Author Archives: Jeff

What do you do when you don’t know what to do? (Do what’s best next!)

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“Every Christian must be fully Christian by bringing God into his whole life, not merely into some spiritual realm.”
—Dietrich Bonhoeffer

What do you do? What’s your vocation, the good contribution to the greater good you get to carve out and work on each day?

Do you ever feel conflicted, as if your job is less important than all that spiritual stuff you could be doing for God? You have lots to get done, but the “spiritual” people are telling you to just relax, quit trying so hard, and ‘let go and let God.’1 Do you feel that faux guilt? What is a responsible person to do?

If you’re productive, resourceful and hard-working, you press on through. You’re responsible for people, projects and tasks. Are you supposed to sit and read your Bible and pray all day when your job is to lead, decide, invent, confront and create?

It seems we pastors are suddenly realizing that people have jobs and life and stress, and it isn’t just the ‘religious professionals’ who are doing God’s work. (Yep, I can admittedly be pretty slow to see others’ contributions in God’s mission.) This is a good development. Yet to be honest, I think we pastors tend to have a skewed view of work — and aren’t known for possessing the best work ethic in general — so we’re not really the best in equipping people to work with all their might.

Where can people turn to learn how to get things done, from a godly perspective?

I’ve read numerous books on productivity, including David Allen’s Getting Things Done. My copy is highlighted all over, and I keep it near my desk for reference. GTD was really helpful for a guy who tries to do too much, too fast, all at once. (Yep, I’m a recovering multitasker.) Yet, I couldn’t adopt the ‘system’ wholesale, partly because of the spiritual nature of my work. Something annoyed me about all these business leadership books. They’re all about self-empowerment and emphasize self-actualization. Potential is a terrible thing to waste. But is it the worst thing to waste?

Enter a site like whatsbestnext.com. For years Matt Perman has been faithfully writing on productivity from a God-centered emphasis. God’s glory is the most terrible thing to waste, and we have a responsibility to honor and reflect Him in all we do (and why we do it). Motivation matters. Matt’s a consummate learner, and thoughtful reflector on all he learns and does. Leaders are readers; leaders are also doers. Been reading his blog for years, yet wondered when he’s go deeper in equipping Christian leaders, publishing an accessible book. Alas, here it is.
What's Best Next
Matt Perman says why he wrote the new book, What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done, which released this week:

“My aim in this book is to reshape the way you think about productivity and then present a practical approach to help you become more effective in your life with less stress and frustration, whatever you are doing.
I want to help you live the life that God has called you to live, and to live it with maximum effectiveness and meaning. If you are an executive, I want to help you be a better executive. If you are a homemaker, to be a better homemaker. If you are a pastor, to be a better pastor. If you are a creative professional, to be a better creative professional. If you are a missionary, to be a better missionary. And if you don’t know what life God has called you to live, I want to help you find it.”

In fact, I am convinced that this book will be helpful for anyone wanting to get things done. Obviously, for Christians, yet also for anyone. If you buy one for a non-Christian (or not-yet-Christian) business leader, and they don’t find it imminently helpful, I will buy it back from them. Seriously.

Perman knows that bad productivity approaches are annoying. And stresses that managing ourselves well is foundational to all we do. Plus, if you’re more efficient, you’ll be more effective, and thus be able to do more good for others. (See, it’s not about you!) In 350+ pages, coupled with a thorough table of contents and some fabulous appendices for quick reference, What’s Best Next will help you create a productivity approach that works, and helps you do more good for others.

Another quick excerpt:

Continue reading →

  1. I find the phrase “Let go and let God” to be lazy and unhelpful. It doesn’t reflect the message of Jesus, which would be more like: “Trust Me, rest in Me. And get to work doing what I want you to do.” ↩
 

Listening & talking about stories that matter.

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It takes humility to tell someone your story, without trying to downplay the brokenness or exaggerate your successes.

sharing-stories

It also takes courage and generosity to listen to another’s story without chiming in with your own thoughts.

The RENEW men are seeking to understand our Gospel Stories (Creation » Fall & rebellion » Redemption » Restoration), finding our place in God’s big Story, where Jesus is the Hero.

Recently we’ve been sharing our own stories, and now we turn to the better task for listening to other’s stories. Call it “Gospel Listening.”

Do people think of you as a good listener? 

Since everyone has the same four parts of their life story — and in all the countless little stories and narratives that flow out in normal conversation — let’s take a look at each part, from the perspective of Gospel Listening. 1

Gospel Story

1) CREATION // Everyone has a fundamental belief about their origin — who or what brought about their existence, made them who they are, or shaped them into the person they are today.

  • Listen for: Who or what do they credit or blame for who they are today? (Or the situation they find themselves in?)

2) FALL // Each person has a central belief about the cause of brokenness in the world and a deep desire for justice. People blame their parents, family, friends, boss, government, etc. for what they’ve become AND want just for putting the blame on someone else for the pain and suffering in the (their) world. Someone is at fault and someone deserves punishment.

  • Listen for: Why are things and people not the way they are supposed to be and who is to blame? 

3) REDEMPTION // Everyone has a solution they believe in, a remedy they look to or a “savior” they trust in to redeem the brokenness in their life and world. Many are looking to a philosophy. Others look to a plan for self-improvement or personal growth. Many believe some kind of reform in education or politics will change things. Everyone believers in a “redeemer” or in a self-improvement plan of some sort.

  • Listen for: Who or what will rescue them and redeem what is broken in their life?

4) RESTORATION // Every person has a picture of the future when everything is as it should be .. or how they hope it will be. Some see a utopia with humans all living at peace with one another. Others believe Mother earth and humanity will be one. Still others see another world where they will go to where they will be at the center. Some people’s future hope is to be married, have children, get a job, be rich, etc. Everyone wants something better — restoration of what they believe their world should be like.

  • Listen for: What will the world or their circumstance look like when all is as it should be (according to them), AND who or what will be the focus of this world? 

Learn to listen to people. The aspects of life they complain about or are super excited about helps us discover what they see as “bad news” in the world, and what is “good news” to them.

As you listen to someone’s story (or consider your own), notice the reasons for not being willing or able to obey Jesus’s commands: fear, insecurities, selfishness, pride, need for approval, and the worship of child, family or work. All of these reflect trust place in something or someone other than God.

As you become aware of the people or things that have become idols or “little gods,” take the time to compare them to Jesus. Ask the Holy Spirit to help in revealing Jesus as the best resolution to what a person is seeking elsewhere, the opposite of what they are experiencing, and the deeper reality of what they are searching for.

That is Gospel Listening.

  1. This section adapted from The Gospel Primer, a resource the Renew Church men utilize for discipleship and learning. ↩
 

God loves you … and has a difficult plan for your life.

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Great leaders give up their comforts and control of outcomes for the good of others.

As Shakespeare wrote, some are born great, some achieve greatness, and still others have greatness thrust upon them.

In Joseph (Genesis 37-50) we find a man for whom all three forms of greatness are true. What was his secret to greatness? Growing up the favorite and youngest son of Jacob, Joseph had dreams of greatness, and wasn’t afraid to tell everyone about it. He suffered from TMI — telling his brothers too much information. They despised the favored brother and plotted to kill him.

Through rejection, hardship and injustice, God broke and formed Joseph’s character to become the kind of leader who would use power for the good of others.

Those dreams were fulfilled in a better way because they were God’s own plan for the saving of many lives.

EPIC Joseph

Joseph shows us how to live beyond ourselves, living redemptively. 

Joseph dealt with past wounds to courageously and generously engage the brokenness of the world and its need. It’s because God loved Joseph that He had a difficult plan for this man’s life.

It’s a story of redemption and reconciliation, integrity and forgiveness, where Joseph shows us the gracious character of Jesus. (God had a difficult plan for His life too.)

Jesus is strong enough to forgive, protect and provide for us who deserve none of His kindness. | Scriptures: Genesis 37:1-11; 45:1-8; 50:15-21

  1. This message on Joseph is week 6 (preached 2/16/14) in EPIC: Following the Hero of God’s Story, a message series with RENEW Church on the whole Bible. ↩
 

Let’s stop doing it all at once (because we have so much to do).

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I am a chronic multi-tasker.

Since I always have many things going on at once, I feel like I have to give attention to each. Perhaps I could say I am an recovering multi-tasker. It’s my default mode, while my wife gets much more done, partly because she tackles one thing at a time (while seemingly doing it all at once).

Study after study proves that doing anything is better than doing everything.

The Distraction Economy

20140221-064750.jpg Here’s an infographic attempting to quantify our losses, the high cost of multi-tasking. Stop whatever you’re doing and give it a look. Or, keep doing what you’re doing and add this to the list. Oh, wait …

The infographic shows that an estimated $450 billion are lost annually due to people not being immersed in the task at hand. The lack of immersion excluded, our minds are elsewhere. (On average we are looking at our cellphones 150 times daily! That’s at least every five minutes.) We even have syndromes that define the sensation of feeling like you got a text. (Click image to see full size.)

Simply put, each of us is less efficient and effective — and far less intelligent — while trying to do it all.

But wait, there’s more:

“Some of the greatest threats of multitasking are not, like those posed by texting and driving, to life and limb, but to the meaning – or lack thereof – of life itself.” 1

Yep, multi-taskers are less human too.

Happy Friday everything.

Be all there.

[HT: Marc Cortez on Everyday Theology]

  1. Quote via similar, earlier link from David Murray on Head Heart Hand. ↩
 

What is poverty?

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What if poverty isn’t about a lack of food, money, or clothing?

What if our attempts to help the poor can actually hurt them?

Good intentions aren’t enough.

Brian Fikkert—co-author of When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself 1, and founder and executive director of the Chalmers Center (whose vision is for “local churches to declare and demonstrate to people who are poor that Jesus Christ is making all things new”)—looks at the deeper meaning of poverty [video]:

We were created for a relationship with God, self, others, and the rest of creation.

It’s a beautiful mess.

—

Let us commit to learning together how we can walk with the poor in humble relationships, rather than only providing temporary handouts to them. We cannot “fix” them. Only Jesus can.

I too am poor.

You are too. 

—

Continue reading →

  1. I can think of no better book on poverty and truly helping the poor than When Helping Hurts (Amazon, WTS Books). ↩
 

Give up your ‘precious.’

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Whenever God calls you to do something, you must leave behind something that’s precious to you.

True faith is letting go of your treasure, giving up control of your life by trusting God through uncertainty.

EPIC Abraham

As humanity was trying desperately to make a name for themselves (Tower of Babel), God’s Plan was unfolding through the call of an unlikely character.

Abraham was called from his pagan homeland to follow the one true God, a venture of faith full of uncertainty. It cost him everything yet he gained everything as a reward, as God’s friend. | Genesis 12:1-9; Hebrews 11:8-9

  1. This message on Abraham is week 4 (preached 1/26/14) in EPIC: Following the Hero of God’s Story, a message series with RENEW Church on the whole Bible. ↩
 

Hungry for God.

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I really like food. Like really, really like it.

In fact, while I can exercise much discipline in some areas of my life (e.g., running), when it comes to good food I’m defenseless. I simply enjoy eating.

That’s why I constantly ask my wife to help me by keeping me on track, providing healthy meals in good portions of only the best foods for me (e.g., not cheese). Because food is often my comfort (such as after a good long run), I can rely upon it more than its Maker.

Here’s an invitation … to join me in … not eating … Continue reading →

 

Advent is upon us: Let There Be Light!

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Once upon a time, there was utter and complete darkness and cold. Nothing alive. And God spoke, the first spoken words recorded in history — “Let there be light.”

These four little words, the first words, changed everything, right? The Light shined in the darkness & nothing remained the same.

At just the right time, after centuries of silence, God spoke again: His Word became the Light of the World, the bright Son Jesus who brings light and life to all things.

Jesus is the Light of the World. He isn’t a soft candlelight that hides our blemishes and makes everything look lovely. It isn’t Christmas lights that just give a nice cheer to the season. He is a blinding, blazing, burning light, that reveals. He doesn’t just cast a flattering glow. He reveals all things. Both the beauty and the brokenness.

Advent2013_600x220

Message title: Let There Be Light!
Week 1 of Advent (Sunday, December 8th)
Scripture: John 1:1-5; Isaiah 8:11-22; 9:1-7

 

For Jesus makes their cause His own.

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The spread of Christianity in the first century is an unprecedented movement as God’s mission and message spread through ordinary people. One these followers of Jesus became the first martyr in the Christian Church.

Stephen, who appointed to a servant-leadership role had a ‘priestly spirit,’ for he cared for the poor, embodied bold courage, prayed for people, and loved and forgave his enemies until the good end. May God raise up more servant leaders like Stephen, who trust in Jesus as their High Priest, and become like Him.

They were like a Kingdom of Priests sent by Jesus their High Priest. Because He made our cause His own, we make His cause our own.

Revival

Stephen, whose face shined like the face of an angel (Acts 6:15), stood up and preached boldly about the access we now have freely to God. His final words:

7:51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:51-60)

How can this man forgive his enemies? In becoming the first Christian martyr, Stephen was generous and courageous to the very end. It cost him everything!

Stephen had a ‘priestly spirit,’ taking the problems of others to God.

God intends that every follower of His Son would become like our High Priest, embracing and embodying the grace and truth of Jesus. Only in that way will we have the confidence and the courage to face our enemies … and the grace to forgive them. (Listen to the rest.) Continue reading →

 

Halloween: Trick or Treat?

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We associate Halloween with ghosts, devils and darkness. This video offers a different take.


Created by 10ofthose.com

Vast armies undead do tread through the night and
In hordes march towards hapless victims to frighten.
They stumble in step with glass-eyes on the prizes;
Bunched hither, hunched over in monstrous disguises;
In sizes not lofty but numb’ring a throng;
To unleash on their prey the dreaded DING DONG.
Small faces with traces of mother’s eye-liner,
Peer up to the resident candy provider.

And there to intone ancient threats learnt verbatim;
They lisp “TRICK OR TREAT!” Tis their stark ultimatum.
Thus: region by region such legions take plunder.
Does this spector-full spectacle cause you to wonder?
Just how did our fair festive forebears conceive,
Of this primeval practice called All Hallows Eve?
The answer, if anyone cares to research,
Surprises, it rises from old mother church.

On the cusp of the customary All Saints Day
The Christ-i-an kinsfolk made mocking display.
These children of light both to tease and deride;
Don darkness, doll down as the sinister side.
In pre-post-er-ous pageants and dress diabolic,
They hand to the damned just one final frolick.
You see with the light of the dawn on the morrow,
The sunrise will swallow such darkness and sorrow.

The future is futile for forces of evil;
And so they did scorn them in times Medieval.
For this is the nature of shadow and gloom;
In the gleaming of glory there can be no room.
What force is resourced by the echoing black?
When the brightness ignites can the shadow push back?
These ‘powers’ of darkness, if such can be called,
Are banished by brilliance, by blazing enthralled.

So the Bible begins with this fore-resolved fight;
For a moment the darkness…. then “Let there be Light!”
First grief in the gloom, then joy from the East.
First valley of shadow, then mountaintop feast.
First wait for Messiah, then long-promised Dawn.
First desolate Friday and then Easter Morn.
The armies of darkness when doing their worst,
Can never extinguish this Dazzling Sunburst.

So… ridicule rogues if you must play a role;
But beware getting lost in that bottomless hole.
The triumph is not with the forces of night.
It dawned with the One who said “I am the Light!”

 

Some kind of Revival?

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Frequently, I get asked “what kind of church is Renew?” It’s usually in the form of asking what makes Renew unique among “all those churches out there.” There’s hardly a way to respond that does not also compare and contrast, so I try to wrap up the conversation at some point to focus on what we are for, rather than harp on what we’re against. Emphasize the purpose and vision we’re passionately seeking after … who we’re eager to become.

We’ve listed our four points before. Besides, it takes all kinds of churches, because God is all kinds of creative. Plus, it’s not my responsibility to lead “those” churches. We seek unity by focusing on the main things.

One main thing is renewal (thus the name RENEW), and revival.

This time let me focus on Revival, and the common ideas about what revival is, and how revival comes to a church and to a city.

On Sunday we focused on different views of revival and how we’ll know if we’re experiencing it when it comes. Over at the Renew blog you’ll find the audio and some notes on “Come, Set Your Rule: Build Your Kingdom Here.” All month we’ll be talking about revival.

When it comes to revival I’m not a fundamentalist, a liberal, or a charismatic. (Here me out on this.) We’re talking vision here. And in categories in which church and unchurched people can relate.

Revival

While going into more detail on Sunday, and in the coming weeks, when I say I’m not fundamentalist, liberal, or charismatic as far as the church, I mean that: Continue reading →

 

Praying, prepping & preaching for this.

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While it may be presumptuous to think God would visit us and bring revival, it would also be foolish to trust in our own methods to “make it happen.” In the old days (a la the time of the Apostles), the Gospel was preached, and the “ordinary” works of the Holy Spirit were at play: convicting people of sin, converting them, creating in them new hearts to love God and love people.

There were certainly “extraordinary” signs and miracles that accompanied this (and in another space we could debate whether those are still at work today)1, yet as the Apostles made clear: the ‘signs’ are just that — markers that point to the destination » Jesus.

Image published via Pressgram

Today begin a new series on Revival, the people of Renew Church asking Jesus to “Build Your Kingdom Here” (sing along below, if you dare).

We begin in Acts 2:

2 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” 12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”

14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:

17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;
18 even on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
20 the sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God withmighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 25 For David says concerning him,

“‘I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;
26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
my flesh also will dwell in hope.
27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
or let your Holy One see corruption.
28 You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

29 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died andwas buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing thatGod had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
35     until I make your enemies your footstool.”’

36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for allwho are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

  1. Footnote: I am a “continuationist” and not a “cessationist,” as I believe that signs, miracles and the other “sign gifts” (see 1st Corinthians 12-14) are still operating in the church today. Sadly, they too often abused. Yet the Spirit breathes life into His people, and means for His ‘graces’ to work just as they always were intended: for the building up of the body of Christ so we could become mature. Because the Spirit seeks to make real to us what is true of Jesus, He resists us when become greedy, proud or foolish about about spiritual things. While discussions about spiritual gifts are secondary, debates like that always help us see what is primary in our hearts: us or Jesus. If one quarrels about giftedness without graciousness, then there will be little grace on display with one’s gifts. ↩