A breath of...air
First day back at work after a week spent representing Samaritan Ministries at the National Youth Workers Conference, held at the Gospel Light Baptist Church of Hot Springs, AR.
It was awesome.
More than anything, I came away with the realization that I'm not the only one experiencing some of the conflicted emotions that have come with being in the circle of churches I've grown up in. That there are others (host pastor Eric Capaci and host youth pastor Bob Ritter, in particular) realizing the need to think outside the box, to address some of the inward-focus issues that have led churches away from being God's voice in our world.
In particular, a session by Pastor Kurt Skelly was almost down-the-line in expressing some of my thoughts/frustrations with how things have been done. I've ordered the audio, and I'll post transcripts of some excerpts from his session. I walked away from his one session realizing that Pastor Skelly is one to listen to.
And I got to hear David Gibbs, who has been accurately described as one of America's greatest Christian orators. He has a way of conveying profound thoughts with a concise, easygoing yet earnest style that you find yourself just drinking in.
Dr. Gibbs gave a session on leadership types, and the last type he addressed was the Visionary. He observed that among our circles (independent fundamental Baptists), the numbers of these leaders had dwindled. He remarked with visible sadness: "Sometimes we forget that the practices we hold to so dearly were considered revolutionary thirty years ago."
A sentence so laden with meaning, I can hardly sit still. I almost shouted out loud the moment he said it.
God, please allow me to be a Visionary.
It was awesome.
More than anything, I came away with the realization that I'm not the only one experiencing some of the conflicted emotions that have come with being in the circle of churches I've grown up in. That there are others (host pastor Eric Capaci and host youth pastor Bob Ritter, in particular) realizing the need to think outside the box, to address some of the inward-focus issues that have led churches away from being God's voice in our world.
In particular, a session by Pastor Kurt Skelly was almost down-the-line in expressing some of my thoughts/frustrations with how things have been done. I've ordered the audio, and I'll post transcripts of some excerpts from his session. I walked away from his one session realizing that Pastor Skelly is one to listen to.
And I got to hear David Gibbs, who has been accurately described as one of America's greatest Christian orators. He has a way of conveying profound thoughts with a concise, easygoing yet earnest style that you find yourself just drinking in.
Dr. Gibbs gave a session on leadership types, and the last type he addressed was the Visionary. He observed that among our circles (independent fundamental Baptists), the numbers of these leaders had dwindled. He remarked with visible sadness: "Sometimes we forget that the practices we hold to so dearly were considered revolutionary thirty years ago."
A sentence so laden with meaning, I can hardly sit still. I almost shouted out loud the moment he said it.
God, please allow me to be a Visionary.
posted by pastor mike at 2:45 PM
2 Comments:
One thing to consider is that the visionarys of 30 years ago envisioned that someday people would hold dearly to many of their proposed "radical" practices. We did, many still do, and here we are. There is nothing intrinsically noble about being a visionary - Hitler, Saddam,and many others have been incredible visionarys. What we really need to do is truly submit our hearts to Christ, without the extra-Biblical isolationist, self-serving protectionist practices of the Baptists or anyone else. A heart that is submitted to God, in true communion with Him, will not be motivated to be visionistic. God does not need our ideas. We need His. Really, really bad. Why do we always look to God to help us achieve our burdens and desires? We should be looking to God with nothing except a desire to see His heart completed in us. Then we will understand The vision.
My place of employment is currently providing me with huge blocks of time which are quite fit for tedious contemplation. I have been thinking a lot about the differences in the way we see things. You think the decay and disconnect that our churches are experiencing is primarily an issue of methodology. I tend to lean quite strongly to the notion that, yes, the current methods are lousy, but the methods are just a hazardous bi-product of people who do not understand what their relationship with Christ should look like, what their focus should be, and what Christ truly cares about. At least that is what I say I believe. Two days ago I was talking with a Godly older coworker about the IFB church that they attend which happens to be a good one at that. We talked about several different things, then I brought up the fact that I thought our churches were doing a very poor job of relating to succeeding generations, that some things needed to be done differently to be more effective. He told me to shut up. There is no real generation gap. It's not about my church, his church, my pastor, or his. It is about God. The love of Christ. He said the problem is not that our churches are failing, it is that we as followers of Christ are failing. The church is just where we show the world that we are frauds. No program, no new trick, no new style is going to fix anything. If we each would submit our hearts to God, and through Him become like Him, the church would be a very sweet place indeed. And effectiveness would not be an issue. I tried for a moment to backpeddle, then chose to just shut up.
The reason that we need visionarys, the reason we need great men who can organize and lead the church like a Fortune 500 company is because the effect of Christ on our lives is nill. We have to dream big, we have to orchestrate huge neighborhood door knockings, we have to develop radical new Sunday School schemes, we have to search out and develop the new cutting edge moral high ground. As Christains, we set out to evolve ourselves into some sort of hybrid superstar that can prove to the world that God is for real. And our degree of success in this usually determines the limits of our tenacity. Christ died on the cross so that we could be free of the shackles of moral insecurity, so that we don't have to live like the Israelites. All He wants us to do is become His children, obey Him, grow up to be like Him, and tell everyone we see that He would love to have more children. Talk about a sweet deal! Yet we make it into this heavy, stressful, legalistic existence that preoccupies our time and renders us ineffective.
I have yet to completely give myself up and truly live a life in Christ. But I can see it, smell it. My greatest fear is that I will let the worries and issues of the "Christian" life distract me from following God wherever He wants me to go. I want to move beyond my shallow, self serving existence. I want His peace, His joy. And no one can create a program that will get me there. I have to die. Give it all up. It is not enough to want His will more than mine. That is simply acknowledging that He is God. I have to allow Him to be my Lord. I have to completely destroy my will and only know His.
He has offered to free us from the shackles of sin, all we have to do is submit. Christianity should be about nothing but becoming like Christ. That is not something we can do. Christ must do the work in a life that is submitted to Him. We have to quit trying to get in the back door. We have to quit trusting God to do what we want Him to do.
As I think about a couple of very effective ministeries that I know, the one thing that sets them apart is that the leadership and a good number of the congregation are truly submitted to Christ and His desires. They are not hindered or swayed by either secular culture or church subculture. They understand the love of Christ and what it means to us. They have experienced the transforming work of Christ in their lives. And Christ has given them more opportunites to glorify Him than you can imagine. He shows them a need, and a solution. They see big things, not because they dream big, but because they have been able to see through the eyes of Christ. Do they use programs, big ideas, and the such to be effective? Yes. Is that the key to their success? Absolutely not. I believe that their ability to effectively communicate the message of the gospel to their communities is a result of the aggressive, relentless desire to become like Christ through submitting to Him. It's not a dream, vision, program, or anything else other than total resignation to Christ.
Christ is the author and the finisher of our faith.
He has promised to complete the good work that He has begun in us. We don't need new strategies, new methods, a new moral structure to "protect" us, or new leadership styles. We simply need Christ.
I realize that many IFB's would agree in principle with what I am saying, yet they are unwilling to eliminate the crap in their lives that keeps them from being dependent upon God to change their hearts. If we eliminate our subcultural safety nets and boundary fences that keep us safe and free from the influences of the world, we have created a situation that begs desperately for God to intervene. We need for God to heal our wicked hearts, rather than us just avaoiding the things which could set us back. I am not in anyway advocating embracing the carnal things of the world, but rather my point is our emphasis should be on embracing Christ, rather than running from the world in which He placed us. He commanded us to be the light and the salt of the world, and we are failing miserably.
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