do hospitality better than anyone else.
• Preach good, relevant Biblical messages.
• Present good, current Christian worship music.
• Have a children’s ministry second-to-none.

If you do these things, guests will come once and come again. Do them and you will be glad you did!

Have You Heard From God?

If you feel confident that you can accomplish what is in front of you with no problem at all…then you didn’t hear from God.

If no one is angry at you…then you didn’t hear from God.

If you don’t have to ask anyone to sacrifice to make the vision come true…then you didn’t hear from God.

If religious people are not steaming at you, blogging about you and/or leaving your church…then you didn’t hear from God.

If you have the money in the bank to do what God has asked you church to do…then you didn’t hear from God.

If every step is perfectly designed and nothing happens to totally throw you off along the way…then you didn’t hear from God.

If someone doesn’t try to talk you out of what you are about to attempt…then you didn’t hear from God.

If you don’t stay up at night thinking about the vision…then you didn’t hear from God.

If your vision is in contradiction to God’s Word…then you didn’t hear from God. (And no, you didn’t get a “special revelation” that gave you permission to trump His Word!)

If you know all of the answers…then you didn’t hear from God.

Growing by Subtraction

Here are some things you need to understand. Change happens. People leave churches and people stop being involved in ministries. There are many reactions when this happens, but here are some thoughts on how to handle it:

1. Don't talk people into staying when they want to leave. You rarely talk an unhappy person into being happy.

2. Love people, Love people, Love people, Love people!

3. Don't take it personal even though it hurts. No matter who you are or what your leadership position, people will leave from time to time. Don't take it personal (this can be hard).

4. Always take the high road. Even if people talk bad about you or say things that aren't true, take the high road and let God fight your battles for you. (Again, not always easy.)

5. Understand that there are times when people need to leave so that the church can go forward. A church really can grow by subtraction. We've seen it happen here at OAG on more than one occasion.

The Next Level

What is it that takes a ministry to the next level? Is wishing enough? Of course not. Taking a ministry - any ministry - to the next level requires some serious investment of time and work. Here are some things that are absolute musts:

1. Quality time with God. SERIOUSLY, crank up your prayer life and Bible reading and watch what God does in your life and ministry. It's easy to allow the ministry to replace quality time with God. The best decisions I make in ministry are birthed out of quality time with God.

2. Fasting. If you need a breakthrough in your life or ministry, go on an extended fast. Fasting does wonders.

3. Give like crazy. Some ministers and leaders are stingy. I know you're not one of them :). Give offerings over and above your tithe, give your time away and invest in ministry. Give away your great ideas! God always gives me back more than I give away! If you need a breakthrough, you NEED TO START GIVING!

4. Be open-minded. Some leaders are full of condemnation towards other leaders, ministers, churches and ministries because they are closed-minded. There is nothing worse than being judgmental and critical of everything that is different from you and what you are used too. There is a whole new world of opportunity awaiting you if you would be open to it.

5. Work harder: Some leaders are flat out lazy. They use spiritual mumbo jumbo to justify their laziness. If you want to go to the next level, it will require hard work.

6. Work smarter not harder: Some leaders work harder but not smarter. They don't struggle with laziness, but they are killing themselves by working harder and stopping the ministry from going to the next level. Learn to delegate (a big finger pointed right at me on this one!), build a team, less is more, focus on only what you can do, quit micro managing and don't confuse long hours with accomplishment. Work smarter not harder!

7. Take a risk: THIS IS HUGE! If you want to go to the next level, it will require risk. You have to quit playing it safe. After all, the Bible says we should live by faith. When is the last time you took a MAJOR faith leap to get your ministry to the next level?

People Skills

One of the things that hinder people and ministries from moving forward is a lack of people skills. If you want to have a healthy organization and a thriving life, you need to have good people skills. Here are a few things I've learned regarding the area of people skills.

1. People generally follow people they like.

2. People generally follow people who have a positive attitude.

3. People generally follow people who see the best in others.

4. People generally follow people they can get along with.



How to make people like you

1. Listen to them

2. Be generous with them

3. Genuinely care about them and their family

4. Help them accomplish their dreams

5. Admit when you are wrong or make a mistake



How To Make People Not Like You

1. Be a know it all

2. Only see things from your point-of-view

3. Gossip about people

4. Tear down others

5. Talk about yourself all the time

6. Always point out the negative

7. Always tell people what they can't do

The Vision

If I had to condense my heart for OAG right now it would be this: I'm hungry to see God do something bigger and better in my life and in the life of OAG.

I just read a portion of the commencement address Steve Jobs gave at Stanford a few years ago. It was titled: Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. His words resonated with my spirit. He closed his address this way:

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewritters, scissors, and Polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along. It was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then, when it had run its course, they put out a final issue.

It was the mid-1970's, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early-morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."

It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

A New Pump Handle

150 years ago, 500 people died of cholera in just ten days in one London neighborhood, marking the beginning of another horrible epidemic. Victorian physician Dr. John Snow of London had already written a controversial pamphlet suggesting that cholera was not caused by "vapors,"but was instead a disease of the "gut," spread by contaminated water.

With the high number of deaths in this neighborhood, he studied the cases and was convinced that a pump at the intersection of Broad and Cambridge Streets was the sole source of contaminated water. In an emotional publicmeeting, he suggested removing the pump handle so no more water could be drawn from that location.

The rest is history. The handle was removed, cholera abated, and huge engineering projects were launched for sanitation systems and clean water across Europe. Dr. Snow's pump handle affected all of us. It led to improvements in the areas of sanitation and purification, and dramatically improved human life, lowering infant mortality rates and increasing lifespans.

Last week (26 February 2008) Starbucks got a new pump handle.

Were you one of thousands of unsuspecting people who were suddenly faced with an unexpected crisis? Heading into their neighborhood Starbucks to get a caffeine boost, customers were met with a terrifying reality: locked doors. Starbucks had shut down.

Okay, it was only for three hours (5:30-8:30). But for some of us the mere thought that all 7100 Starbucks in North America were closed was enough to jumpstart trembling hands and throbbing heads. Not even the knowledge thatDunkin Donuts was offering 99 cent "joe" to keep up community caffeine levels was enough to calm the no-Starbucks jitters.

Why did Starbucks take a three hour coffee break? To clean up their pump handle. The pump handle that had first turned on the Starbucks phenomenon had been so changed and corrupted that the company needed a new one.

Or in the words of CEO Howard Schultz, Starbucks shut down to open up andown up to its "first
love." Starbucks shut down to rediscover and rededicate the company to the "love, passion, and commitment" of the coffee experience. Starbucks had lost its original pump handle, and the one they were using needed to be replaced.

This quote is taken from the official Starbucks "Transformation Agenda Communication #8:"
Tomorrow evening, we will come together in an unprecedented event in ourcompany's storied history. We will close all our U.S. company-operated stores to teach, educate, and share our love of coffee, and the art of espresso. An in doing so, we will begin to elevate the Starbucks Experience for our customers. We are passionate about our coffee. And we will revisit our standards of quality that are the foundation for the trust that our customers have in our coffee and in all of us.

Howard Schultz insisted that this re-plumbing was designed to reconnect the company to the "soul of the past." "This is not about training," heinsisted to his employees, looking somewhat somber. "This is about the love and compassion and commitment that we all need to have for the customer." ("Starbucks Takes a 3-Hour Coffee Break," The New York Times, 27 February 2008)

It is a concept that sounds like a contradiction. Shut down your business in order to open up your business. But the same logic has been used by physicians for years. Doctors sometimes induce comas in patients with life threatening injuries, allowing them to regulate body temperature, reduceswelling, and stabilize fluid levels. Without experiencing the pain and anxiety that put additional stress on their injured body, these patientsare able to heal more quickly. They "shut down" in order to help the body come alive to health.

Maybe we in the church, the "body of Christ," should take our own "coffee break." Maybe we should consider a 3-day, or 3-week, or 3-month shut-down to reboot our churches in Christianity's original operating system. Maybe we need to find our original pump handle.
Our pump handle has been corroded partly because of our busy-ness. Look how busy we are. Our church bulletins tell the story of our busyness . . .. our weekly schedules, our outreach programs, our missions, our schools, our choirs, our committees. We feel good about our busyness. But has our"busyness" overwhelmed our true identity? Have we forgotten why the church exists at all?

Starbucks closed down to find the "soul of its past." Maybe the church needs to "close" itself off from all its programs and pageants and plans in order to rediscover why we are what we are.
And who are we? And why are we here? What was our original pump handle?