The Church of God in Texas

The book of Isaiah is one of the more emotive and passionate books in the Bible. In it, we find vivid descriptions of heavenly creatures (ch. 6), scathing attacks upon the ungodliness of a generation (ch. 1), and insightful assessments of the spiritual condition of the nation (ch. 29). We also discover profound moments of hope: as in the promised advent of the one named Immanuel (ch. 7), the hope of a righteous kingdom restored (ch. 32), and the tender protrait of God's concern for his people (ch. 40).

My favorite section of the book, however, is the last chapter, and more specifically, the last few verses. By way of context, Isaiah had served faithfully for over 50 years. He came to his position at the height of Judean prosperity and he ended his ministry as the prophet of a broken nation. Even so, when things couldn't appear bleaker, God speaks through Isaiah to this downcast and downtrodden nation reminding them that the nation would rise again. Moreover, some of those who survived the devastation would be sent on mission from Judah to the nations of the world to "proclaim my glory among the nations" (66:18). He tells them their name and descendants will endure (66:22). Nothing could hinder the perfect plan of God.

One lesson I take from this is that in the midst of a crisis of unfathomable proportions, God isn't content to just provide comfort, but he also wants to restore vision. (Consider verses 66:19-22 as a vision statement). Why? How is the vision of a preferred future so powerful? I think vision is powerful in this way: hope comes as we believe a better thing awaits us; vision is the picture of this better thing.

So, pastor (leader), if your church is facing its own dark day, the God-given vision (picture) of a better future can help sustain your ministry. This God-drawn picture of a better future can also propel your people to renewed service. Maybe this is the message from Isaiah: we are suffering today, but tomorrow God will do better things. The nation of Judah needed the prophet Isaiah like one needs a cool drink of water in a parched desert. Your church needs you today--more than ever! So speak, pastor, speak.

I realize this edition of The Pursuit is tardy, but I was not playing hooky (and I have a note from my dog to prove it!). Actually, I was traveling yesterday after speaking to a group of ministry students at MACU. I’m always reminded of the long view of kingdom activities when I visit with college students. Let me explain.

In many ways, college students preparing for ministry are like seeds sprouting in the springtime. They’re not quite ready for harvest and still need watering, fertilizing, and even a bit of weed pulling. But, the plant has grown enough that you can see the promise of fruit. After my visit yesterday, I realize we as a movement, and in particular the TGA, needs to make a greater, and more personalized investment in our garden. These plants are too important to simply let the gardener do all the work. We need our hands in this soil, too.

So what does this mean? I want to challenge us to consider three ideas:

1. Would 3-4 of you be willing to sponsor a student from one of our Christian colleges to do an internship in an overseas location? Or take a student with you on your summer mission experience? Our investment in these students seeing and touching the world will provide INVALUABLE fertilizing for growth.
2. Would you be interested in hosting a summer intern in your congregation? The costs are not significant but again, the rewards for everyone are high.
3. Provide Camp Powers with a summer intern to work in and around the summer camping program. I think could be another great way to get students involved in ministry.

If any of these ideas appeal to you, then please get in touch with me. If you have funds to invest, but don’t really need an intern, then give me a call. We need to invest in the next generation of leaders. Will you help?

For some reason, I decided to find a few new blogs to squeeze into my already overloaded mental circuitry. I typed some entry into Google that I believed would fulfill my request for church blogs. I won’t bore you with all the results, but let me highlight one discovery. This pastor’s name is Perry Noble from New Spring Church, South Carolina. I describe his location in this way (South Carolina) because the guy has 5 campuses literally all over South Carolina. Anyway, one of his recent blog contains a list he calls the “goals of a leader.” I’m not sure the word “goal” is the best word, but let’s not quibble over semantical nuances (although I really enjoy these kinds of conversations). Instead, take a look at a sampler of his thoughts (from his entire list of 18):

• The goal of a leader isn’t to keep people happy but to keep people moving, which often times makes them not happy!
• The goal of a leader isn’t to get something out of people but rather to invest in them!
• The goal of a leader isn’t to DO all of the work, but to DELEGATE the work to the right people who can do it better than them anyway.
• The goal of a leader isn’t to merely identify problems but rather to initiate the solution to the problems.
• The goal of a leader isn’t to declare what he is against but rather define what he is for.

I could—and would—love to journey through each of these with you, providing some witty (or not so witty) commentary, but as you can see from the above, this is really NOT necessary. The list should be fairly self-evident. Here’s what I do recommend: read them. Take a few minutes and go to perrynoble.com* and look them over. I was impressed enough with the list to make a document to share with church leaders in my consultation and coaching work. As you know, not everything we read on the internet or in a blog these days is gold, but I think this one has a pretty good shine to it. I’ll let you decide if it's gold, though.

*No marketing or advertising fee has been paid to promote this website—darn!

I’ve been thinking a lot about the unhindered church. As you know, “Unhindered” is the ministry theme for 2012. Part of my goal with this theme is designed to drive home the need to have bold churches (and pastors) that proclaim the gospel and see the church grow. The situation in the Texas CHOG is such that we desperately need a few breakout churches.

What is a “breakout” church? Thom Rainer defines it this way:

1. The church has had at least 26 conversions annually since its breakout year. Any healthy church should be reaching at least one person with the gospel every 2 weeks.
2. The church averaged a conversion ratio no higher than 20:1 at least 1 year since its breakout year, meaning it takes 20 members one year to reach 1 person.
3. The church had been declining, plateaued, or had stagnated for several years prior to breakout.
4. The church broke out of its slump and sustained new growth for several years.
5. There was no change in leader – only change in leadership values.
6. The church made a clear and positive impact on the community.

Here’s what I believe with all of my heart: some of you WILL be a breakout church, IF you will seek to become a different kind of leader. Pastors, there will be no change in your church until YOU change.

If you want to become a breakout church, then we have 2 key resources available for you. One is the RED ZONE. This is where we (the State) work with 2-4 churches in a cluster to help you get your church to victory. We use an outside coach, most of which is paid for by the TGA. We have clusters potentially forming in both northeast Texas and in the Houston area (clusters form by request of a pastor/s). Others are available in your area by request as well. Two, you can choose to become a reNew church. This approach is where your pastor and congregation receives directive coaching to help move your congregation to numerical growth. (Note: some have heard incorrect information about reNew, so if you are at all interested please call me today to get the real scoop).

The work of the church is precious, but we also live in changing and precarious times. Don’t delay, find a partner to help you navigate these uncertain times. But, hey, it’s just a thought…

As I think about the idea of an “unhindered” church or an “unhindered” person, I realize the shaping of our minds is paramount to the shaping of our behaviors. After all, we tend to do what we think! Hirsch and Ford make a compelling point with respect to this idea.

One of the most basic assumptions Christians should hold, say Hirsch* and Ford, is that God is already on mission in the world. Therefore, it’s not so much that we take the mission to the world, but that we join God on the mission he is already performing in the world. Do you see how this is different? For one, it takes some of the pressure off of us; we are simply doing what Jesus is already doing—and doing it with him. Secondly, it means accepting that God has already been active in a person’s life for a long time. Our approach, then, is not so much about introducing new stuff into their consciousness, but is calling forth the already-lived experiences of faith in their life (whether they realize or accept these experiences as spiritual) and helping them to see the ways in which God was there all the time.

I don’t know about you but this approach feels freeing. It feels more like I’m a friend talking about life than a salesman peddling Jesus. There is a WARNING: all of this presumes we are engaging the people around us—and you know what they say about assumptions.

(*from "Right Here, Right Now: Everyday Mission for Everyday People")

The ministry theme for 2012 is “Unhindered.” The goal of this theme is to reinforce the core value of Jesus: to seek and to save the lost. As a church, we often proclaim this value, but do we really perform this value? Consider the following as an introduction to the 2012 ministry theme.

I’ve always been impressed with how the book of Acts ends. The last Greek word in the text is “akoloutos,” which is the English word translated as “unhindered.” This word, however, is an adverb. As you know from English class, an adverb describes the kind of action the verb is taking. For example, if you say that Tim West is dancing, you would use the adverb my 14-year old daughter uses: disgusting!

The adverb in Acts 28:31 describes the action of a word used earlier in the verse as “teach.” Paul’s teaching, even in a prison cell somewhere in the Roman world, was “unhindered.” If you look even more closely, you see it was also described as bold.

We live in changing times to be sure. The need for a boldly and unhindered proclamation of Jesus remains unchanged. After all, we live in a culture that needs Jesus as much as ever. We know the power of sin to bind people today is still as real as it was in the first century.

Our vision in Texas is the church of God working in a bold, active, and unhindered way to transform the world. Let’s not make excuses since Paul didn’t. Let’s get our adverbs really kicking and let’s go do the job. Fortunately for me, dancing is not a requirement.

A new word has entered the American vocabulary this year. It’s called “tebowing.” So, what is tebowing? It’s a verb meaning to get down on a knee and start praying, even if everyone else around you is doing something completely different. This act was started by an outstanding college football quarterback player turned unlikely pro starter named—you got it—Tim Tebow. He also just also happens to be a solid evangelical Christian with missionary parents.

Context: Tebowing, however, has become both popular and mocked. Tim Tebow (a.k.a Rocky) plays for the Denver Broncos and has become their unusual and exciting new quarterback. He was a Heisman winning player in college, but many pundits had essentially written him off as a pro player. When given a chance to start this year, he turned around a dismal Broncos team to bring them now to playoff glory. Last night in overtime—as usual—he threw an 80-yard TD pass to upset the Pittsburgh Steelers. I’ve never been much of a Denver Broncos fan, but now I’m watching.

Conflict: But back to tebowing (you can google the official website)… Tebowing is Tim Tebow’s way of sharing a witness for Christ, since to him, believers do all things to the glory of God. So, when something good happens on the field he takes a knee to honor God. This has led some in to mock him. It has led others to copy him. I read where some kids in New York did a tebow in the school hallway and were suspended (just like New York). Even the liberal Huffington Post is reporting on it: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/08/tim-tebow-cbs-crew-tebowing-broncos-steelers_n_1192995.html.

Courage: Tim Tebow’s story (and there’s so much more to it) is inspiring courage in people to take a stand for their conviction. Despite the heat and persecution he takes for this one simple act in giving glory to God, he continues. The irony is that NFL players (and now college and even high school players) perform routine antics to the most basic of plays they perform well. All of these antics say “look at me, look at me!” It’s a shame that when one person performs something outstanding they get ridiculed for quietly taking a knee to honor God. Something REALLY IS wrong with our culture! What will you tebow over today? Anyway, it’s just a thought.

Today marks the first day of a new ministry year. I pray it will be a year of victory for you and your ministry. I pray it will be an “unhindered” year of growth. If you have not already done so, you are probably thinking about the things in your church that need to be done. Of course, there are people to reach, money to raise, buildings/equipment to be repaired or purchased, goals to be set, and the list goes on.

For today’s eNews, would you consider thinking about your method of dispensing the gospel message in 2012. To do so, please think about these words from St. Anselm, Benedictine monk and Archbishop of Canterbury (11^th century): He writes:

“As the right order demands that we should first believe the deep things of the Christian faith before we venture to discuss them by reasoning, so it appears to me to be negligence, if, after we are confirmed in faith, we should not endeavour to understand what we believe.’ (Cur Deus Homo, lib. i. c. 2.)

He makes two key points. First, unless you believe, you will not understand. As odd as it may appear to the 20^th century rationalistic mind, sometimes people believe before they understand. In some ways, we might say that when it comes to faith, people usually do believe before they understand. Second, pastors and Christian educators err when they fail to take belief and “confirm” it with sound teaching. One of the great lessons from the faith of our Old Testament fathers was the cultural insistence upon the memorization of the Torah and its application to life (see Proverbs 2:2). Cindy and I were talking just the other day about the systematic and thorough way the churches of our youth taught us the scriptures. Are we giving our youth the same thing? Are we giving our new believers the same things? Do our elders know the scriptures?

Maybe one commitment for 2012 would be a basic one: teach our people the faith. Or, dare I say, provide confirmation of their faith in God and His Word. Hey, it’s just a thought!