The other day I had written about how I had compared a friend to a Modern day Paul . How can you know if you are deal with someone like Paul? What set him apart from the other apostles?
Saul was righteous and indignant. Paul was humble and gracious.
Ephesians 3:8-9 (New International Version)
8Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.
Paul was obedient to God and sought His will in all that he did. He understood the power of prayer. He prayed for others, instructed them to pray and equally important, he asked them to pray for him.
Ephesians 6:19-20 (New International Version)
19Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
Do you know anyone like that? Someone, who despite their obvious power and authority (given by God) remains humble and gracious? Is that person frequently in prayer? Do they engage others in prayer and ask them to engage with him as well?
I do believe that there are people out there, just like that. I also believe that they are blessed to be just the way that they are. Finally, I believe if you are wise, you will come along side those folks every opportunity that you can. Support them. Encourage them. Pray for them.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
The Mistake
Yesterday I made reference to the question, "If it were a crime to be a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" Here is a borrowed example with a similar theme.
A man was being tailgated by a stressed out woman on a busy boulevard. Suddenly, the light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection. The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration, as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and makeup. As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up.
He took her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a holding cell. After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.
He said, ''I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the 'What Would Jesus Do' bumper sticker, the 'Choose Life' license plate holder, the 'Follow Me to Sunday-School' bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk; naturally...I assumed you had stolen the car ..''
Monday, August 10, 2009
Mondern day Paul
This weekend I attended an event and had the opportunity to stand before a group of people with a microphone in my hand. At one point I dared to compare a living person, someone present in the room with the apostle Paul. Heresy? Blasphemy? Gee, I don't know...
Paul was a spiritual Giant! Is it possible today for someone to be like Paul was? Perhaps. Should we expect a one-to-one correlation? A modern day clone? I think not. But if we exam the life of Paul as a whole and the contribution that he made to the Christian community of his time, we may be able to draw some parallels.
At the very beginning, I want to point out that I am specifically talking about PAUL, not Saul. Yes I know that they were the same human being, but they were two entirely different people. There is probably no better example of one who was born again in the Spirit of Christ, one who died to Self and lived for Christ. I want to focus on the new Paul and not the old Saul.
From the moment he was knocked to the ground and blinded, until the day he died, he was a changed man, entire devoted to his Saviour. Now, we all know people who have been "changed" by Christ. That is the way it is supposed to be. I've heard is said, "If it were a crime to be a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" If Christ is in us, we cannot be the same as we were.
So, what made Paul so different? First of all, he was on a mission considerably different than the other apostles. He was dedicated to bringing the Good News of the Gospel to the Gentiles, where as the rest of the apostles were primarily charged with leading the Jews to saving Grace. In modern times that might look like someone speaking to the un-churched in industry as opposed to a preacher speaking to the religious.
More than any other apostle, Paul went places, taking the Gospel with him. He did not preach at the same synagogue week after week, year after year. He went from town to town. Pick up any Bible with a map in it and you can see that Paul went on several "journeys" where he covered a LOT of ground. Paul truly was the FEET of Jesus. He carried the Gospel to far off places where God led him. Today, that far off place might be the office building right across the street from a prospering church. It might be the bar or the crack house on the wrong side of town. It might be and industry convention, attended by thousand of people from around the world. The fact is, today there are now billions of people FAR from God, but geography is not so much a factor. A modern day Paul would have to go THERE, were they are AND proclaim the Gospel. How many people do you know like that?
Of all of the Apostles, there is probably none that was a better mentor than Paul. As near as I can tell, he never traveled alone. He always had a partner, or supporting cast with him. When he spent time building a new church he sought out the leaders and he pour himself into them. He embodied the very Servant Leadership that Jesus tried to teach the others. He built up his followers until they were able to stand on their own. He trained his leaders until the could teach boldly and lead effectively. Do you know anyone like that?
Throughout his ministry, Paul never lost sight of who he was and whose he was. He was a man, saved by Grace and he belonged to a Savior who loved him immeasurably. More than anything else, Paul wanted to share that love with the entire world. He LIVED it!
We all know folks that are "good people." We have all heard pastors that were great teachers. We have all seen tremendous acts of service by ordinary people. But, how many of us have seen a "Paul"?
If you have, I would love to hear about it. Please share your story.
Paul was a spiritual Giant! Is it possible today for someone to be like Paul was? Perhaps. Should we expect a one-to-one correlation? A modern day clone? I think not. But if we exam the life of Paul as a whole and the contribution that he made to the Christian community of his time, we may be able to draw some parallels.
At the very beginning, I want to point out that I am specifically talking about PAUL, not Saul. Yes I know that they were the same human being, but they were two entirely different people. There is probably no better example of one who was born again in the Spirit of Christ, one who died to Self and lived for Christ. I want to focus on the new Paul and not the old Saul.
From the moment he was knocked to the ground and blinded, until the day he died, he was a changed man, entire devoted to his Saviour. Now, we all know people who have been "changed" by Christ. That is the way it is supposed to be. I've heard is said, "If it were a crime to be a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" If Christ is in us, we cannot be the same as we were.
So, what made Paul so different? First of all, he was on a mission considerably different than the other apostles. He was dedicated to bringing the Good News of the Gospel to the Gentiles, where as the rest of the apostles were primarily charged with leading the Jews to saving Grace. In modern times that might look like someone speaking to the un-churched in industry as opposed to a preacher speaking to the religious.
More than any other apostle, Paul went places, taking the Gospel with him. He did not preach at the same synagogue week after week, year after year. He went from town to town. Pick up any Bible with a map in it and you can see that Paul went on several "journeys" where he covered a LOT of ground. Paul truly was the FEET of Jesus. He carried the Gospel to far off places where God led him. Today, that far off place might be the office building right across the street from a prospering church. It might be the bar or the crack house on the wrong side of town. It might be and industry convention, attended by thousand of people from around the world. The fact is, today there are now billions of people FAR from God, but geography is not so much a factor. A modern day Paul would have to go THERE, were they are AND proclaim the Gospel. How many people do you know like that?
Of all of the Apostles, there is probably none that was a better mentor than Paul. As near as I can tell, he never traveled alone. He always had a partner, or supporting cast with him. When he spent time building a new church he sought out the leaders and he pour himself into them. He embodied the very Servant Leadership that Jesus tried to teach the others. He built up his followers until they were able to stand on their own. He trained his leaders until the could teach boldly and lead effectively. Do you know anyone like that?
Throughout his ministry, Paul never lost sight of who he was and whose he was. He was a man, saved by Grace and he belonged to a Savior who loved him immeasurably. More than anything else, Paul wanted to share that love with the entire world. He LIVED it!
We all know folks that are "good people." We have all heard pastors that were great teachers. We have all seen tremendous acts of service by ordinary people. But, how many of us have seen a "Paul"?
If you have, I would love to hear about it. Please share your story.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Willow Creek Leadership Summit 2009 - Day 1
This is the third year that I have attended the Willow Creek Leadership Summit and the first time I have attended from a satellite location. I am in Omaha for the summit and then will spend the weekend 40 miles east of there in Harlan, IA.
The host church is Brookside Church. I haven't been to a lot of WCA churches, but it would not be too difficult to imagine that this was a WCA church. It has a very "Promiseland" like children's ministry wing, which coincidentally happens to be in the lower level of the church. Their primary worship space is much like the Activity Center, where Willow first met when they move onto the current South Barrington campus. They have a Chapel at the other end of the building from the worship center. If you have been to South Barrington, you would immediately recognize the architectural similarities.
I am really in no position to make any assessment of the church doctrine or beliefs. I will say that they were well prepared with an abundance of very friendly volunteers. Apparently this was not the first time that they have done this. Logistically, they did a fine job. I will say that I was surprised that lunch was not provided. It wasn't a big deal, but having been fed (abundantly) the two times I attended previously, I was unprepared to track down my own lunch. I ended up walking down to a local convenience store to grab a sandwich.
As far as the summit itself goes, I think that this was the BEST Day one in the past 3 years. I think that all today's sessions were home runs. Rather that recount my feelings, I'm going to jump over to Twitter.com and capture comments from others, posted throughout the day.
jaxnc: Tons of ideas from being @ the Summit #tls09. Best opening day in a few years. Challenged, inspired, convicted.
mikechem: Great day at the Leadership Summit. Speakers stressed the need for leaders to empower people for innovation, creativity and trust. #TLS09
leebiles: @donnamct I was blown away by tim keller retelling of the prodigal son; you always got to bring it back to the gospel! #TLS09
patamo: RT: "The longer you're down in your trenches, the easier it is to mistake the edge of your rut for the horizon." Gary Hamel // #TLS09
bexmann: Just spent a whole day getting my world rocked by the Leadership Summit...holy cow. #tls09
ajelwind: Here's Josh Wilson, who performed at today's Leadership Summit http://tinyurl.com/nk3ffy #tls09
gilesshih: #tls09 kiva.org provides over $85 million in micro-finance loans each yr to entrepreneurs worldwide - lives are being changed!
saddacracker: RT @tonysteward The elder brother in the parable of the prodigal son was lost, not in spite of his obedience, but because of it. #tls09
LifeVerse: People are not looking for a mild dose of God, they want a full dose of God. Bill Hybles Leadership Summit #TLS09
Want to read more? Check it out... http://twitter.com/search?q=%23tls09#search?q=%23tls09
The host church is Brookside Church. I haven't been to a lot of WCA churches, but it would not be too difficult to imagine that this was a WCA church. It has a very "Promiseland" like children's ministry wing, which coincidentally happens to be in the lower level of the church. Their primary worship space is much like the Activity Center, where Willow first met when they move onto the current South Barrington campus. They have a Chapel at the other end of the building from the worship center. If you have been to South Barrington, you would immediately recognize the architectural similarities.
I am really in no position to make any assessment of the church doctrine or beliefs. I will say that they were well prepared with an abundance of very friendly volunteers. Apparently this was not the first time that they have done this. Logistically, they did a fine job. I will say that I was surprised that lunch was not provided. It wasn't a big deal, but having been fed (abundantly) the two times I attended previously, I was unprepared to track down my own lunch. I ended up walking down to a local convenience store to grab a sandwich.
As far as the summit itself goes, I think that this was the BEST Day one in the past 3 years. I think that all today's sessions were home runs. Rather that recount my feelings, I'm going to jump over to Twitter.com and capture comments from others, posted throughout the day.
jaxnc: Tons of ideas from being @ the Summit #tls09. Best opening day in a few years. Challenged, inspired, convicted.
mikechem: Great day at the Leadership Summit. Speakers stressed the need for leaders to empower people for innovation, creativity and trust. #TLS09
leebiles: @donnamct I was blown away by tim keller retelling of the prodigal son; you always got to bring it back to the gospel! #TLS09
patamo: RT: "The longer you're down in your trenches, the easier it is to mistake the edge of your rut for the horizon." Gary Hamel // #TLS09
bexmann: Just spent a whole day getting my world rocked by the Leadership Summit...holy cow. #tls09
ajelwind: Here's Josh Wilson, who performed at today's Leadership Summit http://tinyurl.com/nk3ffy #tls09
gilesshih: #tls09 kiva.org provides over $85 million in micro-finance loans each yr to entrepreneurs worldwide - lives are being changed!
saddacracker: RT @tonysteward The elder brother in the parable of the prodigal son was lost, not in spite of his obedience, but because of it. #tls09
LifeVerse: People are not looking for a mild dose of God, they want a full dose of God. Bill Hybles Leadership Summit #TLS09
Want to read more? Check it out... http://twitter.com/search?q=%23tls09#search?q=%23tls09
Monday, August 3, 2009
Share your Vision!!!
Last night Karen and I enjoyed an evening BBQ with the family of one of my son's friends. This was the first time that both families had gotten together. The other father, Jeff, and I got to talking about Leadership and Vision. After sharing some of my thoughts another guest, Dale, suggested that I reminded him the the "Dancing Guy at the Sasquatch music festival. Check this out...
For those of you that know me, what do you think? That is just about how I dance. ;-)
In terms of sharing a vision, see how contagious it can be. You may feel a little foolish at first, but if you are confident in your vision and stay the course, others WILL follow.
If that wasn't enough for you, hers is the Loooong version. Watch this one with discretion...
For those of you that know me, what do you think? That is just about how I dance. ;-)
In terms of sharing a vision, see how contagious it can be. You may feel a little foolish at first, but if you are confident in your vision and stay the course, others WILL follow.
If that wasn't enough for you, hers is the Loooong version. Watch this one with discretion...
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