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People in the church will hurt you. I know.

As someone who has spent many years in church ministry I’ve had opportunities to see the best in people – and the worse in people.

At one church I served as pastor I was totally blind-sided one Sunday by the church “leaders” and immediately let go because of my preaching style. The church was growing in numbers and health, which turns out to have been part of the problem because that threatened the powers that be. Just six months earlier… our family had sold most of our possessions to help pay for the move, endured all of the emotions of seeing our kids break off their friendships, and moved half-way across the country to a small rural town. The betrayal of those leaders

devastated me, my dear wife, and my family. It took well over a year to heal enough to once again move forward. As you maybe can tell I am still a little PO’ed (Pretty Offended) about the whole matter. You bet I am!  Mess with me all you want. Mess with my family and you take it to a whole nother’ level!

As hard as that experience was I did learn many lessons during that time, including that there is a big difference between those that defend the church – and those that defend people in the church.

Defending the church is much different from defending people in the church. Most of the time when we defend people we are defending their actions. When we defend the church correctly, our focus is not on defending people’s actions but defending God’s Word. Defending God’s church must include standing up for what is right according to the instructions he has given in his Word which means godly men and women must dig together deeply into his Word to determine what is the right thing to do. To be sure, upholding God’s Word is not the easy way out, it’s often the hard unpopular road – even in church. Because it’s hard many church leaders cave and end up defending people instead of the Word. The results? Let me sum it up with a popular 4-letter word: Mess!

In 2 Samuel 23:8-39 David gives an account of his defenders. These were the people who put their very lives on the line for their king and friend. What made them great is that they lived by a standard. A stand·ard : is something considered to be an authority. David’s fighting men upheld something far greater than another person’s opinion. They stood for what was right.

After my experience with that church, I determined to never again serve with nonspiritual leaders who are willing to place defending a person over defending God’s Word.  Perry Noble got to the root of it when he said “the fight to keep people happy is not a [church] leaders job…and if it is then Jesus really stunk at that… no matter what you do someone is always going to be upset…so please HIM, not them!”

Whether you are leading and defending a church, business, or family, true victory is found when we always come back to the standard of God’s Word.

What do a table full of blind people sitting in a restaurant have in common? Turns out, a lot.

On a recent trip I had a unique opportunity to observe a large group of blind women and men having breakfast at the hotel where I was staying.  Luckily I was also in earshot and could hear the conversation.  Although listening in did make me feel a little guilty, I was glad I could do so without being noticed :) and honored for the unique opportunity to be a spectator of their conversation.

As I jotted a few notes & quotes in my Moleskin it occurred to me that what I was observing and hearing could also be applied to building and managing teams in a church.

Here are five things that I observed from the blind people at the table that can also relate to building and managing teams in a church:

1. They were in sync. The blind people at the table moved things around the table as one. Plates were moved, drinks were refilled, and salt & pepper passed with ease. It was obvious that their working together was part of their plan for success. It’s the same with church teams – moving forward together as one is important to success.
2. Mistakes will be made. One of the highlights for me was when I overheard a girl say loudly to a guy, “You know when you started the fire in the kitchen and all the alarms went off? That was so funny!” When she said the whole table erupted in laughter because they all were part of the story. Successful church teams understand that mistakes are okay and part of learning to be successful.
3. Laughter builds community. The blind people at the table did not act like they had any negative challenges. They laughed – often and loud!  To be honest they were the only ones in the stuffy and somber restaurant that were having loads of fun. Church teams that don’t laugh often and loud are missing out on true community and some of what’s most important in life.
4. Each person has their role. It was obvious that each member of the blind people at the table knew what they were best at and what their role was. One guy was great at hearing where the waiter was and flagging them down, and another was always asking who needed a refill and passed the coffee jug around with ease.  Understanding who is best at what is an important part of a successful church team.
5. Grace must be given. Things did not go perfect for the blind people at the table. Things were spilled, dropped, and knocked over. But no one stopped and focused on that, they just kept right on going with their mission – eating and enjoying each others company.

It was fun enjoying a moment in time with the blind people at the table. I was encouraged by their zest for life and inspired to live my life focused more on chilled quality, and less on rigid quantity. Hope you are too!

The other day I had this pop into my head:

Why do the things we want the most take so long to achieve?
Because we are the most valuable to God when we are hungry.

Why is hunger important? Because hunger creates.

Hunger creates:

• movement
• motion
• motivation
• action
• determination
• a reason to be
• anger
• a different view of our world
• new/re-newed vision
• fedupness
• I’ve had enoughness
• time to get off my buttness (*thanks Jason!)

Hunger creates…

That’s why hunger is important to God – the Church – and to us.

Comments?

Our family has grown up inserting WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) into all sorts of situations and have always tried to run our decisions through the filter of God’s Word.  Now we’re up to our eyelids in dreaming, learning, and strategizing how to reach our community through a new church we are planting.

The crazy thing is that our culture is changing and the target is moving. People are choosing not to attend church in greater numbers every year. Bests estimates say that in our area (greater Nashville, TN) the number of people choosing not to attend church on Sunday is approaching 70%. 70%!! Every time I say that number it sends an arrow through my heart. I find myself asking over and over not only how can that be, but what the heck are we going to do about it?

Back to Jack. My wife loves the show 24. Maybe love is not the right way to say it. My wife is totally addicted to 24 and needs help! She is a genuine 24 nut, and each week I choose to be her companion nut and watch it too.

The other day I had an interesting thought. If Jack Bauer was given the assignment to reach the 70% of people in our community who attend no church, WWJD (What Would Jack Do)?

Here’s what I think.

Jack would:

• Go after those far from God with a zeal and passion.
• Live life like time was very short.
• Try different ways to reach these dear people, and when one way didn’t work, he would try another.
• Not listen to his critics, even a little.
• Ask people over and over to step up and do really hard stuff.
• Say “thank you” a lot.
• Do more. Discuss less.
• Say “fine” a lot.
• Bounce back quickly.
• Keep his sights on the main target and his eyes on the goal.
• Not let someone who bailed stop forward progress. He would learn, adjust, and keep moving.
• Never sit down to eat or go to the bathroom.

Okay maybe the last one is a stretch, but if we are going to reach people who don’t yet care, maybe asking what would Jack do is not such a bad idea.

Question: What do you think?  What would it take to get people who don’t care about attending church on Sunday to attend?