Missing Persons

Do you ever stop and think about what would happen if people didn't step up and fill positions and ministries in our churches? There are missing people in the church today and those people are leaders. I can't help but wonder where are the people who are serious about Christ; serious enough to step up and teach, pray, and evangelize.

I believe leadership was very important to the apostles and the early church. I base this statement what I find in Acts 1:21-26. They wasted no time in finding a replacement for the fallen Judas. The truly convicting part of this passage is that Peter and the other Apostles didn't have to look high and low like pastors do today. They found two men very quickly who were qualified and willing. Just typing that statement leads me to another thought. Maybe the reason it is getting harder to find leaders is due to the reality that those who are qualified and willing are few and far in between.

I pray God will raise up leaders. We desperately need men and women who can lead, otherwise the church as we know it will die.

The Missing Ingredient

"Christians" continually amaze me. I had a conversation with a person not too many days ago about a holiness issue. This person claims to be a new convert. The issue being discussed was a matter of clothing; their clothing was inappropriate not only for church but for everyday Christian life. After confronting this individual they made it known to me that they would continue to dress this way.

You see most of us treat the Christian life like some sort of recipe; a pinch of morning devotions, a dash of prayer meeting and a tablespoon of Sunday School and we think every thing is covered. But oh how we overlook what is in the scriptures. In 1 Peter 1:16 the Word of God makes is abundantly clear that we are to be holy; "be ye holy for I am holy". This means separate or set apart. Yet many believers look and act just like the world. We pick and choose what we shall be devoted to in our walk with Christ; choosing those things which are easy or cost us very little and holding on to the desires of our flesh. I am in no position to get on my "high horse" on the issue for there are areas of my life that need improvement. However, I am purposing in my heart to be holy. I want to look like Jesus, not like the world.

Jumping High

In his book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, John Maxwell speaks on something he calls "the law of the lid". In the simplest of terms Maxwell compares a person's leadership ability to a flea that has been put in to a jar. Before you give up on reading this blog let me explain. When you put a flea in a jar and put the lid on it that flea will jump and jump; continuously hitting the lid above it. However, after a period of time you can take the lid of the jar and the flea will only jump as high as the place where the lid once was. You see there was limit placed on the flea that did not allow it to get any higher.

The application of this chapter, for the leader, is to set the bar or the lid very high so that those under his leadership can go higher. As a new pastor, filled with excitement, joy and uncertainty I want to set the set the lid high for those in my flock. I want my congregation to know and experience the joy and fulfillment that comes when we reach places that are higher than we ever imagined.

Old Like New

It is a new year and people all over the place are making resolutions that they probably will not keep. God has recently challenged me as a pastor to not look for something brand new to do or accomplish this year. The challenge from my Heavenly Father is to do the old like new.

You see many churches are looking for the new and exciting this year. However, what we fail to see sometimes is the lack of excitement and life in our churches and ministries is due the fact that we fail to accomplish God's calling on our lives with excellence. We don't do evangelism, missions, fellowship, worship and prayer like we are overly concerned on the contrary we do most of those things in a half-hearted manner.

Therefore, the burden of my heart for my personal life and my ministry is to do things with excellence. A popular proverb says, "there is no need to reinvent the wheel" and I agree. I just think if the church did the old things like new we would be much better off.