Lift... Your Leadership

Last weekend we spent Friday and Saturday with our youth leadership team. I honestly can't come up with a better investment of my time and energy as a youth pastor than that. We had a great time eating, talking, laughing, and playing some games together. Our leaders are growing in number and in their leadership ability. As the saying goes, "Everything rises and falls on leadership," because of that we poured into our leaders and had a wonderful time doing it.

We started Friday night with a personality test that every leader took. The DISC test was a lot fun because our leaders were able to get a better handle on their unique personality and how it meshes or clashes with others. We could have spent the whole weekend just doing that, but it was just a warm up for the rest of the weekend.

Next talked about the difference between servants and stewards. The inspiration for this teaching comes from Christine Caine of Hillsong Church in Australia. The main thought we wanted to communicate to our leaders was that we want them to grow, invest, develop, and lead the most precious commodity that I have to give them, students. We want them to see themselves as stewards of what they have been given. Our leaders are the key to growing our ministry. As of this weekend they are released to lead, further more, we've put them in a position to be successful and they need to do it!

Saturday morning came and the flapjack feed was on. We had four skillets and three varieties of pancakes to choose from; regular, blueberry, and chocolate chip. I must admit, I was having so much fun making them I forgot to eat one. It was a great start to our Saturday, something that I hope will become a leadership weekend tradition.

We finished our weekend by sharing expectations of the leadership of Live Youth Ministry. We again reinforced the idea that our leaders must give an account for what we are giving them. We are entrusting the lives of our students to them and they must invest, grow, and produce a harvest with them. I am fully confident in our leaders; this school year is going to be incredible.

Lift... Your Priorities

I love being a dad to Andrea and Hailey. I love being a husband to Stacey. I love being the youth pastor at Fairwood Church. I love the friendships I've made throughout my life. I love going to the gym. I love competing in sports like softball and Sunday afternoon football. I love being a fan of my hometown teams like the Mariners, Seahawks, and Huskies. I love the life the God has blessed me with. I love that I am a child of God.

There are many roles I play in life. I am a husband, dad, pastor, friend, brother, and son among others. I have many interests; sports, parenting, leadership, family, friends, among many others. When I really stop and think about it though, I am more convinced than ever before that the cause of Christ is the only cause worth giving my life for. When I say the cause of Christ I mean doing what Jesus told us to do just before he left earth. Do you remember what He said? "Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do everything I have told you." Matthew 28:19-20

There are lots of other great things to spend your time doing. Seriously, it's great to be well rounded and have lots of interests, but there is only thing worth giving your life for. Seeing God's Kingdom advance, building His church, reconciling people to their creator is unbelievably fun. It doesn't just stop at fun it also happens to be what Jesus said we're "POST" to be doing. God's plan for saving the world includes you! You were designed to be a major player in this game. You're to be one of the lead actors in this drama. What I'm saying is that it's time to lift... your priorities and get moving.

Read this story from 1 Kings 17. Elijah is on the move and is told by God to stay in a town called Zarephath:

As he arrived at the gates of the village, he saw a widow gathering sticks, and he asked her, “Would you please bring me a little water in a cup?” As she was going to get it, he called to her, “Bring me a bite of bread, too.”

But she said, “I swear by the Lord your God that I don’t have a single piece of bread in the house. And I have only a handful of flour left in the jar and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the jug. I was just gathering a few sticks to cook this last meal, and then my son and I will die.”

But Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid! Go ahead and do just what you’ve said, but make a little bread for me first. Then use what’s left to prepare a meal for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There will always be flour and olive oil left in your containers until the time when the Lord sends rain and the crops grow again!”

Not very tender hearted if you ask me. She said she was preparing her last meal and Elijah basically says, "Me first." This woman has been challenged in the area of her priorities. Is she going to provide for her son and herself or be obedient.

So she did as Elijah said, and she and Elijah and her son continued to eat for many days. There was always enough flour and olive oil left in the containers, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah.

Amazing story, but there are a few others in scripture that are similar in theme. Read the account found in Matthew 14 below. Jesus has just been informed that his cousin and good friend John the Baptist has been murdered.

When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

Jesus obviously deserves, wants, and desired some alone time. Yet His priority was to do exactly what God, His Dad, had placed Him on the earth to do. So He ministered. The story continues:

As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food."

Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."

"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered.

"Bring them here to me," he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

The disciples were looking at the situation and making some realistic assessments. One, it's late, we're tired and hungry and so are the people. Two, we're a long way from any fast food joints and it's gonna be tough to feed these people. This led them to the obvious conclusion that it's best to send them home and meet again tomorrow. The problem is that Jesus had other plans in mind.

He wanted His disciples to understand that His plan was to be their priority. He knew they were worn out, stressed out, maybe even burned out. However, it was when they obeyed and served despite their feelings that the miracle occurred.

Miracles happen when we make God plans our priority. Remember, you probably have many interests in your life. You probably have many roles that you play. No matter what your interests and your role the most important role you play is as a child of God. The most important job you and I have is to be about our Father's business.

One more scripture for you. Proverbs 11:25 says, "The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed."

Stacey and I strive to live our lives that way. It's way more fun. I want our youth ministry to do the same. Let's make God's plan our priority.

Lift... Your Perspective

In March, I will celebrate seven years of being on staff at Fairwood, six and half of those years as the lead youth pastor. I look at back at where we were when I started on staff, a youth ministry that was confused and wandering from idea to idea; and I am proud of where we are now. Over the past several years we’ve brought stability to the students and parents. We’ve become a reliable, safe, and in my opinion we’ve become an above average youth ministry.

The truth is I’m just not satisfied with that any longer. I long for something better, I know we are capable of it; what’s more, I know God is calling on us to take the next step. Due to recent events; Pastor Brian arriving and leading our church forward, our latest youth camp, various conferences I’ve attended over the past two years, books I’ve been asked to read, and relationships I’ve formed with youth pastors in the area I’ve come to a few conclusions. I’ve started getting honest with myself. I’ve been asking, “What are the major factors that are preventing us from stepping up and moving to the next level of ministry that God has for us?”

Lots of answers come to mind, but they all seem surface and shallow. The answer that I land on every time is one that is scary to confront. I'm finding that I am what holds us back. I don’t mean that in a self-demeaning way, I'm simply saying that as the youth leader grows so grows the ministry. I must continue to grow and get better as our leader if we have any chance at all of success.

Here’s what I’m really getting at. I am doing too much right now and it’s time to face facts and give away my job. I’ve known this for years, probably ever since I started. I can remember a conversation I had with one of volunteers back in our second year of ministry. I told him, “My job is to work myself out of job.” Head knowledge is so much different than actual applied knowledge. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what this all means, why is it that I haven’t been able to give certain parts of my job away? Why am I walking out of the worship portion of our Wednesday service to print out guest cards? What the heck is wrong with me?! We are reading a book as a staff called, “Ten Stupid Things That Keep Churches From Growing,” as I scanned the table of contents I realized I am guilty of many if not all on the list. According to Geoff Surratt, the author of the book, the number one stupid thing that keeps churches from growing is when the pastor tries to do it all.

Ephesians 4:11-12 gives a pretty clear job description for pastors. "Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ." (NLT)

I am beginning to understand my job and now it's time to do it. No more solo act for me! It's time to empower the leaders around me to lead this ministry forward. We have been called to a new place, a new level in ministry. It's time we go there. Wanna come?