Eight Deadly Words

I've made no secret over the years of my fondness for sportswriter Bill Simmons.  Anyone who can get me to read a 736 page book on basketball - a sport I really don't even care for that much - must be a pretty good writer.  I've been reading just about everything he has written for close to ten years now.  Recently he launched a new website - GRANTLAND.COM - that has a bunch of super-talented writers covering all kinds of sports and cultural topics.  I don't agree with everything they write, nor do I agree with everything Simmons writes.  But I enjoy reading their stuff and it gets you thinking.

The other day, Simmons wrote about the NBA (naturally) and included what he called "the eight deadliest words in sports."  Because that's the way we've always done it.  It really got me thinking about how that phrase in not just deadly in sports, it can be deadly in every area of life.  It kills new ideas, hampers innovation, thwarts progress.  Now, I can relate to what Professor Umbridge says in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  We don't need progress for the sake of progress.  But...  There is a time and a place for staying the main road.  And there is a time to find a new road.

Because that's the way we've always done it.  Isn't that how I got so fat?  Isn't that what nearly killed American car companies?  Isn't that what has (probably) irreparably damaged the newspaper industry and the music industry?  How many businesses have gone under because that phrase seemed to be tacked onto their mission statement?  How many churches are struggling because they won't change to meet their new neighbors or the new culture? I'm not talking about changing the inherent values or heart of something.  But we certainly can look at changing the way things are done.

There are times when we face a situation and there is a logical solution.  It makes sense.  It is just what to do.  Years ago, I asked myself why no one ever used waffles as a bread substitute in breakfast sandwiches.  No one could give me a good answer.  So I tried it and it was glorious.  Waffles, cheese, sausage, eggs.  Amazing stuff.  Thinking myself a genius, I went one further and asked why no one ever used Toaster Strudels as the bread substitute in breakfast sandwiches.  So I tried it.  Blueberry strudels, egg, cheese.  It was one of the most disgusting things I ever ate.  There was a very good reason why no one used glorified Pop Tarts in a breakfast sandwich.  [Years later, some brilliant person would go through this same question process with donuts and a hamburger.  The jury is still out on that one.  All the people who have tried it are dead.]

But there are time when that solution doesn't make the best sense.  But we keep doing it.  Why?  It reminds me of a story I heard in a sermon years ago.  There was a family once that got together for Sunday dinner - a very special tradition.  The youngest son had recently gotten engaged.  This was his new fiance's first big family dinner.  To reach out to her, the mother took the new daughter-in-law-to-be aside and was showing her how to go about crafting the meal.  She explained all about what is included: mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, homemade biscuits, peach salad.  Finally, she got to the centerpiece - the roast.  She took out a magnificent piece of meat out of the fridge and laid it on the counter.  She sprinkled it with salt and spices.  Then she took a huge knife and cut the end off of it and placed it into the roasting pan and slid it into the oven.  The girl was a bit hesitant, but couldn't help herself.  "Why did you cut the end off the roast?"  The mother looked at her quizzically and replied, "I'm not sure.  Probably because that's the way we've always done it."  The other children all explained that they did the same thing.  Their spouses admitted they didn't understand why, but they did the same thing because the mother had told them to.  No one knew why.  Finally the mother said it was because her mom had told her to.  About that time, the grandmother in question arrived with her bowl of peach salad and basket of bread.  The youngest son looked over and asked her, "Why did you tell mom to cut the end off the roast?"  The grandmother thought for a minute.  "I never told her to do that."  The mother responded, "Yes you did.  Every time I watched you make Sunday dinner, you cut the end off the roast."  The grandmother started to laugh.  "I never told you to do that.  You saw me do it and copied me."  The mom was getting a little frustrated.  "Showed me, told me.  Whatever.  Same thing.  I got it from you."  The grandmother nodded, "Yes, you did.  I cut the end of the roast because I didn't have a roasting pan big enough to fit it in."

In that story, there was no good reason to continue that practice.  It had outlived its purpose.  But no one changed it because that's the way we've always done it.  We hear this all the time.  Think about some things in your life that you would answer with that phrase.  Why do you sleep on the side of the bed you do?  Why do you comb your hair the way you do?  Why do you buy a particular brand of food?  Why do you use a particular translation/version of The Bible?  I know that there are practices I have that don't necessarily need to continue.  I used a rigid folder system on my computer I developed over many year using Windows machines.  Now that I am exclusively on Macs, it isn't as important.  But I can't get over it.  [Shoot, the fact that it took me so long to switch computer brands could fall into that as well.]  We separate our clothes into separate colored loads.  That makes sense, except for the fact that we don't have many new clothes that would be bleeding, we wash in cold water to hold colors, we used detergents that hold colors, and there are new items that help catch colors.  I sleep on the right side of the bed.  I have a pattern I use when brushing my teeth.

There are habits that we get into.  Not necessarily a bad thing.  But those habits can become ruts.  And living in a rut can make you stubborn and rigid.  So when a new idea comes along that genuinely is better than ours, we fight it.  We won't acknowledge its legitimacy.  It can't be a better option because that's the way we've always done it.  This isn't about questioning every single believe or teaching.  But I think there is something to be said about questioning the methods.  Why do we vote on Tuesdays?  Why is there an Electoral College?  Why are there only two political parties?  Those made perfect sense back in the day, when transportation was harder and education was limited.  But are those the best systems now?  I don't think questioning that is the same as questioning the validity of the Constitution or freedom itself.  But some people would raise the hair on their backs just the same.

Those eight words are triggered - and often nullified - by just one word.  Why?  It seems like a bit of a cop out.  It really isn't a good answer.  And it is kind of a testimony to the fact that there may not be a good reason.  It is healthy to ask yourself why you are doing certain things from time to time.  That is how innovators and inventors get started. They look at situation and ask why it is that way.  Then they try to find out if there is a better way to do things.  That is where the Fords and Edisons and Jobses and Zuckerbergs get started.  Why?  But instead of replying the eight words, they answer just two.  Why not?

Jesus was like this.  He was approaching a religious establishment that had done things a certain way for hundreds of years.  Back in the day, when The Law was established, it made sense.  But over the centuries, traditions and teachings had added to and colored that Law.  It was barely recognizable.  And, the whole point of The Law was to point to the coming Messiah.  So when Jesus showed up, there was a whole lot of people who could only answer His appearance with because that's the way we've always done it.  The leaders would ask Jesus why he was doing certain things.  And He would more often than not respond back with a variation of "Why aren't you?"  Why was He hanging around with sinners?  Why was He talking to women?  Why was He hanging out with Gentiles?  Why was He wasting time on children?

The religious establishment was so entrenched in their systems that eventually they killed Jesus.  They couldn't take Him upsetting their apple cart (or temple tables).  Their devotion to their rituals blinded them to a new way to do things.  Jesus's teachings were revolutionary only in the fact that they flew in the face of the rules and structures of the time.  But they were always in agreement with the heart of The Law - "Love God, Love Others."  Like Jesus said, "Love God with all your heart, mind, body, spirit.  Love others as yourself."  The whole of The Law distilled into those things.  But the people had gotten so caught up in only walking one mile and not working on the Sabbath.  They were so worried about keeping up with each individual rule they forgot the WHY behind it.  Why were they not working on the Sabbath?  Why were they supposed to give or pray or sacrifice?

Jesus got so angry at this.  One of the times we saw Him get super angry was when they dragged a crippled man before Jesus to see if He would heal Him on the Sabbath - breaking the Law by "working" on a healing."  Jesus got so ticked because they were so committed that to their rules that they didn't even care about this guy.  He was a pawn, a tool.  They weren't brokenhearted at this man's plight.  They weren't happy he got healed.  They weren't amazed at the miracle or demonstration of God's power.  They were angry that Jesus showed them up.  We saw this same battle time and again.  It didn't stop after Jesus returned to Heaven either.  After the Early Church started, the establishment found themselves fighting time and again with members who were asking "why" and weren't satisfied with the answer.

My great fear is that the modern Church is drifting into this same area.  So many churches are so caught up in doing what they've always done that they are completely missing the fact that the world is dying all around them.   The old programs are not reaching the new culture like they used to.  The old way of doing things is not necessarily going to have the same results.  I'm not calling for an abandonment of the core beliefs of the Church.  I'm saying we need to to examine why we are sharing those beliefs the way we are.  Again, we are becoming so attached to our rules and programs that we often are missing the core message of "Love God, Love Others."  The Bible never told us to sing from a hymnal, have Sunday evening services, have AWANA, do Tuesday night visitation, set up a children's choir, go to youth camp, sit in pews, or have a giant building.  None of those things are necessarily bad things.  BUT, WHY are we doing those things?  Is there a good reason?  If so, then keep on going.  If the answer is because that's the way we've always done it, well, that shouldn't cut it.

I think some churches have gone to the opposite extreme.  They've jettisoned everything - even the important things.  That is NOT what I am advocating.  But, we need to start asking ourselves why we insist on certain things.  Why is the offering put where it is in the order of worship?  Why do you have an invitation?  Or, why don't you ever have one?  Why do you only do Communion twice a year?  Why do you sing the first two verses of a hymn and then skip to the last?  Why do you preach on tithing?  Why do you use that particular Sunday School curriculum?  If you ask that, and at the end decide things should stay the way they are, well you are even more steadfast in your stance.  Good for you.  But if you end up with because that's the way we've always done it, then pray and ask God if there is a better way.

Our final goal should be to increase God's Kingdom, lead more people to Him, share the transformative power of God's Good News, help people grow in their walk with Christ.  The rest of that stuff is all trappings.  It is ways to accomplish those goals.  If we end up spending so much time and efforts on the programs, we'll miss the point.  The reason all of this really hit home with me this week is that I am speaking at chapel on Friday at International Community School.  This may be the last time I address the senior class there.  They are very dear to my heart.  When they were freshmen, the school made the questionable choice of letting me teach them Bible.  I was terrified and in over my head.  I thought about all the Bible classes I had taken over the years.  And I knew that they were going to get some very solid teaching from my fellow Bible teacher, Greg Willson, that would make up for any stupidity I imparted.  So, I approached the class with the simple question of "Why" hanging over everything.  Why does it matter if we believe this?  Why is this so important?  Why did this happen the way it did?  I wasn't so concerned about ramming home the exact order of the Israelite kings as I was asking why the desire to have a king was so significant.  The kids had not really been forced to look at the Bible that way.  [I can't take credit for this.  My college Sunday School teacher, Jeff Kipi, did the same thing with us.  It floored me.  And it changed my life.]  We have had a very special connection from that class onward.  I love those guys and gals.  And it is sad and thrilling to see them moving on.  I see amazing potential in that group of students.  They are the kinds of people who can change the world.  That isn't going to happen by them resorting to because that's they way we've always done it.  It is going to happen by them seeking and looking for new and better ways to do things.  So, if one of these kids comes up to you and asks you why, go on the journey with them to figure that out.  It may force you to change some things.  It may even change you.  And it will give you a better answer when someone asks you why.

Know Your Role

I am drawn to a particular kind of movie (and tv show).  It is the one where there is an ordinary guy who must become extraordinary to save those around him.  It could be that he is forced into this position.  It could be that he fights it before ultimately embracing it. But this general theme is laced through my favorite movies.  It is why I like Batman and Iron Man more than other superheroes.  They aren't gifted with any superhuman abilities - with the exception of great wealth.  They decide they have to do something to rectify the evil going on and then make it happen.  But, underneath the suits and weapons, they are just guys fighting to save the people around them.  (Granted, their circle of influence is larger than most people's.)

This is one of the reasons the Harry Potter series resonates so much with me.  It is just an ordinary boy who has to become extraordinary.  Everything he does is to save people.  He becomes a warrior because he has to.  We see this in The Matrix, Braveheart, Burn Notice, Chuck.  I am drawn to those adventure.  I want to see myself in that role.  I guess I always have seen myself there.  I'm just an ordinary guy who sees that people need rescued and wants to lead the charge.  There are actually times where I have trouble disconnecting mentally from a movie because I desperately want to experience that thrill of fighting and defending.

I have always been the one in front.  I gravitate towards leadership positions.  Rarely am I satisfied to sit idly by in a meeting or Sunday School class.  I don't force myself into the limelight - I'm not an attention hog.  It is just the way I'm built.  I'm a leader.  And other people see that and want me to take that place.  I am not going to stage a coup to take over.  But if there is a void of leadership or an opportunity to step up, I will do it.  I had a leadership position in every club I was a member of in high school.  If I was active in a group in college, I usually ended up in an officer role.  When we start attending a church, it is usually just a matter of time before I'm teaching a class.

The problem is that right now, for this period of my life, I am not able to follow my usual pattern.  Due to my responsibilities with the kids, Heather's school schedule, commitments with Defender Ministries, and travel, I am not able to step into leadership.  I actually don't have any opportunities to be that at all.  And it is frustrating.  I'm not used to sitting in a class and having to listen week after week - thinking of how I would teach the lesson.  It has not been my lot in life to just watch things happen and not be an active part of making them happen.

One of our new favorite shows is Blue Bloods.  It is about a family with a long history of law enforcement. The father is police commissioner.  The one brother is a detective; the other is a rookie cop who just switched from law school.  The sister is a district attorney.  There even is a brother who died in the line of duty.  The family is the kind that I was mentioning earlier - ordinary good people wanting to make a difference.  Then there is the grandfather.  He used to be police commissioner.  But he was forced out due to politics and his own age and failing health.  Now he has to sit by and watch the rest of the family make a difference - and he's left cooking for their weekly dinners and offering the occasional piece of wisdom (often unheeded).  You can see the frustration in his face.  He wants to be out there.  His heart is still on the battlefield, but he has been forced to the back.  For the last few weeks, I have felt that way.  It has been very frustrating.

Today, something came to me that really got me thinking.  For the time being, my role really has changed.  I am not supposed to be the front.  I need to support from behind.  That is an uncomfortable place to be for me.  I'm sure some of this is pride and ego.  Some of it is just that it feels unnatural.  But that is the reality of the situation.  Our society loves to promote and embrace the hero, the superstar, the biggest and best.  We don't think about the people behind the scenes making that happen.  I am very guilty of this.  I mean, look at this entire post.  I am unhappy that I am not top banana.  I keep on mistakingly believing this whole thing is about me.  If I really was wanting to see my world changed, it wouldn't matter who is doing the job - just that it is getting done.

Those people on top can't make it without people behind them.  For every Harry Potter, there are dozens of Neville Longbottoms and Luna Lovegoods that also are battling.  Bruce Wayne has Alfred and Lucius Fox.  Tony Stark has Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan.  William Wallace would never have become the hero he was without Uncle Argyle and Hamish.  Those people know their roles and do them well.  The victory is just as much won through their efforts - even though that movies are not usually made about them.

I know there are things I can do in this place.  And I know they will have an impact.  And I wrote a few weeks back, I have started contacting the people on my Facebook friend list.  Mostly, this consists of sending them a message to encourage them.  So far, I have gotten a response from everyone I wrote but one.  Each one of them has said that the message meant so much, that it came when they needed it most. That is important.  I remember when I was running a ministry.  It gets to be lonely and stressful.  You usually only hear from people when they are upset at you.  It meant so much to get a positive note.  I can offer that to people.

Also, the entire Sunday School lesson was about how important it is to pray.  I fail at this so much.  One thing I have now is time.  I certainly could spend time each day praying - for my family, for friends, for Heather's classmates, for ministers and teachers around me.  That is something I can do that fits into my schedule.  Prayer is important.  Even if I can't physically be out there working and fighting, I can at least be praying for people.

It is a mindset - just like my weight loss efforts.  I have to choose to accept my role and embrace it.  Back in the day, Dwayne Johnson the actor was The Rock the wrestler.  He had a statement he used to yell before a match.  "KNOW YOUR ROLE AND SHUT YOUR MOUTH!!!"  It was a pretty arrogant and rude line that took a shot at the jobber entering the ring.  But it brings a level of truth with it as well - at least for me.  If I want to stay miserable, I can keep wishing for something bigger and better.  I can strain against my situation. Or I can accept the secondary role and work as hard as I can to help the people around me.  It still is an ordinary guy trying to change his world - it just isn't leading from the front.  It is helping from behind the scenes.  It isn't about me anyway, right?  Know my role.  Shut my mouth.  Get it done.

Beloved

Last Sunday we were down in Orlando and attended our old church.  It was great to be able to see our friends from before the Tallahassee relocation.  And I also enjoyed being in the service.  It is a different style of preaching and worship than what we experience up here every Sunday.  Sometimes it is good to go to a different church every so often - it kind of jars you out of complacency.

Anyway, during the sermon, Pastor Byron was talking about The Transfiguration story from Matthew 17 (and Mark 9 and Luke 9).  The story itself wasn't what hit me.  During the story at one point, God speaks down from Heaven and says, "This is my beloved Son..."  Byron went on to explain that beloved means "priceless and unique."  When he said that, I started thinking about that word.

My name means "Beloved of God."  I like my name - always have.  I know some kids imagine changing their name.  But I like my name.  I don't like shortening it to Dave or anything.  I think part of that is the association with King David in the Bible - one of my favorite characters.  And part of it is that I learned what my name meant very early on in life.  When your name means something like "beloved of God," it is hard to think it needs changed.  I mean, can you get better than that?  I can understand if your name meant something dumb.  But I like my meaning.

Hearing that beloved means priceless and unique, really struck home.  I am priceless to God.  I am unique to Him.  I started thinking.  Over the years in the church, I have heard so many sermons and lessons about how we are these small weak things.  Pastors almost go over the top to establish the fact that we are pathetic.  We have nothing worthwhile to offer.  We are almost like scum.  God's bigness is talked about a lot - from Francis Chan to Louie Giglio.  In addition, God doesn't need us.  He will see His plan realized with our without us.

There is truth in this.  Paul calls us worms and talks about how our goodness is like wound wrappings.  But that doesn't really take into account how God treats us.  Look at Creation.  God doesn't lump people in with everything else - just another cog in the universe.  We are special.  We are the only creature that God wanted to have a relationship with.  We are the only ones Christ died for.  God does see us as priceless and special.  He loves us and desires to be with us.  Isn't that amazing?

I know there are some people who have trouble believing in God.  I never really have.  I mena, just look around.  It is pretty hard to believe that this incredible world just randomly popped up.  The reality of God, to me, is not a hard concept.  The thing that really is hard to wrap my mind around is the fact that this Creator of the Universe, this huge massive God, wants me to spend time with Him.  He wants me to talk to Him and pray to Him and sing songs to Him.  That is just bizarre.

Take President Obama.  I don't give a warbling hoot what you feel politically, if the President were to call you, it would blow your mind.  Now imagine this President kept on calling you, emailing you, sending you presents.  The "leader of the free world" wants to spend time with you - just some random person.  Things like that just don't happen.  God wanting to do that is even more unbelievable.  But that is exactly what He does.

He sees me as priceless and unique.  Yes, there are other people with similar skill sets and personalities.  But there is no one else exactly like me.  My combination of talents, gifts, passions, dislikes, experiences, opinions, friends, history, family, decisions make me completely different than anyone on this planet.  My wife and I are very close.  We spend a ton of time together and have more than ten years of marriage in our history.  But look at how different we are.  I mean, we only have 269 friends in common on Facebook.  That's a lot, but that means we both have almost 400 people different.  Even twins have a long list of things that make them different - even if the only difference was their own perspective on shared history.

God made me for a unique purpose.  He has a relationship with me.  I'm not some worthless weasel that has ingratiated himself to a ruler.  He chased me.  He called me.  He wants to work with me and use me. And He made me in such a way that I will have an impact on my world that no one else can have.  I am His beloved - his priceless and unique one.

I don't know about you, but there are definitely days when that thought makes all the difference.  You may have an exciting life with high stakes meetings and million dollar negotiations.  But for right now, most of my days are spent trying to manage three kids in tiny apartment and not get overrun with dishes, toys, and laundry - all while staying sane and controlled.  That is hardly something that would draw the attention of a big shot, let alone God.  To know that even in this place in life, when it is easy to feel useless and alone, God Himself looks down and sees me as a priceless and unique part of His heart.  That's one heck of a name to have.

Was Jesus Funny?

When we look at the picture of Jesus painted by the Gospels, we have an incomplete picture.  We don't know what he looked like - aside from being from the Middle East and having a beard.  Sure, we have artist renditions of Jesus - but we have no way of knowing if they are accurate.  (Actually, we can be pretty sure that they are NOT.)  Personally, I think that this was on purpose - so we would not worship an image of Jesus.  Rather, we should direct our allegiance to the true Christ.

Most of the time, I don't mind the lack of physical description of Jesus.  I have an active imagination and can generate a picture pretty easily in my mind.  I've done the same thing with regular books for decades.  But there is one big thing that is never described in the Gospel accounts that does bother me.  Why don't we ever see Jesus laugh?  We see Him cry (Luke 19, John 11:35).  We see Him angry (Matthew 21, John 2).  We see him compassionate, distressed, in authority.  We see him teaching, healing, healing, lecturing, walking on water, eating, having dinner.  But we never see him laughing.

This has actually been a difficult thing for me to understand over the years.  I like to laugh.  Sure, some people over the years have accused me of being negative or unemotional.  But that usually is when I am stressed or trying to get ready for a speaking event or something.  I really do like to laugh.  And I like to make people laugh.  When I am speaking at an event, it is a pretty sure bet that the attenders will be laughing at some point.  That is part of who I am.  And so I have really wrestled with why we never see Jesus laugh, smile, grin (despite what Monty Python sketches say), chuckle, or anything of the sort.  He never tells a joke.  He never laughs at a situation.

He is described as a Man of Sorrows.  We know that the lostness of the people around Him broke His heart.  He was about His Father's business.  And I guess that is where I have difficulties.  Did He not have the luxury to laugh?  Was it considered a frivolous activity that was beneath Him?  Does that mean that we shouldn't laugh and joke?  I know the Bible speaks critically inappropriate or coarse humor.  But we don't see a whole lot about laughter.  Sarah laughed at the promise of a baby in her old age - but that wasn't a positive action.  Proverbs is pretty derisive of those labelled "fools" or "jesters."  If Jesus didn't laugh, should we?  I mean, lots of people tell us we should ask What Would Jesus Do?  If we never see Jesus laughing, does that mean we shouldn't either?

This post is certainly not meant to be trivial or disrespectful, so I hope you don't think it is.  I really want to know, did Jesus laugh?  Was He funny?  And if He was, why was that character trait completely left out of everything we read about Him?  Was it because it would diminish His authority?  Would it undermine His Godliness?  I mean, I could see descriptions of His using the facilities as eroding His status.  But laughing?

We know that Jesus was fully man.  He was born.  We see Him as a boy at the temple.  Then we see Him as a fully grown man.  So, he is a person - a real man.  As human, laughter is natural.  From very early in life, babies smile and laugh.  That is one of the milestones for kids.  There's not many better things in life than watching a baby laughing.  Children laugh like crazy at all kinds of things.  You don't have to teach them that.  It is just a natural part of life.  If Jesus was fully human, then He had to laugh.  That is part of being human.

The problem I have is that He hung out with twelve guys every day for over three years.  Is it possible that those guys never laughed together?  They never busted out about some goofy story or something silly someone did?  These were guys.  And they weren't highfalutin learn-ed types either.  They were regular old guys - fishermen mostly.  I don't know many fishermen who didn't bust each other's chops on a regular basis.  That is pretty universal with guys.  They hang out and bust on each other and laugh a lot.

You mean to tell me that none of those guys ever cracked one off around the fire late at night?  No one ever stepped in donkey droppings?  Someone didn't trip over their robe and fall into the water?  Remember, these are twelve guys wandering around the countryside.  They ate fish.  There had to be some gastric instability going on.  Last weekend, we were discussing this at a youth retreat I was at.  One of the kids (a boy, of course) said, "One of the great things about being a guy is that from infancy until old age, a fart is always funny."  It's true.  Guys just laugh at that stuff.  (Remember, there are artificial fart machines out there and people buy them - probably all males.)  My three year old giggles when he toots.  I have so many stories from my past about groups of guys trying to gas each other out.  This never happened?  Personally, I believe it did.  And, I would like to think that Jesus participated in it.  He probably was really good at it.  So much so, that the other guys didn't want Him to play.  "No, don't ask Him to play.  Remember, even the winds obey Him.  It's not a fair contest."

In addition, children were drawn to Jesus.  He welcomed them.  I have three kids.  You know what kind of person they don't gravitate towards?  A gloomy unsmiling person.  Kids love happy people.  They like to be around adults who have a pleasant disposition, a smile on their face.  Would children have surrounded Jesus just because He was God?  Probably not.  There had to be something there.  And with all the talk of how we should be filled with joy, Jesus had to be joyful.  Right?  Joy is supposed to be something that flows through us - He couldn't have been different, could He?

Certainly, I am not trying to paint Jesus as a clown.  He brought some serious discussions into play.  You could definitely say that he was a downer at times - talking about His death, promising that people would hate His followers, saying you had to give up homes and families to follow Him.  Those were not cheery statements.  When He was knocking over tables, sweating blood, chewing out the Pharisees, He was not a jovial fellow.  It's just that few things really bring out your humanity more than humor.  The ability to laugh at yourself, laugh at and with other people, make people laugh.  Those are valuable human characteristics - or at least I have always thought so.

I guess part of what makes this issue so hard for me is that so many times when I am speaking, the people listening spend a lot of time laughing.  (And, no, it is NOT always AT me.)  I try very hard to allow God to flow through my words.  I aim to be flexible and receptive to His guidance as far as what I say.  I don't rely too heavily on outlines and frequently find myself using examples and stories completely on the fly.  I have always felt that when I am at my best, it is when I personally do the least and let God do the most.  If that is actually true, then it would follow that God uses the humor as well.  It puts people at ease, helps them to listen and engage, and it even assists in understanding what is being said by painting a picture.  I cannot be ultra-serious all the time when I am teaching and preaching.  I have tried.  I have aimed to better fit the mold of a traditional pastor, wearing gravitas and forcefully pounding points home.  But it never works.  It turns into something far different.

I have to believe that God values humor - I mean, He uses irony frequently, which can be funny.  The foolish shame the wise.  Our weakness makes us stronger.  The least end up first.  And He did create the platypus.  I just wish we could have seen Jesus laugh.  Maybe He is saving it for when He can really cut loose - when He is hosting the biggest dinner ever.  I think that is one of the coolest things to see - God laughing.  And I hope that when He sees me, He will say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant.  You really made me smile."  That would be the best.

What's Wrong with the Southern Baptist Convention?

This very long post is about the Southern Baptist Convention.  I'm just letting you know that it may be boring to you if that is not a topic you care about.  And it may offend you if it is a topic you care about.  Warning over.

The Southern Baptist Convention is holding its annual meeting in Orlando this week.  The SBC is the largest Protestant denomination in the country (over 16 million members and 42,000 churches), so their annual meeting is a pretty big deal.  It usually generates national news.  Unfortunately it is often because of some "controversial" resolution that is being passed (boycott of Disney, position on gender roles).  This year, though, there is also an internal exploration of what exactly is going wrong with the SBC.  There was a Task Force formed a while back to explore this very issue.  Why, for the first time in their 165 year history are they decreasing in membership?

To explain my interest in this issue, I will offer a brief personal history.  I was saved at age four.  My mom had come to Christ two years earlier.  However, my father did not become a Christian for another seventeen years.  Our house was filled with turmoil - especially over the issue of church.  We went through several stretches where my father did not allow us to go to church.  (Even though he sent us toa Christian school.)  So we didn't associate with a denomination, since we had to church hop for much of my younger years.  We called ourselves "Christians," not Baptist or Methodists or whatever.  We attended Palm Beach Bible Fellowship and Palm Bible Chapel and some church with Faith in the name.  We briefly went to First Baptist Church of West Palm Beach, but didn't latch on there.

In fourth grade, we started attending Forest Hill Christian Missionary Alliance.  That was our first real affiliation with a denominational church.  We never joined, since my mom didn't like membership and my dad didn't want us to.  In seventh and eighth grade, we switched to FBC WPB again.  Jack Graham was pastor (future President of the SBC).  It was a much bigger church and offered more opportunities for us as kids - youth camp, VBS, youth choir.  But we went back to the CMA church until I was a junior in high school.  That is when we went back to FBC WPB.  Keith Thomas was pastor at that point (future big shot of the SBC).  It was at this point that I basically aligned with the SBC.  I felt that the denomination's doctrine was the closest to the Bible.  And I knew that, for the most part, attending a SBC church was going to be a safe choice.  After all, I was moving to Orlando after high school and would need to find a place.

This was also when I was fighting my call to the ministry.  It wasn't an open rebellion.  I just was pushing it down and pursuing teaching.  When I moved, I attending FBC Orlando (Jim Henry pastor - future President of the SBC).  It was just too big.  After attending there for three months, I was asked in Sunday School if it was my first time by one of the leaders I had talked to several times before.  In my mind I said, "No, but it is my last."  I tried some other places, but finally ended up at FBC Oviedo.  (Dwayne Mercer pastor - future President of the Florida Baptist Convention)  That was where I stayed, joined, and accepted my call into the ministry.  After graduation, I went to FBC Temple Terrace near Tampa.  (Rick Edmonds pastor)  It was my first church ministry job.  I also worked at the BCM on campus at USF (Eddie Gilley director).  That was my first experience with "The Convention" - since I had to report to the Florida Baptist Convention and the North American Mission Board for my job reports.  I was licensed and ordained at FBC TT.

Since then, I have almost always attended SBC churches (except for a few months in 2006 and this year).  We went to FBC Orange Park while we lived in Jacksonville.  I worked on staff at FBC Oviedo for over four years.  Then I was on staff at Waypoint Church (an SBC church plant) for two years.  And we tried to find a SBC church in Tallahassee.  After about nine months of frustration, we finally started attending Grace Church of Tallahassee.  Technically it is non-denominational, but the ministers all went to Southern Baptist Seminary and the church is loosely connected to the Grace Church movement started by John MacArthur.  All of that is to say that I am not an SBC hater.  I am an SBC minister.  I have attended SBC churches for almost twenty years.  I have been under the leadership of some very high ranking SBC pastors.  I attended an SBC seminary (did not finish due to life's curveballs).  And I have worked with the SBC as a minister, support staff, convention employee, speaker at SBC events.  I love the SBC.  I want that understood so that no one for a moment believes that I am just taking aim at an easy target.

The SBC is indeed in trouble and there are many reasons.  Some will get worse as the world continues to move further away from God.  Some could be fixed by the SBC if they were willing to try.  And I do admire the convention for actually addressing this.  They could have just kept their head buried in the sand, ignoring the reality.  I don't necessarily feel like the way they have addressed it was the best way.  But it was an effort.  I hope that they can get some answers.  No matter what you personally think of the SBC, the world would be a worse place without it.  The ministries they perform - from Disaster Relief to foreign missions to curriculum production - have a massive impact on our world.  I am a very small fish in this ocean.  But I have had lots of opportunities to observe the SBC from many perspectives.  And, honestly, I have nothing to lose by writing this.  At this point, I'm a stay at home dad with a non-profit ministry.  What can the SBC do to me?  They can not hire me?  That's been the case for years.  Basically, I can write what many of my fellow ministers want to.  I hope that it can be helpful to someone.

1. THE SBC IS A RESPECTER OF PERSONS 
I put this issue first because I think it is the most glaring issue - which actually spills over into the other issues on this list.  I wrote about the problem with Christian celebrity in this posting.  It has become the way of life in modern American Christianity.  And the SBC is perhaps the most guilty of this habit.  There is a general mindset that pastors of large churches are worth more than the pastors of smaller churches.  If they are growing that much, they must be doing something right.  As a result, a minister of a large church become someone that the other churches try to emulate.  They get invited to speak at convention events.  They are the guest speaker at special church events.  They get the book deals from Lifeway (the SBC publishing arm).  They have their own disciples.  People who work for them get hired just because of their connection.  And, as they become bigger and bigger, they become more of a CEO and become more distant to their church.  At a typical mega-church in the SBC, the pastor's only interaction with his membership is from the pulpit - unless he decides to do a walkthrough at some event for the church.  Taking it one step further, the pastor may not even interact with his own STAFF - leaving that to an executive pastor.  Pastors who are not at this level yet set aim for this.  They want to work their way up the ladder.  So they hop to larger and larger churches.  They have their churches create television programs and books to highlight their sermon series - hoping to be noticed by the higher ups.  They dress like the big shots.  They quote the big shots.  They want to become a big shot.  It is a vicious cycle.

The people who are identified as the major power brokers have a massive amount of pull in the convention.  They can dictate the direction of things.  They can make a younger minister's career - or utterly destroy it.  And they become fiercely protective of their ground.  They never make a mistake.  Staff turnover is high, since the blame is always being placed on underlings.  Staff burnout is also through the roof, since the junior ministers are expected to work insane hours.  They have to be at every event, even if the senior pastor doesn't.  The same goes for musicians, music minister, even youth pastors.  There is a hierarchy.  Ministers with large attendance, big budgets, huge facilities are put on a pedestal.  That is why I even put the names of the pastors in my history.  Those names are recognized and looked up to.  People would kill to be able to put Graham, Thomas, Henry, Mercer on their resume. Those names open doors.

This is a huge problem.  And it isn't a new one.  We see this in the New Testament.  Paul had to fight this mindset when he encountered people who would say they were disciples of different teachers.  Paul said that we should be disciples of Christ.  Today, more weight is put on the pastor's name than on his life or teaching.  Reputation is more important than reality.  And Christ gets shuffled to the back of the deck.  The fact of the matter is that a huge percentage of these men that are being lifted up are not loving, not merciful, not caring, not kind.  They don't look out for others.  They don't exhibit the fruits of the Spirit.  They are impatient, selfish, egomaniacal, driven, arrogant, judgmental.  They preach good.  They have a good reputation.  But, they are human and this mindset actually makes their human flaws worse.  No person should have that much attention and importance.  People are not strong enough to handle it.  And a denomination that keeps looking to the celebrities to lead it is going to lose its way.

2. TOO MUCH ENERGY IS SPENT ON FIGHTING OVER SIDE ISSUES
I would rank this as the second biggest problem in the SBC.  So much energy is spent fighting over issues that, truthfully, do not make an eternal difference.  I remember the huge uproar over the Disney boycott back in the late 1990s.  It is a perfect example of this problem.  In the long run, the boycott did nothing.  The average member of an SBC church didn't follow it.  It didn't hurt Disney at all.  There was infighting over it (with Orlando and Florida SBC churches leading the charge against it).  And it just made the SBC look stupid to the world.

The internal battles are sucking the energy out of the convention.  There is the worship style battle that seems to exist in a majority of churches.  There is a huge fight going on between what I like to call the five point Calvinists and the four and a half pointers.  The reformed Calvinist bloc (led by Southern Seminary) will fight with everyone that doesn't agree with them.  Many of them personally target people, like Ergun Caner of Liberty.  This particular issue has caused so many vicious fights in churches - splitting groups apart.  (I personally have had to deal with fights over this more times than I can remember.)  Then there is the Full Quiver movement (Voddie Bauchman is big in this) and the fight that brings.  This is the belief that we are called to have lots of kids.  People who buy into this fight for it against the people who think it is irresponsible to have so many kids.  There is the battle over biblical gender roles - brought to a head by the resolution a few years back that led to a bunch of Texas churches seceding.  There is the homeschooling vs Christian school vs public school battle.  There are people who believe all parachurch group (ministries that exist outside of a church itself) suck money and support away from the church.

So much energy is spent on these fights that it affects how the denomination functions.  Just think about how well you are able to worship if you get in a fight on the way to church.  Now imagine that fight happening IN the church.  Abraham Lincoln said that a house divided against itself can't stand.  Jesus said a man can't serve two masters.  Both of those play into this.  A church can't function right if it constantly besieged by fights within its members.  And a convention that has such loud fights will have a hard time being unified on anything.  It is like millions of people are dying of thirst because we are fighting over the method to give them water, or the color of the pitcher, or how many kids the person bringing the water should have.  It seems a bit foolish.

3. THE SBC IS A SUCKER FOR GIMMICKS
When you go back up to problem 1, one side issue from this is that people try to replicate the "success" of a famous pastor/church.  The easiest way to do that is if they have come up with some program to mimic.  SBC loves putting out programs.  Just plug it into your church and it will work.  It almost sounds like an infomercial.  "YOU TOO can have a huge church.  Just send six payments of $19.95..."  In evangelism, there was CWT, then E.E., then FAITH, then Evangecube.  You had Cross Seekers in college ministry.  True Love Waits is the official purity program.  Every year Lifeway puts out a VBS theme.  The SBC was one of the biggest groups to buy into Promise Keepers and a Purpose Driven Life.  John Maxwell's leadership programs are just about mandatory for ministers.

If you want to make a ton of money in the church world, pitch an easy to memorize gimmick to a big shot pastor.  Once they implement it, and his name gets attached to it, everyone will want it.  It needs a formula, a clever title, some kind of thing to memorize.  It happens pretty frequently.  Some minister will write a book that strikes a chord.  He hits the speaking circuit.  His sales goes through the roof.  Every church seems to be making their staff read it.  They run Bible studies based on it.  Everywhere you turn in that church for like a year, that book is mentioned and glorified.  Then, a couple years later, another book (or movie) takes it place.  There is no quick fix to our problems or to quick solution for life.  But it seems like we're willing to try all the time to find one.

The other big gimmick, which ties into problem 1 and contributes to other ones also is the love affair with conferences.  Conferences are big money.  Ministers want to go to at least one a year.  There are exhibit halls and breakout sessions and big name speakers.  And lots of money.  (Personally, I think the modern Church Conference is the closest things we'll see to the money changers at the Temple.)  At the high end conferences (Orange Conference, Catalyst), exhibitors are gouged for a MINIMUM of $1500 just for a table.  Sponsorships can hit $15,000 or $25,000.  Just putting some quick numbers together, a big national conference can generate over $300,000 just from exhibits and sponsors.  Then there is the registration fees - hundreds of dollars times 4000 attenders.  The big speakers get paid $10,000 for one or two days.  The musicians can get $30,000.  It is amazing.  But churches eat these up.  They "get new ideas" or "get refreshed" or "get challenged."  In reality, they spend a lot of tithe money for a mini-vacation with a religious theme.  (At one conference, a church member generated this classic line: "We just spent more on fudge than I tithed last month.")  Again, it is another quick fix attempt with high dollars attached.

4. THERE IS A LACK OF RESPECT FOR THE YOUNGER MINISTERS
A couple years back, the SBC came up with this plan to have a million baptisms in a year.  It was a noble goal, but it didn't happen.  It actually wasn't even close.  But, instead of rejoicing over the ones that happened, there was a big row over the failure of it.  In a memorable moment, SBC President Bobby Welch took aim at the younger ministers and wailed that if they had taken less time blogging and spent more time trying to lead people to Christ, then they might have hit their goal.  I remember talking to several younger ministers after that happened.  They said that it was indicative of the way younger ministers were treated within the SBC.

When the younger ones would ask questions - like "Why do we do it this way?" - they got smacked back down.  "Where were you when we were ridding the seminaries of the liberals?  Where were you when we got this thing going?  Sit down and hush up."  One younger minister in particular said, "We stayed.  We followed the rules.  We went to their seminary.  We worked our way up through the hiring ladders.  We used their materials.  But we aren't allowed to even ask for an explanation."  True, the younger people were not there waging those wars years ago.  But they are the ones in touch with the younger generations now.  And they have valid thoughts.  But, for now, they are still relegated to the sidelines.  The SBC and its state offices still are electing the old guard to leadership positions - or their 1st generation disciples.  The younger guys (and by younger, that can go up to 40 years old) have to wait their turn.  Only, like Prince Charles, it feels like their turn is never going to come.

It isn't even just about leadership.  If something appears to question an established way of doing things, that is seen as an affront.  It is rebellion.  I have even heard one of the old guard say that criticizing the Church is the same as criticizing Christ, since that is His Bride.  Huh?  I remember the vehement and vicious reaction by the older ministers to Donald Miller's book Blue Like Jazz.  That book resonated with a lot of younger ministers because it reflected a world and a Church that was wrestling and disillusioned by the modern approach of religion.  Instead of seeing the validity of the emotions, the book and author were blasted from the pulpit by the old guard - while being embraced and promoted by the younger side.  How long did it take before churches and older ministers allowed websites, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts?  If the idea doesn't come from the top, it takes forever to catch on.

5. THERE IS A LACK OF RESPECT FOR THE OLDER GENERATION
But there is two sides to this coin.  The younger ministers and members have a huge problem with respecting the older ministers.  We are instructed in the Bible to respect our elders and to listen to them.  That doesn't mean they are always right.  But they have navigated things that we have not experienced yet.  Some of them have forgotten more than the younger guys ever knew.  As Christians, we should recognize the importance of the older generation.  Instead, many times it seems like the younger group wants to ship them off to the Church equivalent of a retirement home.

This does not just apply to the older ministers.  It also manifests itself in how the senior adults are treated at our churches.  I served as the senior adult minister at a church (part of my many duties).  It was a wonderful experience.  I loved those people.  In fact, I can honestly say, my interactions with the senior adults in the churches I have served at have been some of the best things I got to experience.  Those people have long successful marriages, careers, walks with Christ.  They should be a huge resource.  They can teach so much.  But they are usually pushed to some side building, given their own service, and resented for exerting so much influence.  They give more money than most ages groups, so they have to be listened to.  But the average pastor resents that.  Even more disturbing is that most church plants and start ups have virtually no senior adults in them.  They are all young families.  Is it any coincidence that so many of these churches struggle with finances, leadership issues, commitment, directions, and longevity?

6. THE COUNTRY CLUB MINDSET DOMINATES CHURCHES
Think about a country club.  It is a beautiful place with gorgeous facilities.  It benefits its members.  There are dues, membership handbooks, introductory classes, events for its members.  And outsiders have to earn their way in through becoming like the members and going through the entrance rules.  Sounds like a church - especially an SBC church.  There is a way of dressing, talking, acting.  There is membership.  There are dues (tithes).  There is a membership handbook (Class 101, photo directory).  There are lots of events for their members.  They have ornate and wonderful facilities.  And for you to crack into the church, you have to run into a member, get invited, get accepted, become like them.

Jesus always told His Disciples to GO.  It implied action.  Get off your duff.  Go where they are.  Meet them on their turf.  Meet their needs.  Rescue them.  The modern church makes it clear their primary message is COME.  Come and see, come receive, come and be assimilated.  We open our doors and tell them to come.  We send out postcards, put up billboards, offer draws, present the sales pitch.  Get them in the door.  It is no longer a rescue mission; it is a sales job.  It is like we are selling memberships at a time share or country club.  "Look at our amazing facilities.  Listen to the entertainment options.  Try our Wednesday night dinner.  See all the things your kids can do.  All you have to do is join, not rock the boat, and pay 10% of your income."  Think about what church members are told - invite your friends to church.  Bring them to this event.  The entire message of the Gospel has been subverted by the promotion of the country club.

The country club is also obsessed with money and numbers.  How much do you make?  How much is this worth?  How many people come?  What ranking are we?  You want a prestigious country club.  That is determined by how wealthy it is, how fancy its buildings are, how many people it has, who those people are, how well known it is.  That is the modern SBC church.  When you go to a conference, the first questions about your church are 1) how big is it, 2) what's your budget, and 3) what kind of facilities are there?  The fourth question is how many salvations you had last year.  It's all about numbers.

7. EVANGELISM HAS BEEN COMPARTMENTALIZED
Evangelism still exists, but it has been banished to Tuesday nights.  We just saw that our members no longer are told to GO.  They are told to bring people.  Then, our crack expert trained evangelism team will "follow up."  With the emergence of FAITH evangelism training, the average SBC church removed the responsibility for evangelism from the membership and placed it on the FAITH teams.  The SBC touted FAITH as a way to grow your church.  They held up FBC Daytona - the creator of FAITH - and their huge number of decisions.  There were FAITH training conferences for pastors.  Churches had to set up FAITH exactly the way that it was prescribed.  Plug it into your church and, viola, instant growth.  This program capitalized on problems 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and caused 8.

The problem was that most churches had some form of churchwide visitation.  Yes, there was evangelism training.  But visitation was the job of everyone.  Big groups would show up on Tuesday night or Sunday afternoon or Tuesday morning to visit guests, shut ins, prayer needs.  Once FAITH got implemented, most churches saw their visitation numbers plummet.  It was the FAITH team's problem now.  And, following the FAITH manual, unless you were FAITH trained you couldn't participate.  You had to follow the outline implicitly.  Even though the presentation was not very effective with college students or young adults, you had to follow it.  "Decisions" in most churches actually went down.  So did baptisms.  But the most damaging result is that the average church member stopped sharing their own personal experiences with God.  They would just invite people to church and hope someone else could "clinch the deal."

8. DISCIPLESHIP LOST OUT TO EVANGELISM
This led to a showdown between discipleship and evangelism.  I say it was a showdown, but it was hardly a fair fight.  Evangelism had a gatling gun and discipleship had to borrow a pea shooter.  Evangelism had all the money and support from higher ups.  In most state conventions, there was a huge evangelism department and two guys in the basement for the discipleship department.  Evangelism is quantifiable.  There are numbers to show.  You can hold up the number of people in your FAITH training, the number of salvations, the number of memberships, the number of baptisms.  Numbers look good.  They make you happy.  They get you noticed at the Convention.  Discipleship is slow and time consuming and has no numbers.

FAITH was an all-encompassing program.  Its tendrils wormed into every aspect of the church.  As a result, the goal was to get people in the doors, get them visited, get them saved, teach them to get more people in the door.  But they never were discipled in this program.  Their evangelism training was the only teaching they got.  Many new Christians never grew.  They never learned how to study the Bible or pray.  They got frustrated.  In addition, they never got rid of the sinful elements of their life.  They learned how to dress like a Christian, talk like one, act like one.  But the never learned how to live like Christ.  Divorces in Christian homes are just as common as in non-Christian homes.  Porn usage, premarital sex, unethical behavior, affairs, abuse.  All those things are rampant in Christian homes.  And elite FAITH team would lead the person to Christ.  They would assign him to a Sunday School class.  No one knew this person or had invested in his life.  So no one walked with him.

There is no easy gimmick for discipleship.  There isn't a how-to guide.  It is an investment of your life in the life of another.  It is walking with them and sharing and answering questions.  It is teaching how to study and how to pray.  It is sharpening that person.  But that is not easily taught or modeled.  The Senior Pastor is not going to do it - he is busy studying for his sermon or writing a book or being important.  Staff members are too busy to do it, what with all their responsibilities.  Church members never learn how to do and are never asked to do it.  So it doesn't happen.

9. MISSIONS HAS BEEN SENT OVERSEAS
SBC has always been known for its missions efforts.  There are thousands of SBC missionaries all over the world.  The International Mission Board and the North American Mission Board run short term mission trips, long term assignments, two year stints.  There are Bible translation efforts and reaching unreached people groups.  There is the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering that helps support missionaries.  Most SBC churches have a mission emphasis week.  They sent teams out a few times a year to help build churches or teach English or lead sports camps.  These are wonderful things with amazing results.  The SBC has always gotten this right.

Recently, though, it has become very apparent that the emphasis on foreign missions actually causes some problems.  It kind of assuages the guilt of GO and DO.  We can't go, so we send others.  We support them.  We pray for them.  Once a year we praise them.  We don't have to do that now.  Or, we'll go for a short time to help them and feel better.  But, like the argument about foreign adoption, it generates the question: Isn't there anyone here in the US that needs help?  Why do we always have to scamper off to Haiti or Nicaragua to do missions?  What about the homeless shelter down the street?  What about the pregnancy center or the drug rehab facility or the battered woman home?  Wouldn't they benefit from some of that money and effort?

It is always strange how a church can have a dozen people sign up to pay $2,000 to go work in Brazil for a week.  But if a church does a Saturday trip to mow a shut-ins lawn, they have the same three people show up.  It seems that when it comes to Acts 1:8, most churches do great with the "Ends of the Earth."  But they ignore the "Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria" parts.  We are supposed to start at home.  We should be ministering to those people in our community first.  That is part of the GO that we are missing.  It is feast or famine with most SBC places.  They either won't GO at all, or they will GO far away.  But they won't go down the street.  I have heard a big shot SBC pastor actually say that the reason that his church doesn't help with homeless ministry is that there are no homeless people in his city.  (Uh...)  The benevolence fund - something most SBC churches have to help local people with food and such - is woefully low on money.  The very same church that will drop $100,000 on a huge missions conference will only contribute $25,000 to the benevolence fund each year.  How are we supposed to show the people in our community that our church cares if we never are out there doing anything - or we're all occupied far away.  Many churches saw their members pull deep out of their wallets to help the tsunami victims or Haiti earthquake victims.  But they did nothing for the Nashville flooding victims or the local family on the street because dad got laid off from his job.

10. THE BIBLE HAS BEEN MARGINALIZED
This problem is a result of all of the others, and a cause of all the others.  It is actually the biggest problem, but it also is accelerated by the other problems.  The Bible just is not the cornerstone of the modern SBC church.  The senior pastor is the foundation.  Or all the programs and events is the base.  But the Bible is not.  I have been in church services where the name of Jesus is never mentioned.  I have been in numerous staff meetings where God is not brought up.  Entire sermon series or Sunday school series have been constructed without the Bible.

Pastors love to talk about success and service and family.  But they don't want to preach on holiness or being like Christ.  They love to have sermon series on "hot button topics" or "controversial issues" or "relevant themes."  The Bible becomes a supporting player.  I am NOT saying that the only way to preach is verse by verse through the Bible.  But the Bible needed to be liberally woven through whatever you preach.  There needs to be verses as supporting evidence.  Stories and videos and dramas are great.  Jokes can help people get drawn in.  Lord knows I use all of those things.  But the Bible is the only thing that is promised to last forever.  It is bringing the presence of God into the sermon.  The Bible tells us the Word of God won't return void.  That's a heck of a promise.  You want to see your sermons have power?  You want to see your youth group on fire for God?  You want to see people get saved and regenerated?  Use the Bible frequently and thoroughly.  Not just the fun stories, either.  And not just the deep theological battles.  It is a complete work.  Use all of it.

Every church activity doesn't have to be a Bible study.  I know there is a real benefit to just getting together and having fun.  But sermons, Bible studies, camps, rallies.  These things need to be full of biblical principles.  If you find it necessary on one Sunday to real drill into something relevant that turns into moral training, and you feel God led you there, then do what you're told.  But not week after week.  And don't just base the sermon series on someone else's book, using it as the main source.  That is like a baker going to Entemann's and buying a bunch of donuts to sell as his own.  Use that book and do a thorough study of the topic for yourself.  If you are the pastor, it is your job to feed your sheep and shepherd them.  That means to give them food - the Word of God.  There is no substitute.

Sure, there are other issues that the SBC is battling.  I think that there is a lack of respect for women, a reliance on entertainment and showmanship, a lack of pastors who see themselves as shepherds.  And, like I tried to preface things with, I think there is lots to love about the Southern Baptist Convention.  It is also easy to see this list and question, "Wouldn't this apply to every denomination?"  The answer would probably be yes, although I am not qualified to say that.  I think every Christian could make this list for themselves.  I know that in ministry and in my personal life I have been guilty of all of these things as well.  It is easy to attack the writer and get defensive.  I would pray instead that you look to see if this is true in your life and your church.  If so, how do you fix it?  The SBC has problems.  And, just like the problems didn't come overnight, the solutions won't implement overnight either.  I hope that it is willing to actually try.

But What If He Doesn't?

There is a common teaching we see on television and in the movies.  The good guys win.  The bad guys lose.  Even when things appear hopeless, the good guys always get a last minute reprieve.  There is a fortuitous truck to hit the bad guy.  A mystery check arrives just in time.  The villains make a fatal miscalculation due to arrogance.  Some past good deed causes someone to act valiantly in thanks.  Good things happen to good people.  Bad things happen to bad people.  Dragons are vanquished and the hero rides off into the sunset with the beautiful woman and all is right in the world.

There is also a line of teaching that goes on in most churches.  We are taught that we want to be in the center of God's will.  We want to be doing exactly what He wants us to do - rejecting our own selfish and petty desires to pursue what He has planned for us.  This is the safest place to be.  When you wander from God's will and path, then He has to discipline you.  After all, he disciplines those he loves.  So the church sets up this very clear delineation.  If you do what is right - if you tithe and serve and pray for the missionaries and stand up for God at work, you get rewarded.  You are safe and provided for.  If you do what is wrong - if you are stingy with God and don't pray or read your Bible and pick jobs just because of the money, then you get smacked around.

I think that it comes from trying to encourage the membership to allow God to lead them.  Many Christians make their life choices without any thought as to what God feels - or what He may desire for them and their lives.  So, the church tries to defeat that mindset by teaching how we should follow God and obey Him.  It may be scary.  It may be costly.  But God will always provide and reward us for our faithfulness.

This teaching crops up all over the place.  A church may tells its members that they need to tithe their 10% to the church.  That may hurt them financially, but God will reward them for their giving.  And, if they are struggling financially, it probably is because they are withholding money from God.  Another way we see this is when a church teaching stories like Gideon and Job - emphasizing how God delivers and restores when the people are faithful.  (Extreme versions of this are called Prosperity Doctrine or Name It and Claim It.)  It can be a very encouraging thought.  If we do what we should do, then God will reward us.  This could come through financial stability or promotions or good health or getting a spouse.  Faithfulness equals reward.  That's what is taught.  It may be at the last minute - like the orphans waiting for food when the delivery man comes to the door.  But it will happen.  We just need to close our eyes and jump, and God will be there with a safety net.  There is even the song "Saved the Day," where God is portrayed as a rescuing hero - swooping in at the last minute to rescue everyone.

But, what if He doesn't?

This is one of the toughest questions I have had to face in my Christian walk.  What about if God does NOT come and save the day?  What if He doesn't ride over the ridge to help fight off the army of orcs?  What if He doesn't come swooping in on some screeching creature of vengeance to destroy the evil conspirators?  What if we go broke, lose our job, get sick?  Does that mean He is any less God?  Does that automatically mean that we were doing something wrong?

That is one of the dangers of the lines of teaching mentioned earlier.  We begin to believe that if we are doing the right thing we should be insulated from problems.  And if there are problems, we must be doing something wrong.  And, worse still, we apply that guide when looking at other people.  If they are suffering they must be out of God's will.  This is where you get to the point that you can actually blame the people of New Orleans for the flooding of Katrina by saying, "They are a sinful city so God punished them."  [I hate to break it to you, we ALL live in sinful cities.  If that theory is right, we're all screwed.]

This teaching is NOT Biblical.  Look at the people God help up as examples in the Bible.  They were taken out behind the toolshed and beaten MMA style.  Are you going to tell me that the Apostles were in the wrong?  Their murders were the result of their sin?  Didn't we see this was disproved in the story of Job that this mindset was wrong?  Job's friends accused him of everything and he hadn't done anything.  Even Jesus argued with this belief when his Disciples asked who had sinned - the crippled man or his parents.  Jesus responded that neither had.

The fact of the matter is that God does NOT always come to the rescue and fix everything.  There are times when He wants His people to go through a situation that is less than pleasant.  It may be to grow them or teach them.  It may be to teach other people.  It may be that if they got what they wanted they would turn from God.  Whatever the reason, God chooses many times to not answer "Yes" to a plea for help.  And following God does NOT mean you are wearing an invisible shield.  In fact, following God may put you into more danger than not following Him.  My good friend, David Tarkington, preached a sermon last Sunday called "In the Center of God's Will Is the Safest Place to Be?"  He got into the fact that it isn't safe.  This is something I have always said too - it can be the most dangerous place in the world.

Look at the missionaries who have been killed over the years.  Look at the Christians in other countries who are mistreated for their faith.  What have they done wrong?  What about the people here in America who have been ridiculed and passed over for jobs and fired and worse?  Please tell me what they did wrong.  That is the inherent problem with the aforementioned lessons.  You cannot have it both ways.  If it is true that God is always going to reward for obedience, then a lack of reward implies disobedience.

There are tons of dangers to this teaching.  It is running rampant in some of the more destitute areas of the world.  Missionaries are going into poor regions teaching that following God brings reward.  The people there are so desperate for some relief from their struggles that they jump at this.  What happens when they don't see the promised benefits?  Another problem is that we then begin to view people with much as better than those with little.  Churches love it when a wealthy person begins attending their church.  They usually quickly scale into leadership positions (deacons, trustees, committee chairs).  This is done without as much regard to their spiritual state - or it their portfolio is enough proof.  Pastors of large churches are seen as more worthy than pastors of small churches.  They always get elected to national offices.  They get asked to preach at events.  And the pastor of the smaller church is seen as needing to move up - or as trapped there.  (This is despite the fact that many ministers at large churches are actually pretty horrible people to be around.)

New Christians are often sold a bill of goods when they are led to Christ, or brought into a church.  They hear that all their problems are over.  God is going to heal every wound, end every addiction, pay every bill, rescue every person.  However, that is not always true.  And when they realize that, they are disillusioned.  Or they feel they were lied to.  Sometimes they feel they must be doing something wrong. As a result, their walk with God begins with a handicap.  It is a dangerous and false teaching.  And it gives people an incorrect view of God.  They misunderstand His motives and His plan.

Yes, God can come through with a miraculous rescue.  He can provide.  He can bring money and jobs and healing.  He can remove enemies and open doors.  He can do truly amazing things.  But, just because He CAN, does not mean He HAS TO, and it does not mean He WILL.  And that doesn't mean that God is bad or we are doing anything wrong.  In fact, it may mean that we are precisely where we are supposed to be.  Which can be a pretty tough message to swallow.

Life Lessons From Lost

I recently explored my newfound respect for and understanding of the television series Lost.  For those of you who chose not to read that sterling piece of blogger awesomeness, I brought out the point that we just now are understanding what the Lost castaways are TRULY on the island for.  The central conflict has finally been revealed.  All of the battles to this point were merely to get the castaways to this final point.  They had to wade through layers of difficulties before they could fully understand their role.  They had to develop the skills, grow as people, remove distractions.  And now, with the finale upon us, they are at the place where they can do what they need to do - at least the ones left can.

Something hit me right after I wrote that post.  That is a lot like life - especially our walk as a Christian.  We get caught up in all nature of imbroglios, but they are not really what we should be expending all of our energy on.  It isn't really the point.  In fact, all too often, we get so focused on the minor skirmishes that we forget all about the main battle.

For example, I have been working very hard to change up my approach to food and health since January.  To date, I've lost 67 pounds, 12 inches off my waist, several shirt sizes.  I have jettisoned the foods that had me in an unhealthy grip.  I am basically a different person.  All of that is great.  BUT, I realized the other day that I have made THAT my main focus for the last four months.  It has been all about the weight loss and food efforts.  As a result, I have found myself losing control over my emotions, my temper, my thoughts.  I have been reading less.  I have been praying less.  I have been less attentive to my relationships with my kids and my wife.  The house is more tense and more stressful.  Why, exactly, would that be when things are finally going so well in an area of my life that I have always been defeated?  You would think that I would be getting better as a person now that I was free of those shackles.  That is what happened when I had to break previous addictions and habits.

The difference this time is that the food battle takes constant vigilance.  When I was working to get past my out-of-control interest in movies, all I really had to do was NOT go to the movies.  But with food, there is a constant stream of checkpoints.  "Can I have this food?  What can I have instead?  I'm hungry, what can I eat?  There is nothing here, what can I cobble together?  We are eating out - where can we go?"  Those thought begin to dominate.  And while I have been very successful in this phase of my life, I have started to hear my family say things like "you are mad all the time."

So, now I am making more of an effort to work on my relationship with Heather.  We are starting a study on communication within marriage - something that seems to be a major tripping up point for me.  Summer is about to start (cringe).  So I have to come up with things for me and the kids to do - so we don't replicate last summer's house imprisonment and subsequent depression.  There are all of these different little skirmishes that I am trying to get a handle on.  I don't want to keep dropping the ball in some areas while doing well in other.

However, like the castaways, I am still missing the point - even when doing all of that.  On the show, they were off fighting The Others, trying to undo time shifting changes, warring with the mercenaries on the freighter.  And they kept trying to get back home.  Those were all necessary battles and worthy investments of time.  But none of those were there true purpose for being on the Island.  That's me.  I am battling a bunch of things: my weight, my food choices, financial status, my thought life, my attitude, my temper, the way I speak to my wife and kids.  Those are all necessary and worthy efforts.  But they still aren't the main thing I should be addressing.

The fact of the matter is that the center of everything should be my relationship with Christ.  I should be focused the most on that.  Actually, it will help how I handle everything else.  But, being completely honest, my relationship with Christ is at one of the worst points it has been in a looooong time.  We finally got plugged into a church - which is helping.  But I am not teaching any more - in school or in church - which means I am not needing to prepare anything for that.  I'm not reading the Bible on my own very much.  I'm not reading other Christian books right now - even though I have some on my shelf.  It seems so hard to deal with all of that too, in addition to the other things.  But, if I don't, I'll keep struggling with the other things.

I had hoped that this time in Tallahassee would help me to grow spiritually - kind of a two year retreat.  And there are some great things that have happened in my personal growth.  I have never had the kind of victory I have now with food, diet, and health.  I have gotten closer to my kids.  I have had to learn discipline and patience.  But I also have felt myself lowering my goals for my life.  So much of my life is getting through the day - keeping the kids under control, making meals, doing chores - and then getting a chance to chill out at night.  I used to want to become the man that my wife respected the most in the world.  (Copyright, Jeff Williams, FBC TT, 1999)  Now I rarely think about that.  I wanted to be a great example for my kids of how a man should live.  Now I just don't want them to hate me when they grow up.  It is like Sawyer on Lost desperately wanting to leave for so long, and then switching his goal to having a nice dinner with Juliet.

It is not easy.  It drive me nuts when I read all these Twitter posts and Facebook status updates of people with these trite and simplistic platitudes about the Christian life.  You read them and it looks like you just pop up out of bed and whisper some secret mantra to yourself and then go on your merry way, never to mess up again.  I have never found that to be true.  I have been saved for 32 years, and it never has been as easy as tossing out a fortune cookie message.  It has been a constant war.  I don't know if that is just me.  Maybe it is.  Maybe I'm just too in love with the world and my desires.  From what I have noticed, I doubt that is the case, though.  It is a constant battle.  Just like a house constantly needs cleans and organized, a life needs constant upkeep.

I have already starting asking the kids what they want to do this summer.  I want to give them a project - something to aim towards.  At the end of the summer, I want them to be able to hold up the completed project and realize they actually did something worthwhile over the last ten weeks.  For Josiah, he and I are going to work on developing his own original superhero and comic book.  (He's very excited.)  I'm still coming up with one for Natalie - but it will either be to have her make dinner for all us one night, or to create a summer scrapbook. (She loves to take pictures and to do arts and crafts.)  Gabe gets to learn to sleep in his own bed.  (He doesn't know this yet.)  I think that my project is going to be to get my life onto the right track.  That is going to include walking, doing exercises, losing weight, doing a study with Heather, reading the Bible more.  But all of that is just part of the main goal to get back on track with God.  That's what I'm on the Island for.

Funk and Fish

I've been in a bit of a funk lately.  I'm not really sure what triggered it.  As with most times when this happens, it is a combination of a bunch of little things.  I think some of it is seasonal.  Most people have issues during the Fall and Winter.  I am the opposite.  I start to get down as we move through Spring into Summer.  I think there are several reasons for this.

First, I like the cooler weather.  I always have preferred it.  I hate hot weather.  I sweat a lot and just don't feel that great.  I know, I know.  Then I should move out of Florida.  I've gotten as close to leaving the state as possible without leaving it.  We are like thirty minutes south of Georgia.  But, its like a dog with an imaginary fence.  For some reason I just can't cross the border.  Second, there is a lot to look forward to in the cooler times of year.  There's Thanksgiving and Christmas and birthdays and New Year's.  There aren't as many of those cool things in the Spring/Summer.  Third, for some reason things are always much tighter financially for us from April to August.  I don't know why - it just happens that way.  It has for years.  That adds a lot of stress.

One of the biggest things is that we are getting really close to summer break.  Most kids were thrilled for summer.  I was, to an extent.  But I got bored very quickly.  And I was a big fat nerd, so I loved school.  School was where I excelled and was a big shot.  Summer just meant sitting around alone.  I rarely saw my friends during the summer.  So most of summer was spent sweating, sunburning, and getting my butt whipped at various sports by my brother.  Now, with kids, summer is rough.  Last summer was the first one I had as the primary caregiver.  It was not an easy time.  I got very depressed.  And I think the stress of that summer is part of what is making me anxious now.  I'm thinking about last year, and worrying about this year.  I know this one will be different.  I have a year's worth of experience under my belt.  Gabe is a lot more independent than he was.  We'll be living in Jacksonville for two months - so I won't be alone anywhere near as much.  But that fear still lurks.

One of the things that helps me in dealing with my various issues is writing about it.  That is why I have all these blogs.  I really think that one of the biggest helps in my efforts with food has been documenting stuff on the Darth Fatso blog.  I know this past summer I wrote more frequently on this site, trying to deal with the big life changes in our family.  I think that I will probably start writing more often again.  I have tried to limit my posts, so I don't become "that guy" - the one who constantly is updating his site and posting notifications on Facebook.  But, as my wife kindly reminded me the other day, people are free to not read everything I put up anyway.

That all being said, when I think about funk, naturally I think about fish.  You know, fish smell funky.  And they look . . . uh . . . funky.  And then there are those fake mounted fish that sing funky music.  Yeah, I was stretching pretty bad there.  I've been eating more fish lately.  I've been surprised at how much I like it.  I found out there is a fish market here in town last night.  I'm really excited to go there and check it out.  Very big change for me.  I've never been a fish fan.  I hate fishing.  That is about the most boring thing possible.  You stand there in the heat and just wait . . . for usually nothing.  (This is not genetic.  My mom's side of the family are all fishing people.  My grandfather made fishing poles and owned a fishing supply store.  I'm just weird.)  And I have always avoided fish as a general rule - with just occasional eating of tuna steaks.

So fish has been on my mind.  Which made it extra interesting that on Sunday at church, we were talking about fishing during the Bible study time.  We are trying (another) new church.  I can honestly say that finding a church up here has been one of the more frustrating things I've had to do.  This church is smaller, but so far we really like it.  So, in class we were discussing Matthew 4:19, when Jesus called some of His first disciples.  He said, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men."  The teacher made the point that many people seize the second half of that statement and forget the first.

You can see that happens.  The fish has always been a big symbol in Christianity.  Several of the Disciples were fishermen.  Jesus used fish frequently in his demonstrations - the huge catch of fish, the coin in the fish, the fish and loaves, eating fish after rising.  And He chose this characterization when calling the fishing Disciples.  So you can see how this has become a common symbol.  Many people believe the fish (ichthus) symbol was how early Christians recognized each other - drawing it in the dirt as a means of identification.  And the modern Church uses the fish in a similar way - with the fish on their cars.  It is very easy to grasp that image and run with it.

Our teacher was making the point that we grab that part and forget the whole "follow me" imperative - which actually is the more important phrase.  He asked the dangers of doing that.  The discussion that followed was really good.  If we focus on the last part of that verse, it is easy to be caught up in thinking WE are the ones in control.  We believe WE are responsible for finding the fish and catching them.  But we also start to feel that we are the primary reason for the success of the catch.  It must have been something that we said or did - some clever way of telling the Gospel.  This is a HUGE problem in the modern American church - something that ties in to my post about Christian celebrities.  We take credit for something that is not our doing.  We may begin to use our own methods and plans - trying to generate more fish.  Even though the goal may be noble, our approach is wrong.  We also may not be happy with our catch.  We want the big fish or rich fish.  We aren't happy with the Church equivalent of smelt.

We forget all about the fact that it is a dependent relationship.  Our following Christ leads to our calling and ability to fish.  It isn't about us.  It is about following Him.  And then He leads us to places where fishing can occur.  As I thought about this, I also began to realize that a lot of times we aren't even the one fishing.  We may be the lure.  We may be the hook.  We may be the rod.  God uses us in a bunch of different ways.  We are just a tool in his tackle box.  Our goal should be to see the Kingdom advanced - not ourselves.  We have to change our perspective, our priorities, our plans.  That is not a natural thing to do in our society.  Everything is about self promotion and advancement.  But there are definitely times when we should be content just to play a smal role in the grand design.  We never know how we are being used.  Recognizing that is  a good way to shake the funk, too.