The Death of the Five Year Plan

If you are a planner you won't like this post, or maybe you will. In fact you may love it. I know had I started Journey five, ten or fifteen years ago I would have felt the need to develop "a plan." Now however because I am at the stage of life I am I resonate quite a bit with the following post that a friend sent me. It's a post from Craig Groeschel of LifeChurch.TV. Listen to what he says then let me know what you think.

The Death of the Five-Year Plan
When I started in ministry two decades ago, everyone I knew made five-year plans. While planning is wise and biblical, I’m changing how I plan. Instead of planning for specific buildings, campuses, staff roles, and outreach, I’m planning to be prepared for opportunities that I can’t name today. We are creating margin and planning to respond quickly to ideas that we don’t yet have.
Speed, agility, flexibility, and financial margin are far better than a detailed road map. We are in the ready position. Instead of asking God to bless our carefully crafted plans, we’re trying to be prepared to move when He speaks and guides. When people ask me what we’ll be doing in five years, I laugh. I have no idea. But I’m certain it will be more fun and more impactful than anything I could plan today.

I Choose to Trust

Often I find myself in situations where I am torn between trusting God or trying to "fix it" myself." I hate to admit it but usually I fall on the side of trying to fix it. The problem with that is that rarely can I "fix it." Consequently I find myself "stuck" and unable to move forward. Well today I am choosing to trust. I know that battle is not over, but today I rolled the people and the situations that I can't fix over to God. I know I will have to do it again and again, but for now it feels good to trust and to know that He cares about the people and the situations that I care about even more than what I care about them.

5 "Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: 6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,
the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Psalm 37:5,6

Getting "right" with God

I’m studying today for the first message of our Jonah series at Journey. We are going to be in chapter 1 but today God spoke to me from Jonah 2:2.

In my distress I called to the Lord, and He answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry. Jonah 2:2

Jonah had reached a point just like the prodigal son that he just wanted to be “right” with God. He had spent three days in the belly of a “big fish” and he didn’t know if he was going to live or die but that didn’t matter. What mattered is that he was right with God, and so “. . .from the depths of the grave he called for help.”

Now notice God’s response. God heard him, v. 2. “you listened to my cry.” God will always hear us when we come to him in humility, but the problem is we often come to him on our terms, expecting him to get us “out” of our situations. Jonah on the other hand simply came to God without any expectations, without any pre-conditions and God heard him.

Do you feel like God is far from you? Like maybe He isn’t listening to your prayers? Maybe the reason God doesn’t “hear” our prayers is that we have not reached the bottom yet. Unlike Jonah and unlike the prodigal son, we are too proud. Being “right” with God isn’t the most important thing. We want God for what He can do for us and not for who He is and for what we can do for Him.

If today you feel “swallowed” up by a “whale” of problems, try what Jonah did. Cry out to God in humility and know that he will hear you. He may even spit you out of your “big fish” and give you a “second” chance.

P.S. Join us this Sunday for our study of Jonah chapter 1. Note we are meeting in August at the Clubhouse at Heritage Golf Club located at 3525 Heritage Club Drive, Hilliard, Ohio (off of Rome Hilliard Rd., just South of Cemetery Rd.) Come an join us because life is a journey and no one should have to go it alone.

Who’s Coming to Your Church?

Tim Keller in his book The Prodigal God says that about a year into planting Redeemer Church in New York City someone asked him who was coming to his church? He said, it was about one third non-believers, one third believers and one third “recovering believers.” (Prodigal God, p. 68)

As I reflected on that I realized that God is bringing many of the same kinds of people to Journey. People who are believers, non-believers and what Tim Keller calls “recovering believers.” Using the story of the prodigal son he describes “recovering believers” as the “younger brothers” who had been hurt and offended by the self-righteous “older brothers.”

Amazingly the “older brothers in this story are a picture of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law that were in the audience on the day that Jesus taught this parable, Luke 15:1. They were as lost as the tax collectors and sinners who were depicted by the “younger brother.” Sadly they were even more lost, because they were blinded or deceived and thus unable to see their true condition.

Tim Keller goes on to say, “elder brothers divide the world in two “The good people, like us are in and the bad people who are the real problem with the world are out. But Jesus says: “The humble are in and the proud are out. Luke 18:14. The people who confess they aren’t particularly good or open-minded are moving toward God, because the prerequisite for receiving the grace of God is to know you need it. The people who think they are just fine, thank you, are moving away from God.”

In the end the question is which brother are you? Both of them were lost and both of them needed Jesus. And both were invited by the Father to fellowship with him but sadly only the “younger brother” the one who realized his lostness accepted the Father’s invitation. The older brother, though invited by the Father, “became angry and refused to go in.” Don’t let your pride keep you from coming to Jesus.

37 Things I Love About My Wife

This week Carol and I are on vacation. For one thing we are celebrating our anniversary. We have been married for 37 years so I thought I would share 37 things I love about her. There are certainly more but it’s a start. Just wait till we’ve been married for 50! 


1. The fact that even though she’s a morning person and I’m a night person she still goes out for coffee with me at night and stays up late to watch TV even if she does fall asleep.
2. The fact that she doesn’t have a competitive bone in her body. (she has 202 competitive bones in her body).
3. The fact that she gave me four healthy, energetic, enthusiastic, athletic boys
4. The way she encouraged them when they were growing up, helping with their homework, rebounding basketballs, attending soccer games, working so they could go to college and soooo much more!
5. The way she has supported me in following God even when it meant moving away from home, back home, away from home and back home again
6. The way she sees our ministry as a calling and a partnership and doesn’t complain when I have one more call to make, one more visit to make, one more card to write or one more change on the power point!
7. The way she helps me build boundaries so I take time for her and for the family.
8. The fact that we can enjoy doing anything together as long as we’re together!
9. The way she takes care of her self and looks in her new black and white dress.
10. The way she prays for me and for our Journey Church family.
11. The way she has adapted to my family and enjoys going out to eat, long meals at the table and hugging everyone when they come in and hugging them again when they leave.
12. The way she tries to “do it all” being a mom, grandma, pastor’s wife, work outside the home, take care of her mom, love her husband!
13. How she meets my needs even at times when she is not in the mood.
14. How she used to let me “rile up” the kids when I came home even though they were supposed to be settling down.
15. How she roots with me for the Buckeyes
16. How good she looks in red. (did I say something like that already?)
17. How she works to make my life “special”.
18. How she still wants to spend time with me even after “all these years.”
19. How she gives 100% to the kids and our grand daughter.
20. She let’s me choose which restaurant to go to for breakfast. (lunch or dinner)
21. How she is always there to build me up and believe in me.
22. How she helps me understand and be understanding of people.
23. How she gets me chicken noodle soup, pears and seven-up when I am sick and then leaves me alone.
24. How she lets me drive when we go somewhere together.
25. How good she plays the piano.
26. How she supported me in front of the kids when they were growing up.
27. How she trusts me and how I can trust her completely, entirely, wholly, and 100%.
28. How she makes me laugh and still laughs at my jokes.
29. How good she smells.
30. How she lets me share with her something I just learned in my reading
31. How she let's me use her as a sermon illustration even if I do have to give her a dollar.
32. How she keeps learning and trying new things.
33. How I can tell her anything and she doesn't judge me but understands and loves me
34. The fact that she is my very best friend.
35. How we still get to cuddle in bed at night.
36. The fact that she married me.
37. The fact that she stays married to me and loves it.

Thanks!

OUCH!

As a pastor I am expected to be a leader. The problem with leadership is that it can either be good or bad. an article in Leadership magazine indicated that pastors are often bad leaders, especially when it comes to modeling humility.

The Barna Group research probed what we pastors do in response to our frustrations and disappointments. They asked “Think back to the last time you felt disappointed or frustrated with people in your congregation. What did you do-if anything-to address the challenges you faced?’ The pastors could mention anything that came to mind. Here are the top ten responses:

Prayed about the issue (37%)
Confronted the issue immediately (34%)
Had someone on ministry team/board/staff deal with the issue (15%)
Looked for Scripture to address, solve the problem (14%)
Sound counsel from someone I trusted (10%)
Talked with the person (9%)
Confronted the issue eventually (9%)
Addressed it from the pulpit/in a sermon (4%)
Had a council/board meeting (2%)
Self-examination (2%) Leadership, Spring 2010, p.72

Sadly the survey found that only 2% took the time to examine themselves. I’m not sure what to say or to do about that. Paul told the Corinthians that the very first thing they should do is examine themselves, 1 Corinthians 11:28. As painful as it may be let me suggest something. The next time you are frustrated or face disappointment with people ask yourself what could you have done different, said different, or even felt different that might have helped in the situation.

Jim Collins, suggests that superb leaders don’t look out the widow to blame others. They look in a mirror to take ownership when things don’t go well. They look out a window to praise others when things do go well. Whether you are a pastor, a parent, or whatever, the challenge is to examine ourselves, to look in the mirror and when we see something we don’t like examine ourselves first, before we judge others. Jesus said, to “first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.” Matthew 7:5. That’s love!

"I was hungry and you gave me no food. . ."

Recently I was challenged by the another quote from Frances Chans' book, Crazy Love. He asked the question, "How would my life change if I actually thought of each person I came into contact with as "Christ." ie the person driving painfully slow person in front of me, the checker at the grocery store who seems more interested in chatting than ringing up my groceries, the member of own family with whom I can’t seem to have a conversation and not get annoyed?" That in essence is the way Jesus wants us to see people, Matthew 25:37-40.

I was actually tested with that this week when I went to see a man in prison. I was waiting in the foyer to see him when they released a man who had been in overnight. They escorted him through the foyer and out the door. Then almost immediately after he left they building, a lady came out with a spray bottle trying to deodorizer every where he had been. He did smell but more than that, he was extremely unkept, unshaven, a bit crippled and elderly. Much to their dismay and a bit to mine he came back in the building and sat down across from me. To be honest I didn't want to talk to him, cause I didn't know what to say. I almost said something about his shoes. They were bright orange slip-on tennis shoes. They reminded me of the soccer shoes some of the World Cup players are wearing so I thought they were sort of cool. I'm glad I didn't say anything though because in the course of the conversation he told me that that they were prison shoes. They had given them to him because he didn't have any of his own. As it turned out he was not only shoeless but homeless too.

I didn't do anything for him, except talk to him. In the end I was convicted as to how I see people who "hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison" Do I see them as a nuisance or as if they were Jesus? Jesus would want me to see them as if they were Him and give them food because they are hungry, water because they are thirsty and something to wear (even if it was orange shoes) because they are naked.