The Priority Principle

As I spend time with leaders from both the business and church world I have noticed a common theme. With a few questions, a decent cup of coffee, and about an hour of time they can describe why they do what they do. What they talk about are their core values; those things that they want to describe their life when it is all said and done.

Another thing becomes quite apparent with just a bit of digging. Many of these leaders have a hard time connecting the tasks that fill their days to their core values.

Sometimes it is just a matter of better understanding what they do and why. This is especially true of people with repetitive job cycles (each day looks the same, or each week follows the same pattern).

Most pastors fit into that category as there are certain things that must be done each week before the next Sunday arrives. Their to-do lists are often full before a week even begins. Many times they struggle with motivation because they have forgotten the connection that the task has to their values.

Other times the reason it is hard to find a connection between task and value is because there is no connection. People in this state often talk about things like "the tyranny of the urgent". They are doing things that must be done, but when you ask, "why?", they have a hard time giving a satisfying answer.

One little exercise I ask clients to walk through is to look at their To-Do list for a given week, take each task listed, and ask "Why am I doing this?" Take that answer and ask "why" again. Keep asking why until you get down to something you would consider a core value.

For example, a task might be "write follow-up letters to all guests from Sunday". Why? Because we want guests to feel welcomed and help them connect to our church. Why? God welcomed us into His family, we want to do the same. Why? We value Grace and Hospitality; two characteristics God displays to us.

Each task could go a number of directions. This exercise does two things for you. First, for those tasks that do lead to a core value it allows you to speak vision and not just task. We are no longer "writing follow-up letters to guests", we are extending Grace and Hospitality to people that God loves, just as He did to us. It might flavor those same letters with a different tone and passion.

Second, for those tasks that do not lead to a core value it helps you see that it either does not need to be done or it does not need to be done by the leader. It is important that a leader does not fill their week with tasks that have no connection to their core values. That drains motivation and quickly decreases their performance, creativity, passion, etc.

The simple truth is that there are more things that must be done than a leader can do in any given week. In the past we turned to "time management" tools to help us become more efficient. Sadly, the same technology that allowed us to become more efficient also allowed people to make more demands on us.

Cell phones allow us to make connections at any time, anywhere. They also allow people to believe that we are available to connect any time, anywhere. Email and every other online communication tool allow people to send questions, requests, comments, etc. to us with little to no effort. Put a $0.10 price tag on emails and I bet the average in-box would be cut in half.

Today the focus is not so much on time management as it is on Priority Management. Leaders that will be consistently successful are those that keep a tight reign on their weekly to-do list, keeping them in line with their core values.

Importance of Inflow

These last few months have been some of the most intense of my life. The whole process of hearing from God and then attempting to match my practical day-to-day life with His call has been incredibly transformational.

It has also been draining, and from what I am seeing it is only going to get more so. Some days I find myself looking back on my position as an associate pastor and thinking just how easy I had it. I realize there is always a case of greener grass, but the fact is I did have it easier back then. Some of that is probably because God was in the process of teaching me what it meant to be poured out for Him. Much of it was that I was the associate pastor... and I have come to believe there is just a whole different level of responsibility that a senior pastor feels.

As my ministry has changed I can empathize more with Paul when he recounted his sufferings in 2 Corinthians 11:16-29. That sounds silly even as I write it, but I find it amazing that at the end of his (quite substantial and impressive) list of trials he says, "besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches."

That is a new thing for me, being concerned for "all the churches". I could honestly say that I was concerned with "my" church, but not "all" the churches. Now, as I work with multiple pastors and business people across the city I find that I am constantly being poured out. I pray more, I hurt more. I battle worry and anxiety, not just for my family and our well-being, but for their families and well-being.

It is both incredibly fulfilling and incredibly draining at the same time.

That point become ultimately clear to me today as I stared, blank-faced, at my computer screen. I was trying to write and realized there was just nothing inside of me. I felt truly empty. That is when it hit me. It has been two days since I just sat and soaked in God's Word.

I have read my Bible in the last two days, but it was more of a reference tool as I was dispensing advice, preparing a message, or framing my prayers. I had not stopped long enough to allow God to fill me with His Word, and so I became empty.

Shortly after I realized that I was empty (and why), I thanked God for how He has chosen to use me at this season of my life. I realized that there have been times I have gone weeks or even months without allowing God to fill me before I felt this empty. That was a humbling and convicting thought... that I was giving away so little of what God had given me that I could last months between fill-ups.

That is most certainly not the case now. The calling God has given me is too big for me. The steps of faith He requires are too large. And that is just the way He wants it. Each day I am compelled to come to Him and simply commit myself to His glory. That is about all I can muster, to say, "Today God I am Yours, please fill me and use me as You see fit."

In that beautiful moment He fulfills what He promises so often in the Scripture; He gives me strength, wisdom, clarity, and passion for His Kingdom and Glory. Then He is good enough to take care of all of the other things I need in life as well.

Thoughts on Sovereignty

[This is a rather long, probably rambling thought on the question, "If God deserves the full credit for the salvation of the elect, does He also share the full blame for the damnation of the rest?"]

I have written on this before, but the topic has arisen once again and it is an important topic, fully worthy of two posts on my prestigious blog.

The issue of sovereignty is, at its core, the age old question, “Is God good?” Some think sovereignty is about Gods power verses our lack of power, but that is merely the first level of the discussion, and it is rather easily answered. With just little research and discovery we find that He has all power and we have none, or we have none outside of that which He has given us.

No, the much more pressing question is, how does this all-powerful God choose to use His power? Is He giving and kind or sadistic and evil? It is the question the serpent first posed to Adam and Eve in the garden. Would God really be so cruel as to deprive you of His good fruit? Would he really kill you simply because you ate of it?

Before we go much further let me say that there is only one answer to the question, “Is God good?” It is a whole-hearted “Yes!” Jesus uses goodness as His standard for God. When the people called Him “good teacher” He reminded them that there is only one who is good, and that is God. By definition anything God does is good, regardless of how it looks through our eyes.

With that as our foundation let us consider a more specific case; whether God has found it good to create some people for His glory and others for His wrath. This is the end reality of most discussions about the chosen and elect. In our desire to give God full credit for our salvation (which He deserves) we often paint a picture in which He also receives full credit for the damnation of the lost.

Though I am willing to accept that premise, I neither desire to do so nor do I think it is necessary according to Scripture.

One objection is somewhat subjective, loosely resting upon principle’s found in Scripture. It has to do with my nature as a father in light of God, the ultimate Father. He says of me that I am evil, and yes I still desire good for my children. How much more, He continues, does He want good things for His children? In Matthew this was not directed only at people who were destined for eternity with God. He was speaking in a more general term, relating our “good” wickedness to his perfect goodness.

Imagine a scene that took place five years ago as my wife and I were discussing children. We decided that we wanted two, a son and a daughter. We hoped to have the son first and the daughter second, some two years later.

The son will be our treasure. Each day we will shower him with love, and each night he will fall asleep secure in our acceptance and care.

The daughter will be reserved for our wrath. Each day she will receive only what she needs to survive. We will not let her die so that we can torture her for another day. Each night we will cut, burn, and beat her and then throw her into a room of utter darkness to fall asleep in her misery.

After this talk we look at each other and agree that our plan is good, in fact it is very good. Then we rest and go to bed.

My stomach squirms just writing these things. They are so far from the truth as to be horrific and ghastly. No sane person would read that conversation and call it “good”. And, if I heard anyone talking like that about my children I would do whatever it took to stop it. I would die before I let my daughter be treated in such a way.

In that light it is no great stretch for me to believe God’s heart went out in the same way about His own sons and daughters. Then, in His great power and mercy he made sure that it did not have to be that way. He would do whatever it takes to redeem His creation. And he did it.

Scripture is extremely clear that when God redeemed creation through Jesus that He completed the task. He saved all, fixed it all, and covered it all. Every wrong was righted; every sin covered when Jesus paid the price and proved His power.

This is what we expect from a good and powerful God. When we were completely unable to save ourselves from an eternity of suffering He stepped in and saved us.

And yet Scripture is also clear that some will not be saved. Some will experience God’s wrath for all eternity. That is really where the problem arises. If God were to say to us, “All will be saved, even if you don’t think they should be,” ten we would deal with it. We might not like it, but in submission to His will we would live with it. Jesus told a parable similar to that after all and the message was clear; God’s mercy is much greater than ours.

But, God does not say that. He tells us that some will be judged for all time in endless fire and separation. How does that happen? We only have two choices. The first is that God decided from the beginning that it would be good to create some things for the sole purpose of releasing His wrath upon them. The second is that He created us with the ability to reject His love and choose His wrath instead.

I reject the first option for two reasons. First it goes against the definition of love that God uses to describe Himself. (His very nature is love, defined as fully giving oneself for another. Wrath receives its definition from love, as the absence of true love.) Second, God says that each will be judged according to his own words and deeds.

Some hesitate to land upon the second option for fear that it will raise a new problem. For, if someone is able to choose death, then couldn’t they also choose life? Not necessarily. Let us take the first man and woman as an example.

What part did Adam and Eve play in the life they discovered? None. Yet, what part did they play in their own death and separation from God? Every part according to God, perhaps somewhat shared with the serpent.

Similarly let us consider the children of Israel. What part did they play in their rescue from Egypt? None. And yet to whom does Scripture attribute the blame for those who died in the wilderness? Certainly not to God. The terms “hardened hearts, disobedience, and unbelief” describe those who were saved from Egypt and yet did not enter His rest.

Might the process of our salvation follow a similar pattern? Might it be more of a process than a single point in time? What if we are all dead in our sins, bound in slavery until God comes and breathes new life into us, setting us free with the offer of eternal life? What if when Scripture says that Jesus died once for all it means just that? That all of us who are by our sinful nature objects of God’s wrath are offered freedom? It has nothing to do with any action or choice we take; God just chose to pay the price for our sin and offers us new life. And this new life is offered to us all, in fact it is granted to us all in his superior grace and mercy. He says to everyone, “Come and eat, enter my rest!”

What then do we say of those who end up experiencing God’s wrath? Perhaps it is of those that the author of Hebrews refers in chapter 6:4-6, “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.”

This is a picture of one who has been freed from the blindness of sin, who has tasted the breath of life… and yet then rejects that very life choosing to embrace death instead.
And so God retains full credit for all those who are saved, and yet He holds none of the blame for those who are condemned.

Generational Change

Change. It is a hot topic these days as many people find themselves dissatisfied with the status quo. In all of our recent talk about change we seem to have forgotten an important fact.

It often takes as long to change the status quo as it took to establish it.

We know this is true from experience. If you spend ten years adding weight to your physical frame, don't expect it to come off in ten weeks. If you spend ten years building your debt portfolio (car, credit cards, school loans, etc.), don't expect to be debt free in ten weeks.

Most pastors and ministry leaders will nod in agreement to these points; they are things we regularly speak about. But, let us bring it home into the church realm.

If we have spent ten years (or more) building mediocrity and apathy into our churches, why do we expect them to become missional in ten weeks (or even ten months)? People will give lip service to things like life-long commitment to a vision, but few actually mean it.

Everyone wants to sign up to be Gideon; called to change one day, and seeing God's deliverance soon after. Fewer want to sign up to be Moses, who was called, then sent to 40 years of training, then served for 40 years, and then asked to turn the ministry over to someone else before ever entering the promised land.

Imagine if God revealed a fool-proof plan that guaranteed in twenty years your church or denomination would begin growing 100% each year. Would you sign up for that plan?

What if you got to the fine print and read that the next nineteen years will see mostly internal change and very little external fruit. To top it off the twenty-year plan has someone else's name at the top of the leadership chart.

Is the plan still as appealing as it was at first? Would you still be willing to commit the next twenty years of your life to the plan knowing you may never see the fruit?

Our culture has infected us with such "new" and "fast" mentality that we have a hard time talking about generational change. We spent a generation getting where we are; what if it requires a generation to get back on track?

It is true that nothing is impossible with God. He can turn a nation to himself in mere days (see Nineveh and Jonah). It is also true that God is not as concerned with our calendar as our character. If it takes forty years for Him to mold us into a usable vessel that is acceptable to Him.

Is it acceptable to us?

Lessons from the Outside: Why the Walls?

The separation between clergy and laity was very clear to me early in my ministry. In these last years, however, that line has become more blurred. I believe it has much to do with the language I use to describe each one and the connotations it contains.

When I entered the ministry I "surrendered to a call" from God. That accurately describes the process I went through. It was not a quick process, nor an easy one. Following God's call on my life required me to surrender my own dreams and desires to His Will.

The problem comes when we do not use the same phrase to describe how someone becomes a banker, or plumber, or stay-at-home mom. The connotation is that everyone who does not enter "the ministry" does not receive a call from God.

It is as if the call on my life was higher, deeper, or more consuming than the call of the average believer. I don't see that idea supported in Scripture.

We can build an argument that supports the reality that some callings place us in roles that carry more authority or require certain qualifying standards. Say we call that a "five talent calling" (even though I am not sure God would). The question then becomes, "Does God view the 'one talent calling' as less important or less demanding?"

Scripture says "No". That means that our calling has less to do with where we draw our paycheck and more to do with the roles God has chosen for us. He expects the same focus and the same results regardless of where He places us.

Consider this example. We believe that a pastor (bishop and elder in the Bible) will be judged by God according to how he takes care of those in his flock. Do we believe a CEO will be judged in the same way by how he cares for the employees in his business? If not then it may be time to re-read Proverbs, the Prophets, and much of the New Testament.

Even though I am no longer working on a church staff I feel no less "called to the ministry". My role may have changed, but God's expectations of me have not. My purpose is the same whether I am coaching a small business owner or a church planter; to see God's glory increase in and through them.

Lessons from the Outside: "My Identity"

God has been speaking to me recently about my identity, where I find my purpose and value. Though his Word clearly says that I should find my value in His glory (Matt. 6:33), too many times I try to identify myself by my plans, abilities, vocation, and my ministry.

It is deceptively easy to define my identity by the ministry I do for God rather than the purpose for which God created me. God created me to reveal His glory through good works. All too often I begin finding my meaning in the good works rather than in His revealed glory.

That became clear when He removed me from ministry life. I was unaware how much of my “self” was tied to my ministry. Ministry was something tangible that I could measure myself by. I could see “lifechange” and measure things like baptisms and group attendance. If the numbers were good then it was not hard to believe that my life had great meaning; especially since all of these numbers had to do with God’s Kingdom, not my own.

I am beginning to see that when I find my identity in anything other than God’s glory revealed through me I am headed toward idolatry (with me as the key idol). That path leads to both delusion and depression. Delusion occurs when I believe I am overly important in God’s Kingdom. Depression occurs when I believe God could never use me.

The truly amazing thing is that when my value and purpose are resting on things other than God I can swing between delusion and depression at an alarming rate.

It makes me wonder if Jesus felt like he was more successful after feeding the 5000 than the day He spoke about His body as the bread of life and watched most of his followers leave. I doubt it. The mission of Jesus’ life was God’s glory revealed, not God’s glory well received and celebrated.

I have found several signs that indicate a life that is grounded in God; whose sole purpose is His revealed glory:

1. Humility and Intensity. There is a strange mix of humility and intensity from those operating under the identity of Christ. He modeled this in His own ministry. Early mornings, late nights, and days full of pouring Himself out at every turn were the norm. Followers seeking His glory have this same drive, not to lift up themselves, but to pour themselves out each day for His glory.
2. Consistent Confidence. Even your most Christ-centered follower will have difficult days or seasons of doubt. Christ himself struggled as He learned obedience (see the garden before his crucifixion). Consistent confidence comes from daily renewal as each day we lay down our life and take up His cross. God refreshes the discouraged spirit, refocuses any misappropriated glory, and removes any misplaced trust. He reminds us that victory is not a question of if, just when.
3. Creativity. God longs to accomplish His work and reveal His glory. When I line up with Him, He reveals methods of ministry that are beyond my own creative ability. When you see extremely creative ministries do not covet their creativity, covet their connectedness to God.
4. Clarity. The life of Christ revealed God’s glory through the redemption of mankind by His death and resurrection. We also reveal God’s glory through the redemption of mankind by _______________. When I am connected daily to God, it is easy for me to fill in that blank.
5. Audacious Goals. Only God would set a goal of “redeeming all of Creation.” Those connected to God have the audacity to set huge goals. Those goals often go unreached because as soon as they might draw near one they pick it up and toss it further away, raising the bar even higher. They have a hunger to see God’s glory revealed that will not be satisfied until all of Creation is reconciled to Him.

Which of these characteristics are revealed in your daily life? Which are missing, and what does that reveal about where you are finding your identity?

His name was James

My grandfather passed away a little over a month ago. That is what led to the events of this weekend. I celebrated my 12th anniversary on Saturday, a day early. Then early in the morning SundayI left town with my parents to get the last load of furniture and other memorabilia from my grandfather's house.

The trip is just under seven hours one-way. Most people don't really understand just how huge Texas is; we were still hours away from the nearest state line. In any case, the fastest we could make the trip was two days. We arrived in the afternoon Sunday, spent four hours packing the car and trailer, then crashed. This morning we were up early and left to come home.

When we got home we were all exhausted. So was my wife. Taking care of two kids, one sick and the other screaming, can take it out of you just as much as a 2-day packing/driving extravaganza.

So, Monday night we decided to treat ourselves to a sweet treat... that means Sonic and ice cream. As we were enjoying our Limeaid (her) and Chocolate shake (me) we decided to go browse movies at Blockbuster; just to see if there might be something that piqued our interest.

As we were walking up to the door we were interrupted by a man asking for money. He asked if we could remember him on the way out, perhaps donate a dollar. We deftly made our way in, walked around the store for a bit, and exited with some other people fifteen minutes later.

Fifteen minutes. It could have ended then, except that God's Spirit seemed to be speaking to my spirit, asking me questions. "What is his story? How did he end up like that? Does he even have anyone to talk to, much less someone who will care for him?"

All of these questions kept pounding into my head. As I got back into the car I said to my wife, "Man, I feel sorry for that guy." That was when my reading from James flooded back into my mind; that passage that says it is rather useless to wish someone warm and well-fed and not to give them a coat or food.

I had done a rather good job to that point rationalizing why I could not help this guy. In general I don't support people asking for money on the highway. And, I really didn't have any cash... just a debit card.

But, I had a hard time convincing myself that I could not spare a few bucks for this guy while I sucked down a three dollar milkshake. Even worse I feared that he could very easily have turned invisible to me, as if he did not even exist. God's Spirit was screaming that this man was not invisible to Him.

So, with my wife's encouragement, I went to the nearest burger place and ordered some food. About five minutes later we were back at Blockbuster, food in hand... only to find the store front empty. It hit me just how quickly opportunities can pass us by.

I figured I should attempt to give the food to someone, so I went into the Blockbuster and asked, "Anyone want a burger?" The employees looked at me a bit askew, so I explained that I had bought it for the "guy standing outside."

"Oh, you mean barefoot guy?", one of the employees said. "Yea, I guess... is that his name? Barefoot guy?", I responded.

"No, he normally wears shoes", she said, "When I saw him tonight I said, 'James where are your shoes?'"

There it was. The man now had a name. James. This was no longer a somewhat scary guy bothering me on the way into Blockbuster. This is James, the guy who apparently lives under the bridge across the street from the Blockbuster no more than 2 miles from my house.

They pointed him out through the window. James was over trying to get a burrito. I thanked them for their help; they thanked me for thinking of James. I took him the burger. He asked God to bless me; and I did the same for him.

My heart changed. Something happened inside of me; and I believe it involves God showing me some of what He feels for James.

Service does that. When I allow my time, my money, and my effort, to be spent on others, something happens. I begin to see them a little more clearly, as God sees them. Now I pray for James; not just some impersonal prayer for "the guy at Blockbuster", but for James, the guy who lives under the bridge. Even now I find myself growing more curious about his story. How did he end up there? Could I give him someone to talk to? Could God use me to pass along a bit of His love to this son of His?

I hope so.