It wasn’t that long ago I can remember my excitement over Myspace. Though it was short-lived, I remember loving the ability to connect and keep up with friends beyond email or any other type of correspondence. By updating my page, I could inform many of my friends at the same time what was going on in my life too. Social networking had been around, but it was typically at a price and had many parameters that narrowed it’s ability to connect. Myspace was free and untamed.
Not long after that day someone turned me on to facebook. Almost immediately I stopped using my myspace (after finding many of those same friends over on facebook) except for people who weren’t in college (at the time facebook was for people with college emails only). With myspace, you have the ability to over-customize your experience. Every Myspace page looked different as people added their own designs. The problem with such personalization is there seemed to be no uniformity in the mission and goal of myspace. Almost as if myspace was simply a template in which you could create your own neck of the woods.
Facebook, on the other hand, is not as easily customizable. There is one color scheme and basic layout. You can change the info and data, but not the overall experience. Even the ads seem to be more well placed, that you simply don’t mind them. There are many reasons facebook has grown to be much larger than myspace, but I believe it’s clear uniformity in goals and purpose are a major part.
There are a lot of ministries that take both approaches, but in my opinion the ones that take the more ‘facebook’ approach tend to win out. Simply handing out jobs is not delegation. Trying to appease each individual person creates a spiritual mess and you don’t know what to expect from person to person. In being effective in reaching others, we need to create a defined system or way of acting and reacting in our ministry. In other words, the overall purpose and objectives are displayed in the very structure itself. Sure each person is different, their likes and dislikes – but people will jump on board when they know what you’re about.
Handing pieces to different people not on board with the vision can ruin what you hope to accomplish. Instead, delegate and distribute responsibility based upon an agreed upon set of values and goals — you’ll be better in the end for it. After all, not many people miss myspace.
In fact, I waited for 23 years and when I got engaged, I was ready to get married and quit waiting — so Mel and I were engaged for 4 months. Ok, there were other factors, but a lot of it came down to not wanting to sit in a state of transition for a year or more.
The thing is, change is healthy. I’ve told people that so many times in my life and I live it. I’m not afraid of change, and in fact embrace it as an expected and welcomed part of life. The past few months have brought much change, but also a long period of transition. (hence the lack of blogging or much else)
In the past few months my laptop has been in the shop 3 times. When you’re trying to get stuff done, this is not fun. My cell phone randomly deletes emails, contacts and even calendar functions… and the battery was lasting only 20 minutes of talk time (until Ray hooked me up)! Put on top of that I’m commuting 80 minutes each way to work while we are packing our house up and moving to a new one. Our buyer set our closing date 6 weeks out – which is a long time of transition. I hate that state of limbo – the part where you’re not fully one place or the other.
Of course we move in a little over 2 weeks and have 2 days to move in before we’re in Barbados on a mission trip. However, after that – hopefully the dust will settle a bit and we’ll be ready to start our new life in Bogart.
Change happens, so prepare for it – but I never get used to the transitions.
While I’m settling into a new ministry, trying to get the house packed up, and preparing for a mission trip… I haven’t had the time to blog as often. So I may take the opportunity to highlight others who are doing a great job.
People are GOING to question how you do things…no matter how you do them. (BTW…they questioned the ministry methods of Jesus! I would say if people aren’t asking questions and getting offended then you are not being like Christ!)
(A little more on the above thought—Jesus was ALWAYS healing on the Sabbath, which was considered to be a “sin” in that society. Think about that…there were people who actually accused Jesus of sin because His ministry methods didn’t match up with their personal preferences. Hmmmm.)
If you preach line by line, verse by verse then some people are going to prefer that you be more of a topical teacher.
If you preach topical messages some people will scream that you need to exegete the text!
If you use “secular” music then some people will scream you are “loving the world.”
If you use all “Christian” music then some people will scream that you are not relating to people outside of the church.
If you dress up then some people will say that you make them feel uncomfortable because they don’t really have any “church clothes.”
If you wear jeans and a T-shirt then some will say that “you aren’t giving God your best!”
What I am saying is this…there is NO WAY that a ministry leader can please every single person coming in the doors! I once told a pastor, “You could stand at the back of your church this Sunday and give away $100 bills and SOMEONE would hate you for it!”
What you’ve GOT to do is figure out God’s unique calling on your life…and then DO IT with no apologies. If you and I are not being true to the call God has placed on our lives then we are basically slapping His grace in the face and saying to Him by our actions, “People’s opinions are more important than Yours!”
(I once heard Craig Groeschel say, “Becoming obsessed with what people think about me is the quickest way to forget what God thinks about me.”)
Shaun King hit the nail on the head with this post about how Money Doesn’t Produce Passion. Some of the worst things you can do is have people on your team who are there for a paycheck. There is absolutely nothing wrong with people getting paid, or being a blessing to someone who is committed – but you’ve got to beware of making sure your team is involved because of their passion for ministry above a buck.
Here’s a little of what Shaun says:
If people were not really passionate about God or the church you lead before you started paying them, they won’t grow one single ounce of passion about God or the church you lead because you pay them.
If people were really passionate about God or the church you lead before you started paying them, paying them does not mean that this passion will be magically sustained or revived with each paycheck they receive.
Every pastor and leader is on the lookout for the next silver bullet. Something that will revolutionize his ministry, double his attendance, and increase the number of volunteers. Whether its conferences or going as far as to emulate other pastors down to the way they dress – leaders will do anything to find the magic fix. The bad news is, there is no silver bullet.
While there are still a few guys wearing Hawaiian shirts out there (surprisingly), you have to personalize your ministry. In reality, it’s not methods that change lives – it’s the Gospel that changes lives. Your methods need to mirror your community, and they may often mirror other churches – but don’t look for the silver bullet because it doesn’t exist. Instead, look for a way for your church to reach your community the best way possible. You will most likely try and fail more than once before getting it right, but keep placing Jesus in the front of everything you do. Only He can change lives.
I’m always impressed by snipers. They have honed their craft so tightly; that even on an ocean wave they are able to pick off a few pirates before they even knew what hit them. A sniper is a sharp shooter. He spends the majority of his time practicing over and over that one shot – so when it counts, he doesn’t miss.
On the other hand, have you ever shot a shotgun? There is definitely some skill involved, but not near as much. A shotgun is a great gun for close range, but if you’re looking to hit a target further than a few feet away you may want something else (ok, some shotguns are better than others, but roll with me).
Why do we so often in ministry use a shotgun when we should be pulling out our snipers? In other words, we try to do so much and only braze the target – when we should be knocking it down. It’s easy to get caught up in programs, buildings and so many other things that are ‘good’ – but keep us from being effective. Often shotgun users are the ones trying to please people, instead of keeping the ministry on task. They often worry about what has always been done – rather than evaluate the effectiveness of a ministry. A shotgun user can’t see beyond a few feet in front of him – whereas a sniper can see the big picture down the road that God has planned.
There is a HUGE difference between good and great – and I believe we need to stop trying to do a little bit of everything good, and start doing a few things great. And hey, a sniper at close range is still pretty deadly.
There is a big disconnect within many Christians today – and it’s in the fact that they “buy” their faith instead of owning it. In fact, a better way to our ideal is to let our faith own us. Instead of giving everything we have toward the mission of God, we tend to look at our faith like a commodity.
I have been guilty of this in the past as well. I fell into the trap of buying “Christian” t-shirts, only listening to “Christian” music, and of course going to church for all of the wrong reasons. The problem isn’t in a t-shirt with a cheesy slogan – the problem is that we often purchase a lifestyle instead of giving ourselves over to a new way of life. The term “Christian” was never meant to refer to anything other than the people of God. There is no “Christian” music, just music that honors or doesn’t honor Christ.
Semantics? Maybe, but we all need to be careful to not fall into the trap of simply trying to wear all of the right clothes, listen to the ‘right’ stuff, and finish our checklist. Everything we do should be motivated by a desire to give God glory. He deserves all we have — and I’ve got a feeling he’s not a huge fan of the cheesy shirts either.
I know plenty of men that are brave. Men who left their comfort zones to follow God in obedience. Men who sacrifice so much so their family can experience life at its fullest. There are no doubt many brave men, but I’d like to introduce you to another one. He is one of the bravest men I know and he happens to be a good friend of mine. Lt. Geoff Miller is in the National Guard and has just been deployed overseas for active duty. As his friend and pastor, I pray for him – and I’d love to invite you to do the same.
Though the details of his trip may not be public knowledge, know that this is a man who is fighting for God, family and for country. He is one of the bravest men I know and I am proud to know him. I am looking forward to shaking his hand next year when he returns and offer a huge ‘Thank you’. Please join me in praying for him, his unit, and his family.
Tonight I had the neat opportunity to interview Barry Shettel for the course that I teach at Liberty University Online. I did a webcast and had students submit questions, then sign in to watch the interview. Here’s a few things about Barry.
Barry has been a youth pastor for almost 40 years and just retired this past Sunday.
He has served at Prince Avenue Baptist for the past 29 years.
Barry is a former alumni of the year at Liberty University, and he’s on the Board for the youth major at Southern Seminary.
I will be following Barry as student pastor (eventually High School) and I have some pretty big shoes to fill.
As his first act of retirement, Barry will be riding his bike across the United States… and no, not a motorcycle. You can follow him on his blog here.
There’s so much more to say about Barry, but below I am posting our online interview. It ended up over an hour, but it is well worth your time.
