More of Less Activity: In Favor of Spiritual Disciplines

Silence. Solitude. Meditation. Fasting. Simplicity.
These are as strange and alien concepts to the life of Christians in the West as a business man in a tree. At best such practices are odd, optional or only for super-Christians. Or worse, they could be construed as punitive.


However our historic Christian faith grew in grace and power as everyday believers and leaders practiced spiritual disciplines. 


On purpose. With astonishing results.


Return to Spiritual Disciplines
When I started in ministry as a 23-year-old Jr Hi Pastor just off the road with a Christian band, voice mail and pagers were cutting edge. We communicated only via phone and paper. Now we have social media, cell phones and the internet that invades every spare corner of our lives.  


My pastoral bosses encouraged me to read Foster's Celebration of Discipline and made me go on monthly prayer retreats. I did not like it at first. Now I am so glad someone showed me how and why spiritual disciplines are vital for ministry. It was not easy for me to do.


It showed me ministry is impossible to do. For me. I need Jesus to do it. In fact, Jesus said in  John 14:12-14 that we would do greater works than He did. By asking Him to do what He can do through us.


Disciplines are inconvenient, frustrating and seem counter-productive. But we managed to get ministry accomplished before cell phones, iPads and wi-fi. Apparently, even Jesus and the church ministered pretty well focusing on prayer, discipleship and a simple life.


It leads to this leading question: what kind of boundaries (if any) do you have now between the urgency of everything on your phone or tablet or laptop and your relationship with Christ? I fear our little space for Jesus makes us a mile wide and an inch deep. I'll even say it may make us hypocrites on par with Pharisees.


Will you be one who says, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or naked or a stranger' because we were too busy virtually connecting with people? (Matthew 25).


Expect More from Parents and Pastors
A pastor friend of mine just posted the following:

(Name) is going off the grid for a week for a silent retreat. Yup. No cell, not FB, no Angry Birds, no TV to numb or distract me. No agenda, not planning, no strategizing- just a whole week to meet with Jesus. I'll either go completely crazy or meet Jesus. We'll see.

I applaud his decision! And I say MORE of LESS!


More of less should be normal. Not considered newsworthy or radical or neat if you can spare the time. 


Don't you want to meet Jesus, no matter what it takes? 


What We Need
Our churches in Atlanta and in the West need more power of the Holy Spirit. More prayer and intercession. More trust in God than trust in skill and effort. What we need more grace-filled discipline.


When I parachuted in to do a scratch multi-ethnic church plant, there were a million things to do, but I taped a quote from Eugene Peterson to my computer monitor. 


It says, 'Busyness is laziness.' Busyness is substituting the good things for the highest, most excellent things. Meeting with Jesus ought to be our most excellent task. 


Do I get too busy? Yes. Am I not getting enough done? You'd have to ask the leaders of my church and our church planting network.


I do not hold myself up as an example. I hold up Jesus as FAR MORE WORTHY of our time and pursuit than anything else - including ministry, comfort and child-raising.


Pastors, fathers, mothers, your church and your family need you to turn off the 24/7 distractions and meet with Jesus - regularly, purposefully, intentionally. Replace the good things with excellent. Quiet, solitude, simplicity, fasting will deepen your experience of Jesus' grace.


This is not earning your salvation. This is experiencing the transformation Jesus' wrought by His salvation.


It's hard at first. But it's the best thing you can do with your time.

How The Help Helped Us Become (More) Bi-Cultural

On vacation in July, my wife and daughters all read The Help. and I'm man enough to say I read it too. Though all the main characters are women, it isn't 'just a chick book' but it's a rather a stimulating book about our recent past prior to and during the civil rights movement. Another pastor I respect wrote a great review I don't need to repeat.

I wanted to comment on the tag line for the movie. It's change begins with a whisper. But I think the result of 8 or 10 women in our English-speaking congregation reading and discussing The Help for their book club has revealed and spurred on some change. And it shows how we are making progress in our mission to be a justice-seeking, reconciling, bi-cultural, multi-ethnic church.


The Setting of Our Change
Sunday July 31, we got back from vacation to witness an historic Sunday for Crosspoint Encuentro Church. Our Pastor to Hispanics for the last few years, Hector Guzman, an immigrant from Mexico City, preached in Spanish to our English-speaking congregation for the first time. (He was translated by a 2nd generation Puerto Rican man in our church). He spoke as one who knows us well and who loves us crazy Americans but had some good corrections and some needed insight into our vision to be unified - one church two congregations. He was right on and we needed to hear from him!


The Background of Our Change
When we started 8 years ago, the vision was always for a multi-ethnic church. But, as you may know, I'm a white guy from Tennessee. I really had nothing in my family (except some racially-mixed adopted cousins but that is a whole other story) or in our staff to show visibly our desire to be not 'just another white church.' So we just kept holding the door open, telling all the people who visited (most of whom were white) that it's our vision and aspiration to be a church of many nations, races and languages.


So miraculously, three years into the church plant, God brought some bi-lingual people - the Mateos, Santiagos, Rodriguezes - and through them, six years in, the Lord sent us the Guzmans to start a second Spanish-speaking congregation.


The Problem with Change
It is a challenge to start being a bi-cultural church after its always been a mono-cultural church! We had been somewhat multi-cultural and multi-racial in our first six years but adding a second language requires a significant amount of  work and sacrifice so that we can truly be ONE church, instead of two churches that like each other.


Over the years we have held combined worship services. I spent three weeks at language school improving my Spanish. I attend all the Encuentro worship services I possibly can. In our English worship services, we sing one song a week with Spanish. Some of our people are making friends slowly during our education hour when both congregations are in the building together. We send a van around to pick up families. But it seems like we have a long way to go to be unified like a family in Christ.


The Help is Helping Us Change 
We are beyond whispering now! When these ladies read and discussed this book, I was told it led to some deep and perhaps surprising discussion! When Lisa Payne spoke to me after hearing Hector preach, I was shocked at what they had discussed the night before at their The Help discussion.


She said it made them ask, 'Do we do this same sort of thing today? Are we prejudicial in our treatment of Hispanics? What is it like to raise children in a sub-dominant culture?' Wow. Wow!


Only the gospel could have prepared all these English-speaking women (who are quite diverse themselves) to look at themselves and ask such an honest and hard questions!


And only pressing into the Gospel and Scripture and each others' lives will lead us to further answers about the issues. I am deeply excited about how The Help discussion is helping us make progress!


We Aren't All Better Now - But We are Changing at Different Speeds
And now more people are investing themselves in the questions, the issues and the struggle to be united as a diverse church. As your pastor, it's so encouraging to see!

1. One Saturday after their The Help discussion, the ladies book club re-assembled to invite Hector and Cecy and me discuss issues immigrants face living under a dominant culture. The answers were not neat or easy. It makes us uncomfortable. But it was good. (more in future posts).
2. Pastor Jose Mateo (who is a 2nd generation Puerto Rican) just joined our pastoral staff as a volunteer to develop Outreach and Discipleship in our two congregations. Though he thinks and speaks English mostly, he can bridge both cultures in a way that neither Hector nor I can.
3. Sunday 4 people who's primary language is Spanish will lead 18 English-speakers in beginning to learn or improve their Spanish. Our hope is this will develop an appreciation for each other's lives, cultures, families, worship songs and maybe deeper friendships as we learn to obey the Lord together.
4. Next month, in our bi-monthly combined worship service, Hector will preach instead of me.
5. I posted a resolution some of us have made about welcoming immigrants into our church. Its posted here on this blog.

I wonder what else God will do with and through Crosspoint Encuentro as we continue following Him together?

A Resolution about Welcoming Immigrants into Our Church

Over the last few years as we have sought to become a truly bi-lingual and mulit-cultural church, it has come to our attention that there are few churches, in our denomination anyway, who have any official written statements that welcome Hispanics (yes, even people without documents) into their churches. There is a fertile and strategic mission field right here in our city!


I know we are stepping into a hornets nest, but since we have many immigrants in our church membership and we want to reach more, we realized we need to start thinking and writing about this issue from a pastoral perspective. The recent Georgia law House Bill 87 (HB87) and the heated argument about immigration and deportation has only sped up the process for us. 


Scripture has much to say about immigrants, sojourners or aliens. So this resolution starts with a 16-point summary of what the Bible says about immigrants. The nine resolutions are our attempt to address some key issues first in our church, Crosspoint Encuentro Church.


I would be interested in talking with others who have or want a similar statement about welcoming immigrants into their churches.
_______________________

May 25, 2011

A Resolution from Concerned Pastors and Elders of Crosspoint Encuentro Church

Regarding Welcoming Immigrants into our Church

Whereas 

1. God is the Sovereign King over all the earth and all governmental authority is subject to His authority and rule,God, after the Fall, subjected Adam and Eve to an immigrant status upon removal from Eden, (Genesis 3:23) and,
2. God sent Abram to be an immigrant with his family (Gen. 12:2) sojourning in a strange land, then made His covenant with Abraham while he was an alien (Genesis 17:9),
3.  the children of Israel, through God’s divine providence, were immigrants in Egypt for generations (Gen. 50:22-26), were led out of Egypt by Moses, an immigrant (Ex. 2:22) and celebrated the first Passover in Egypt with converted strangers and sojourners (Ex. 12:43ff) who were led out of Egypt with Israel.
4.  God audibly and repeatedly commanded His people to give aliens/sojourners with them Sabbath rest (Ex. 20:10; 23:9, 12), identified them as former aliens and commanded His people to not mistreat or oppress sojourners/aliens among them (Ex. 23:9),
5.  God commanded His people to maintain the same regulations for non-native born people as native-born (Num. 9:14 and Num. 15) and required equanimity in temple worship (Lev. 17 and 19),
6.  God charged the courts of His people to judge righteously between fellow countrymen and aliens living among them (Deut. 1:16) and promises to defend aliens along with the fatherless and widow because He loves the alien and provides for them through the generosity of His people both directly and through the tithes of His people (Deut. 10:18, 24:14-21, 26:12-13),
7.  God curses the man who withholds justice from the sojourner, as well as the fatherless and widow (Deut. 27:19),
8.  Christ Jesus immigrated to earth from heaven,
9.  in His humanity Christ was an immigrant, persecuted by his fellow countrymen,
10.  we were all alienated from God and strangers to the covenants of promise without hope except through God’s grace by faith alone (Eph. 2:12)
11.  through Christ’s sacrifice in our place, He became our peace, made all believers one, broke down the dividing wall of hostility, created in Himself one new man, and by His reconciling work on the cross will make all things new in heaven and on earth by His blood (Eph 2: 14ff, Col. 1:20-22)
12.  his people are and will be from every nation, tribe, tongue and people united in Him, heirs and sons – neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female (Gal. 3:26-29),
13.  all of God’s people are citizens of heaven first and citizens of a nation on earth second (Phil. 3:20)
14.  there is no human governmental authority outside of God’s sovereign will and all government is established by God (Rom. 13:1-7) but does not supersede the government of God,
15.  legal status is not a requirement for salvation or church membership,
16. ministers and elders of God’s church have a moral duty to speak against injustice.

We Resolve…

1.      We resolve to pray for immigrants and their families out of concern for their souls and well-being. We will pray as well for our US governing authorities – local, state & federal – who are responsible to God for their personal, legislative, executive (including enforcement) and judicial decisions in regard to justice and mercy for all people.  We will urge people to pray for the US electorate to consider immigration issues according to God’s Word so that His Word is exalted and obeyed as US immigration policy is debated and decided.  And equally important, we will pray for other nations’ governing authorities who will also one day answer to God.        

2.      We resolve to welcome all immigrants into our church for relief, assistance, development and the hearing of the gospel.

3.      We resolve to accept anyone who meets the requirements of faith in Christ alone by faith alone, they shall be welcomed into full membership in our church, regardless of legal status before the US government or any state in the Union.

4.      We resolve to disciple and train immigrants to ‘glorify God and enjoy Him forever’ and treat them with dignity as image bearers of God.

5.      We resolve to prepare all church members and attenders, whether immigrants with status or without, or citizens of the US, to live as missionaries wherever God may, in His divine providence, send them to live, work and worship Him.

6.      We resolve to protect and teach all children, regardless of status or citizenship, to love God, receive Christ by faith and follow the doctrines of our holy religion.

7.      We resolve to work for the protection of the weak, oppressed and alien during legal proceedings and to urge our political representatives to develop a just and equitable means for immigrants whose status has expired to be reconciled and/or acquire legal status according to the laws of the USA.

8.      We resolve to educate English-speakers in our church about the issues, challenges, problems and struggles for immigrants and to educate Spanish-speaking congregants about their rights and duties as a sojourner in the USA.

9.      We resolve to prepare any immigrants under our care who are not currently under proper status to comply with the laws of the US and if they are unable to rectify their status, prepare them for the potential return to their home nation and accept these consequences peaceably and with grace.

Under the Grace of God and to His Glory Among All Nations,

Jim Moon, Jr. – Pastor, Crosspoint Encuentro Church Smyrna GA

Hector Guzman – Pastor, Crosspoint  Encuentro Church Smyrna GA

Jim Payne – Pastor, Crosspoint Encuentro Church Smyrna GA

Gordon Hwang – Elder, Crosspoint Encuentro Church Smyrna GA

The L O S T Trend in Outreach

Who's on an island with a Shepherd, a bunch of Others and wants to be rescued? Wrecked, hard luck passengers from Oceanic flight 815? No.


Apparently much of the church in the US is wrecked on an island.


Outreach appears to be fading along with theological literacy. So in this second of six discussions of Barna's Megatrends in the US Church, I want to show you how the vision and mission of Crosspoint and Encuentro engages this problem and suggest ways to grow a healthy church that fight the trends.   


Outreach isn't a program, its the fruit of a healthy gospel-centered church. As a student and Jr Hi pastor in the 70s, 80s and 90s, it seems to me, the American church emphasized skill development, programs and motivational speeches to get the faithful to reach out to its primarily homogeneous neighborhood. 


Skills are important but its sort of like training with a knife when you're going into a sword fight. The outcome is a church in the 21st century withdrawing rather than advancing.

Barna notes: Despite technological advances that make communications instant and far-reaching, Christians are becoming more spiritually isolated from non-Christians than was true a decade ago. Examples of this tendency include the fact that 

• less than one-third of born again Christians planned to invite anyone to join them at a church event during the Easter season; 

• teenagers are less inclined to discuss Christianity with their friends than was true in the past; 

• most of the people who become Christians these days do so in response to a personal crisis or the fear of death (particularly among older Americans); 

• and most Americans are unimpressed with the contributions Christians and churches have made to society over the past few years. 

As young adults have children, the prospect of them seeking a Christian church is diminishing--especially given the absence of faith talk in their conversations with the people they most trust. With atheists becoming more strategic in championing their godless worldview, as well as the increased religious plurality driven by education and immigration, the increasing reticence of Christians to engage in faith-oriented conversations assumes heightened significance.

It is challenging to reach out so are church attenders giving up? Changes challenge 70s-90s modern outreach strategies:

• Our neighborhoods are more diverse socially, racially, economically and spiritually here in the greater Smyrna area. Myriad options get plenty of screen time.
• The gospel contains Bad News few want to admit. Even fewer want to hear it even from a kind and concerned person. The potential for a social snub is way higher now. 
• Societal norms demand privatization of religion and tolerance of all viewpoints. No matter how contradictory or down-right stupid. 
• Attractional mega-churches, Mass, TV preachers and my Grandma's old church color most people's presuppositions about what people think they are being invited to.
• The internet removes all mystery and makes everyone a psuedo-expert on religious matters. So why actually go to a church? "I can download whatever I need if/when I need it."
• Professional Christians on the internet inundate theologically weak Christians with piles of resources. The regular guys don't have to learn anything because they can (wrongly) assume their friends will find faith in Jesus via a Google search. 

It appears no one really 'needs' to do awkward personal outreach anymore, right?

People's exposure to church in most cases isn't good news. But can a living faith in God be transferred without personal real-life interaction? A living faith in Christ can not happen outside connection to the real-life body of Christ. Anything other else in my opinion, is manipulation based on legalism, moralism, therapy or a circus atmosphere. 

So do we Christians throw up our hands and all escape to comfy mega-churches? No. 


Crosspoint/Encuentro and other church plants are lean, not-so-mean humility machines. Okay, so machine isn't the right word, but 'family of humbled sinners saved by grace alone by faith alone in Christ alone' doesn't rhyme with lean and mean. 


Seriously, our 'outreach program' is interpersonal humble interaction among sinners, dependently praying (only God saves, remember?) and patiently answering good questions with good answers about the bad news and good news of the gospel. 


Our lives together become outreach. Our words and actions are one of many presentations of the gospel.


The How-To is stay simple and enter into (incarnate) people's lives. We remain lean. We focus on people, not programs. Our facility and budget reflect serving people where they live, work and play.


We are not-so-mean and humble. The single most compelling outreach tactic (if you can call it a tactic) is humility. We admit we are sinners. We ARE no better than anyone else. We aren't trying to impress anyone or prove anything first. We welcome folks no matter what. The worship services are not slick, personality-driven, video light shows - on purpose.


The main goal is not to get 'more butts in seats' but to introduce people to Christ's awesomeness. We want Jesus to be more famous than our worship service, our programs or our church or our pastor.


This means we all, from pastor to most successful businessperson to youngest teenager, approach our friends, neighbors and co-workers humbly. We lead into 'outreach' admitting out loud that they have every reason to be skeptical and unsure about us, our church and the message we purport to believe.


This approach is both an expression of freedom in the gospel and an invitation into the community of the gospel.

Homer Simpson Trend in Theology

(Thanks to Robin C in Alpharetta for this important link.)

"Doh!" appears to be the operative word in the Protestant church in the USA where theology is concerned.   Barna is reporting trends I saw early as a youth pastor to Baby Busters in the 90s.

In this first of six discussions of harmful and dangerous trends in the church, I'm going to let you know how the vision and mission of Crosspoint and Encuentro prepares to grow a healthy church, fight the trends and suggest these are ways other churches can too.

Theologically trained disciples led by theologically astute elders, deacons and leaders. The battle to be theologically literate starts and ends with church leadership. In this respect, we are purposefully counter-cultural and apparently rebels. Kinda funny. Theological training is retro? Oh well.

Crosspoint and Encuentro also value multi-generational ministry. We get a broader tapestry of wisdom, depth and knowledge as older men and women teach younger men and women. We aren't totally dependent on the charms of our photo-genetic pastor either. (Which is a good thing for more than one reason...)

Barna's report notes...

"What used to be basic, universally-known truths about Christianity are now unknown mysteries to a large and growing share of Americans--especially young adults. For instance, Barna Group studies in 2010 showed that while most people regard Easter as a religious holiday, only a minority of adults associate Easter with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Other examples include the finding that few adults believe that their faith is meant to be the focal point of their life or to be integrated into every aspect of their existence. 

Further, a growing majority believe the Holy Spirit is a symbol of God's presence or power, but not a living entity. As the two younger generations (Busters and Mosaics) ascend to numerical and positional supremacy in churches across the nation, the data suggest that biblical literacy is likely to decline significantly. The theological free-for-all that is encroaching in Protestant churches nationwide suggests the coming decade will be a time of unparalleled theological diversity and inconsistency."

Crosspoint/Encuentro bucks this trend other ways too. We preach through books of the Bible so the theological concepts get taught. Though we speak in everyday language, we use and explain those big, theologically rich words like 'justification' and 'sanctification' so people learn theology. Two of our seven elders learned theology through our Theology for Ministry training module taught in small groups.

Here's a surprise maybe. People who have been in churches that do not teach theology want to know the details! I'm finding folks are hungry to know how things fit together. Offering the training to hungry people in non-traditional formats requires some changes in delivery methods, but the outcome is tremendous.

We are not the only ones working for theological literacy by any stretch. Our denomination (PCA) vigorously plants churches that are theologically grounded. So does Acts 29. Seminaries we love, like Reformed Theological Seminary, Covenant, Westminster and even many of the Southern Baptist Seminaries teach men and women well. And I should not forget that several campus ministries are quite theologically robust. RUF (Reformed University Fellowship), CRU (Campus Crusade for Christ) and Campus Outreach graduate some sharp theologically trained students.

There is hope as leaders are trained that we can lead the church to theological literacy (and even vibrancy) in the future.

The question this raises in my mind isn't 'Are there enough theologically astute people in the Protestant churches in the USA?' The bigger question is this: Are there accountability structures that will weed out false teachers in the pulpits of our churches?

Trust me. If I (or any elder or pastor in our denomination) stray for orthodox Christian doctrines, I will be corrected and if I refuse to be corrected I'll be disciplined and removed from the ministry.

Accountability is the answer to this problem in the church. We don't need pastors who go free-lancing on theology.

Why You Should NOT Buy an NIV Bible

If it is the new 2010 NIV 'version', you have an impostor in your hands!

I have been using the New International Version copyrighted in1984 since 1999 because it is an accurate and very readable translation. It is a great translation for beginning Bible readers. Several of my seminary professors worked on the original 1984 translation.

However, in my sermon prep a few weeks ago, I went to BibleGateway to copy the text to start my studies, as I have many times. What I got shocked me!

Galatians 3 was different! I had unknowingly copied and pasted the NEW 2010 edition of the New International Version (NIV). There are significant editorial changes that are NOT in the original language nor in the original 1984 translation. This is wrong and misleading! 

For example, the original language says in verse 26, 'You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.' However the new edition for 2010 mistranslates the verse 'You are all children of God...'

Do These Changes Matter? 

Yes! This is a key verse in the doctrine of adoption. The original word choice is not only revealed from heaven, it has significant meaning! In ancient times, only sons received an inheritance. God, through Paul the writer, was making a very radical, pro-female statement in saying that by faith in Christ Jesus all who believe are His sons.

To say we become 'children' of God is just not what the original language or the original translation of the Scripture into English says at all.

(I will withhold my guesses as to any agenda the editors of the NIV2010 are trying to accomplish.)

And for sake of space, I will not offer an exhaustive list. One change of this caliber is enough. If you want more examples, ask for follow-up.

So do NOT buy a new NIV (c)2010.

Misleading to Keep the 'NIV' Label

What really bugs me is this: the NIV 1984 is a great translation and the NIV 2010 is a different editing job of that translation using the same respected label for an inferior work.

Honestly I wonder how the professors who worked so hard to give us the original NIV must feel? Their work now hacked up and changed beyond recognition...

So, Here is Your Christmas List!

Buy an English Standard Version for each reader in your family and circle of friends. That is what we will be using in the Crosspoint English-speaking congregation* beginning in 2011. 

Part of  my calling as your pastor is to protect you from false doctrine. Our Bibles are the starting point. I want you all to be reading and studying a reliable and accurate translation of the original language. The NIV2010 is simply not reliable or accurate. And it is too confusing to try to keep using the 1984 edition.

Time to Make a Change for Our English-speaking Church. 

Get an English Standard Version (ESV). Or if you have an older New American Standard Bible (NASB) you are reading an accurate and reliable translation.

I'll keep you posted if we need to make adjustments for our Spanish-speaking congregation.

Overwhelmed! One Reason I Need Prayer

As a broken pastor, how often do I forget the army of the Lord? Often. I'm sitting here overwhelmed with some opportunities before us. Feeling alone. Man, I'm such a dope sometimes.

As a broken pastor, I need prayer. And I know it. Sometimes I even remember! Because I am broken, our elders, deacons, members and those who are yet-to believe need prayer too. Especially because I am their pastor but specifically for some options before us

Would you pray for us? We are considering BOTH a better temporary facility for 2011 and at the same time raising funds for a better permanent facility for beyond.

After 8 years of faithful growth through evangelism and mercy, our church has the opportunity to upgrade for a year while we raise funds for a faciliity to serve the church and the community as a resource center for training and community development. Crazy that we have these opportunities. 

Pray like this:
For wisdom. Our vision for a facility is to find a location that increases our reach to those that are unreached with the Gospel and with practical help. The elders and I have some key decisions to make.

For faith. As one of my mentors Randy Pope says, we are indeed at the point where if God isn't in this, we will fail. Pray for fearlessness.

For persevering leadership. I am stretched. Doing things I have no experience with and often doubt God's faithfulness and my ability. O me of little faith!

PS - For those of you who've known us and prayed for me for a long time, do you hear God chuckling at the irony of His power and plans? I do!

Acts 4:13 comes to mind, '...they realized that they were unschooled ordinary men... astonished and took note that these men had been with Jesus.'

We're proof that Jesus will build His church and use ordinary broken people to gain the fame He deserves.

Porn and the Dark Side of Christian Conferences

The uptick in porn usage during Christian conferences is depressing. But its real.

And I think I know why. But I'm not sure we want to admit it.

Dark Side of Success
As a pastor, when you go to a conference, you are wishing and hoping your ministry would be more successful. Or if you aren't in ministry, you are hoping your life or marriage or children will be more successful.

All the cool people on Facebook or on Twitter or in your denom or your church talk up this *awesome* conference with all these big name successful speakers. You pay the big bucks to go. You get there and about halfway through the third session from a highly successful Christian, you start to feel depressed.

Why? Because your ministry or life or marriage or whatever will never be as successful as him or her.

Denying the Dark Side
Oh but you keep up appearances, rave about content, joke and chat in the hallway and buy some books you won't read when you get home. Then you go to your room and the facade can finally drop.

You paid all this money to hear the same stuff again and YOU ARE STILL A LOSER. You're a loser Christian or loser pastor that nobody knows and nobody wants to know. So you justify watching some skin on the small screen, maybe cuss. Or cry. But you are still a loser.

Why I'm Leery of Conferences
Christian conferences are like porn. They flash temptations of sexy ministry success. And no I'm not talking to prosperity preachers. I'm talking to evangelical and reformed people. Keller and Piper and Sproul and Childers and Stezer and Chan and Hybels just keep putting out the temptations and nobody ever tells you to stop lusting after successful ministry.

Christians and pastors, we worship the idol of success. It's a pagan fertility ritual wrapped sensually in acceptable Christian clothes.

And it is killing us and giving the church a black-eye. You know why? We want ministry or life success more than we want what the Sovereign God has given us.

So I don't go to conferences like I used to. Keller and Piper et al cause me to cheat on the Lord's call for me. I can't keep from being tempted.

But I'm learning that Jesus loves me - even though I cheated on Him. And being broken and a loser is better than I thought...

PS - Now please sign up for my 'Loser Pastor' conference, okay?

Purposely Un-Hip Pastor?

I'm going on record today. I'm starting the 'un-hip' trend for pastors. You heard it here first. In fact I'm so un-hip I'm going to resist the urge to start a blog called 'Stuff Formerly-Hip Pastors Like'

I used to be cool. Wore odd clothes, weird hair, toured with a band, used all the 'rad' lingo. I was the bomb. Now I'm the punchline of my own jokes.

Yeah, laugh now you young hipster pastor-types with your made-up job titles (HT to Driscoll). Punks. I was sipping espresso when you thought a strong drink meant 'Jolt' cola.

As usual, I'm way out front on this trend. I sport a boring hairstyle. My music is now labeled 'classic' rock. I drive a sensible car. Students automatically call me sir. I actually have a plan to pay off my mortgage.

I'm old school by choice. I fought it for a while. But face the facts, I started in ministry before email and managed to keep up. My first church office phone had a cord, plugged into the wall. Voice mail was an upgrade. Cutting edge worship music was printed on overheads.

I'm experienced enough to know that all the twitter, blogging, Facebook followers, new music, awesome graphics, tattoos and louder, cleaner audio won't make you a better pastor. Nor will it make your church any more biblical. Been there. Done that. Got the drawer full of T-shirts.

Be Un-Hip My Brothers
We are doubly responsible for how we live and what we teach. Love God, read His Word, obey Him, pray. Ask Him to break your heart over the lost and the least. Keep your word. Be consistent. Repent frequently.

Keep your eyes on your wife and no other woman. Grow old in honor. Aim to be married in 40 years to the same woman and for your kids to love Jesus and raise godly grandchildren. Take Sabbath rest every week. Be honest and accountable. Be the real deal to your children because when they become teenagers, they'll know if this hip cool thing is fake.

And most important: Do the simple things that Christ did when He was here. Pray. Be physically present with people on their turf. Pour your life into leaders who will pour their lives into other leaders. Be Biblically-driven. Be humble. Revel in your relationship with Our Father.

The Goal isn't how cool you can be or how many hip people you reach. The goal is this: to make Jesus Christ more famous, more valuable, more weighty in the hearts of the people God gives us to pastor.

And if we get a 'Well done! good and faithful servant' from the One who deserves all the glory, it's way better than we deserve.