This is Not a Game

This week I heard some news about a fairly new church in South Carolina that knocked the wind out of me. The details are not important, but suffice to say that there are some differences of opinion among the leaders of the church that appear to be unresolvable. First of all, I am sad whenever people who claim to be following Jesus cannot resolve their differences. I do not think that is what Paul means when he uses the words “one body” to describe the unity that we should have. Second, I am sad about all of the people within the church that will get caught in the crossfire. People will have to “choose sides” on the issues, which leads to all sorts of confusion, gossip, and bitterness, and can literally wreck lives.

But the thing that weighs the heaviest on me about this situation has nothing to do with this other church. It is the seriousness of my own role in helping pastor a church. Contrary to many of the attitudes in the “church planting” world, this is NOT a game. This is not a contest to see who can come up with the “coolest” church and get the most people to show up. People’s eternal lives are at stake. And as I have written before, that scares me to death.

As much fun as we like to have at Midtown, I hope that we will never be flippant with or cheapen the name of Jesus. I pray that God will continue to use us simply to point people in Columbia towards him. That He will give us unity and protect us from the many pitfalls that could destroy our church and damage people’s lives. And that I and the other leaders of our church will be the kind of men that are worthy of leading others in this mission.

Oops

Ever try typing (or doing pretty much anything) without using the thumb on your dominant hand? Well that is apparently what you get to do when you tear a tendon in your thumb. Tonight I was playing ultimate at a Midtown hangout on campus and dove to knock the disc away on a defensive play. I made the play, but when I got up and grabbed the disc to throw it my thumb wasnt working properly. It was bent at the joint and would straighten if I moved it with my other hand, but not under its own power. After having a doctor friend look at it, it seems that I have torn a tendon. The good news it that it probably wont require surgery. The bad news is that it will require a splint for 6-8 weeks. The thumb doesnt hurt much, so I am going to try and get an appointment with a hand specialist sometime tomorrow. Let the age jokes begin….

I Almost Forgot…

…to update you on our church’s building situation. Most of you Midtown folks know by now, but the option that we were pursuing appears to have fallen through. There were some zoning issues that could not be resolved so we are back to square one. Although it seems like a really bad thing to us, for whatever reason God apparently wants us to be at the SC State Museum a little longer. In order to accommodate as many people as possible, we are doing 3 services and have set up an overflow room. The room worked well in its first use this past Sunday, having multiple video screens, a solid sound system, and even refreshments. The atmosphere and overall feel of the service in the overflow room was surprisingly good, and we have asked people who have been around Midtown for a while to sit in there if at all possible to free up seats in the auditorium for new people. It will be interesting to see what God does with all of this in the coming weeks and months as we continue to look for a new location.

Communication Unplugged

Like most guys, I love technology. As an extroverted, social type of person I especially love technology associated with communication and relationships such as Facebook, blogs, and texting. I love knowing what people are up to and being able to share thoughts, pictures, etc. But recently I have been thinking about how all this continual “connectedness” also has some backlash.

It seems that many of our relationships and friendships are being reduced to a series of sound bites or headlines. Instead of calling someone to ask how their day was or to make plans, we e-communicate. And why not? It is convenient and efficient. But is that always best? A 2 minute phone call can cover more ground than 20 minutes of texting, and with far more ability to convey tone and emotion. Real relationships are built on face time or at least verbal dialog, but we seem to be using them less and less. Technology has dramatically increased the number of people we can keep up with, but if we are not careful it may do so at the cost of depth in some of our core relationships.

We are more connected than ever, but ironically we are also more lonely than ever. As I wrote in a previous post, the cure for loneliness is authentic and available relationships. Unfortunately, e-communication has a tendency to be neither. It is often not authentic in that it is too condensed and lacks emotion and tone. It is often the opposite of available, since it allows us to initiate or respond completely at our convenience.

So what is the answer? Quit using facebook? Stop texting? I dont think so. But I do think that we should be aware of and careful with how we use e-communication tools. They should definitely be supplemental rather than primary methods of communication, used for minutes a day rather than hours. Go grab coffee with someone. Call that friend in another part of the country instead of writing on their wall. I guarantee you will both be glad that you did.

New Favorite Picture

Mom and dad found this picture in some old stuff the other day and scanned it for me. Love it.

Insanity

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” – Albert Einstein

I have known this quote for years, but the other day it popped into my head for some reason and has been stuck there ever since. Like most people I suppose, there are many things about my life that I would like to be different. But I have been thinking about how little I actually do to change them. I really do embody this quote, doing the same things over and over again, day after day, hoping that one day things will change. How dumb is that?

The Bible shares a similar thought in Romans 12, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

I don’t know about you, but my life does not often look like the language in the last part of that verse, “transformed… renewing… good… pleasing… perfect” Don’t hear me wrong – I am not complaining. I am very blessed and my life is good. But deep in my being I know that there is something more. But I will not experience it by following the same patterns over and over again. So recently I have been praying very specifically that God would transform my thinking. That he would show me the areas of my life that need to change and give me the strength to change them. I am excited to see what is around the corner…

There’s Something In These Hills….

As I’m sure that most of you Clemson faithful out there already know, Clemson recently received some great national recognition in the prestigious Princeton Review for many of the things that make it the special place that we all know and love.

To all of my Gamecock friends – I am not at all trying to start a Clemson/USC debate with this post, but if you take a look at the list you can at least see why all of us Clemson people living in Columbia speak so fondly of the place we went to school, the friendships we developed there, and the memories we have of it.

These are the categories in which Clemson is ranked and the ranking:

1 – Happiest Students

1 – Jock Schools (popularity of intercollegiate and intramural sports)

2 – Town-Gown Relations

6 – Best Quality of Life

7 – Best Athletic Facilities

7 – Students Pack the Stadiums (intercollegiate sports are popular)

8 – Best Career/Job Placement Services

8 – Everyone Plays Intramural Sports

20 – School Runs Like Butter (administration gets high marks)

The rankings in “The Best 368 Colleges Guide” are based on surveys of 120,000 students from the past two years.

This Makes Me Happy….

Willy’s was one of my favorite lunch places when I first moved to Columbia, until it closed about a year ago. Good burgers, a great chicken sandwich, and boiled peanuts. Call me, and let’s go to lunch!

Answers

One seemingly constant struggle in my life is the issue of calling. As I wrote in this and this post, it is something that I have especially been wrestling with for the past couple of years. A few months ago I was listening to a talk about God’s will by one of my favorite pastors, Andy Stanley, and he said something in a way that I had never really heard it before. I will not be able to put it as clearly as he does, but the gist of it is this…

God is the creator of communication and is therefore the ultimate communicator. If He wants you to know something, you will have no choice but to know it. Following this train of thought, if He is not answering a specific question that you have then in His infinite wisdom the answer is not what you really need. So a logical follow-up question is, “What is He telling me that I may not be hearing or listening for?”

Over the past few months I have been asking God this question more often, and interestingly enough He has not been silent. He has encouraged me in the middle of my frustration and confusion. He has convicted me of sin in my life. He has shown me how the reason that I am so obsessed with the issue of calling is that I am trying to find my identity and worth there instead of in Him. And through all of it He has shown me how much He loves me.

So I still don’t have the answer to my question. But I do know that God still speaks. And I trust that He will let me know the answer to my original question when the time is right.

Coaching

In addition to being one of the elders of our church, one of my specific responsibilities is leadership development. For the most part, this consists of mentoring/coaching/discipling (more on the differences between the 3 some other time) several of our staff on an individual basis. This type of thing is a personal passion of mine, and is something I have been doing informally for the past 15 years mostly with college students involved in FCA. Although I try to continually grow and improve in this role, I am pretty much self-taught and have never had the privilege of being coached myself. Until now.

Through our denomination, I have recently had the opportunity to get involved in a coaching certification program which will not only give me some formal training but also will provide me with a personal coach for the next few months. Today was my first coaching call, and I can already tell that God is going to use this to stretch and grow me in many ways. I am looking forward to having someone help me set and achieve some goals that I have been keeping on the back burner for too long, but even more I am looking forward to learning a lot more about coaching and how I can better help others in pursuing the things that God has placed on their hearts.