Experiences In Church Transformation

Sharing Ideas Can Cause Growth

Recently I have been sitting down with one of my colleagues in town to learn from each other.  It has become something that I have found extremely enjoyable especially since he is the pastor from a faith tradition that I have limited knowledge about.  Today we met for lunch and as we discussed things that were happening in our respective congregations and faith traditions it became apparent how much we have in common.

I share this because I think it is vital for all of us to remember the importance of sharing ideas with one another.  The Lord created the church to be a faith community in which ideas are shared, questions asked, and growth takes place.  I would challenge all of you to remember the importance of regularly connecting with others that are in and are not in your faith traditions to share ideas.  Through this experience I believe your personal faith will grow.

Audience of One

In their book, "Lead Like Jesus", Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges point out that as Christian leaders (and I believe Christians in general) we need to remember that we have an audience of One - the Lord.  This is an important concept for us to grasp and to live by.  There is probably not one of us that feels at times we are pulled in multiple directions with multiple demands and priorities upon our lives.  It seems that there are more than enough people who are willing to tell us what we should be doing and how we are to be doing it.  Blanchard and Hodges remind us that we only have one who should be directing our lives - GOD. 

When we start to live with this concept as our guide, it can make dramatic impact upon our lives.  Anyone who has tried to provide leadership knows that when you work with a multitude of people, there is absolutely no way, no matter what you do or don't do, to please every person.  Someone always can point out a better way you could have done something or a better decision you could have made or a better way you could have used your time.  A person could go insane if we tried to follow everyone's directions.  However, if you adopt an audience of one approach to what you do, then you are no longer running around in circles but instead are striving to listen for the Lord's voice and direction and honor that.

Another benefit to this philosophy is that you are being faithful to Scripture.  Jesus shows over and over again that our primary objective (or primary directive for you Star Trek fans) is to follow the Lord's direction and call for our lives. 

The potential difficulty with adopting this philosophy for our lives is that some times people will be upset with us.  The reason is that we are no longer catering to their opinions and whims but instead listening to the Lord of our lives.  On occasion the Lord will direct us to say and/or do things that will not be popular.  But if we are striving to place the Lord as our audience of one then Jesus points out that our reward will be greater than anything that may be offered to us during our time in this life.

So I encourage all of us to be faithful to our audience of one and share this concept with others!!!!

Responsible Freedom

As we prepare to celebrate our nation's 231st anniversary of independence, I thought it would be important to remember another independence - our independence from sin and death.  Both of these privileges of independence did not come without a price.  For our nation, men fought and gave their lives to secure and to maintain our independence throughout the years.  For us as individuals, Jesus Christ gave his life to secure our independence from sin and death.

So this year as we celebrate the independence of the United States of America, let us not only give God thanks for the privilege of living in a free nation but let us also give thanks for being freed from sin and death through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our Lord.