Pastoring & Leadership

Pastoring and Planting

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I'm re-listening through some of Keller's online sermons and talks.  You can find them on my Tim Keller Resources page.  Whether you are pastoring (like me), planting a church or a church leader, Tim Keller's talk on church planting, "Why to Plant Churches," is very helpful.   I really like how he explains the value of new churches, not only as a way of effective evangelism, but also as a way to strengthen established churches in the area.  Check it out.

Story About Tim Keller in NYT

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In today's New York Times there is a story about Tim Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian called "Preaching the Word and Quoting the Voice".  Great stuff.  Some excerpts...

Dr. Keller "has grasped the strategic significance of the city, of theurban culture and the need to engage that very diverse culture at every level," he said. "Our culture is urban-driven."

[...]

Observing Dr. Keller's professorial pose on stage, it is easy to understand his appeal. While he hardly shrinks from difficult Christian truths, he sounds different from many of the shrill evangelical voices in the public sphere. "A big part is he preaches on such an intellectual level," said Suzanne Perron, 37, a fashion designer who is one of many who had stopped going to church before she discovered Redeemer several years ago. "You can go to Redeemer and you can not be a Christian and listen to that sermon and be completely engaged."

[...]

An important lesson that Dr. Keller said he had tried to convey to other pastors is that the hard sell rarely works in the city. Becoming a Christian in a place like New York, he said, is more often the product not of one decision but of many little decisions.

"One decision might be Christianity is more relevant than I think," he said. "Or, here's two Christians that I don't think are idiots."

[...]

His church's main goal, Dr. Keller said, is to teach pastors how to truly love the city, rather than fear its worldly influences. Unlike many evangelicals, Dr. Keller advocates an indirect approach to change.

"If you seek power before service, you'll neither get power, nor serve," he said. "If you seek to serve people more than to gain power, you will not only serve people, you will gain influence. That's very much the way Jesus did it."

Tim's son, Jonathan, has commented on the article...

Redeemer does not aspire to fame. In fact, Redeemer did not want the article done but the journalist was going to do it whether or not Redeemer helped him to write it. And what better way to make sure there are less errors in reporting than to participate? So there it is in the Times. Hopefully it does not have an harmful repercussions. Redeemer is happy to fly under the radar of the majority.

For more from Keller, visit my list of Tim Keller resources.

(HT on the NYT article: Chris Giammona)

Driscoll: Church, Gospel & Culture

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From Kevin Cawley, the audio from the first Acts29 Boot Camp has been resurrected.

I consistently get emails in response to my Missional Ecclesiology readers guide asking if I'm aware of any sermons/conference lectures that treat these issues in a systematic fashion. Beyond the excellent A29 Boot Camp sessions (2005) and the (forthcoming) A29 2006 Boot Camp sessions, the only real source I'm aware of is, to my knowledge, no longer accessible on the internet. It is an old (the first?) church planting boot camp at Mars Hill. I got another email today asking the same question, and so I decided to upload these sessions in hope that others will benefit from them as I have.

The sessions below are some of the best comprehensive teaching I have heard on the theological foundation of the church and a practical implementation of a missional ecclesiology. I downloaded these sometime in late 2000 or early 2001...

Church, Gospel, & Culture part 1
Church, Gospel, & Culture part 2
Church, Gospel, & Culture part 3
Church, Gospel, & Culture part 4
Church, Gospel, & Culture part 5
Church, Gospel, & Culture part 6

Spurgeon on Church Planting

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My buddy Kevin Cawley has a great Spurgeon quote up today.  It's helpful for church planters, but should be just as encouraging for any Christian and church.

“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” John 12:32

Come, ye workers, beencouraged. You fear that you cannot draw a congregation. Try the preaching of a crucified, risen, and ascended Saviour; for this is the greatest “draw” that was ever yet manifested among men. What drew you to Christ but Christ? What draws you to Him now but His own blessed self? If you have been drawn to religion by anything else, you will soon be drawn away from it; but Jesus has held you, and will hold you even to the end. Why, then, doubt His power to draw others? Go with the name of Jesus to those who have hitherto been stubborn, and see if it does not draw them.
 
No sort of man is beyond this drawing power. Old and young, rich and poor, ignorant and learned, depraved or amiable — all men shall feel the attractive force. Jesus is the one magnet. Let us not think of any other. Music will not draw to Jesus, neither will eloquence, logic, ceremonial, or noise. Jesus Himself must draw men to Himself; and Jesus is quite equal to the work in every case. Be not tempted by the quackeries of the day; but as workers for the Lord work in His own way, and draw with the Lord’s own cords. Draw to Christ, and draw by Christ, for then Christ will draw by you. 

Review: Mark Driscoll's Confessions

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Driscoll_confessions_250_3Mark Driscoll (Pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, founder of the church planting network Acts29 and the new missional web resource Resurgence, and author of Radical Reformission) emailed me a couple of months ago and asked if I wanted to read and blog review his new book Confessions of a Reformission Rev: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church. I was pumped, agreed, and received a pre-publication version of the book in the mail from Zondervan and read through it near the beginning of January.

I'm going to approach the review in three phases. 

I. The Boring Details: how long, when published, etc. 
II. Themes, Quotes & Content: hitting a few themes and highlights.
III. My Take & Recommendation: why you MUST read this book.

I have found this to be a difficult book to put in a one-post review.  I considered doing multiple posts, but since the book isn't out yet I would end up giving up too much of the content and you would have to take my word for it.  I would rather you read the book.  So consider this an extended trailer that should encourage you to pick up the book.  Consider this a tray of Turkish Delight.  I want you to read and be hungry for more.

So away we go.

I. The Boring Details

The book is due out on May 1st, 2006 and is Driscoll's honest look at the 9 year run of Mars Hill (planting and pastoring).  The church has gone from a few people in his living room to more than 4,000, and he has a strategic plan to take it to 10,000 and more.

Mark has already posted a brief excerpt from the book as well as the table of contents.  I won't repeat those here.  Suffice it to say the chapters are based on attendance, so he deals with issues at each stage of numerical growth. Each chapter is followed by reflection questions, and these are actually ones you won't skip.  Very helpful.

Before the "meat" of the book you get Chapter Zero, which is "Ten Curious Questions" and deals with lingo, theology, and ecclesiology to build a missional foundation before talking about their church story.  The first appendix is called "The Junk Drawer" and deals with common questions people have about Mars Hill.  The second appendix lists distinctives of larger churches.  There are endnotes as well.  All-in-all the book is about 200 pages long.

II. Themes, Quotes & Content

Emerging Church Issues

Driscoll early on points out his connection to the Emerging Church Movement, but he is careful to distance himself from Emergent.  He says, "I myself swim in the theologically conservative stream of the emerging church" (p 22), but also says, "the emergent church is the latest version of liberalism.  The only difference is that old liberalism accomodated modernity and the new liberalism accomodates postmodernity" (p 21). 

I assure you that I speak as one within the Emerging Church Movement who has great love and appreciation for Christian leaders with theological convictions much different from my own.  And because the movement has defined itself as a conversation, I would hope there would be room in the conversation for those who disagree, even poke a bit of fun, but earnestly desire to learn from and journey with those also striving to be faithful to God and fruitful in emerging churches.  Standing with my brothers and sisters in our great mission, I hope this book can in some small way help the greater church emerge in biblical faithfulness and missional fruitfulness. (p 23)

Knowing and Hearing God

In Confessions you can't miss the idea that God is not silent in the work of Driscoll and Mars Hill, and that He speaks in amazing ways.  Driscoll speaks often of "The Ghost" (his Holy Spirit term). 

He tells us why he started Mars Hill, "God had spoken to me in one of those weird charismatic moments and told me to start a church" (p 39).  Before they launched their first service Driscoll had a "prophetic dream" that told him to ditch a guy who would eventually try to take over as pastor.  Driscoll showed up to the first service and found the guy in the exact circumstances of his dream and told him to get lost before the service even began.  Not the best way to build a welcoming atmosphere, but necessary.

Driscoll later tells the story of a demon-possessed guy who came in the service and disrupted it.  God told Mark to go to the front of the church during a time of prayer just before the demon-possessed guy started acting out.  The book is sprinkled with these sorts of stories, talk of spiritual attacks and "bad angels" talking to his daughter, prophetic dreams (both from God and Satan), even "words of knowledge" (p 121).  Sure to be provocative.

Mistakes & Frustrations

Mark confesses his major mistakes in starting and leading Mars Hill.  At first they had no clear leadership structure, relationships were too connected to him, he didn't draw clear theological lines, and the church was broke. With some clearly articulated goals written out by Mark, they began to work toward a more biblical church, and it began to grow.  Driscoll is open about his mistakes throughout the book.

Driscoll talked about his frustrations being in an immature church with less than manly men.  He tells one hilarious story of a guy who called him in the middle of the night upset because he watched a porno and masturbated.  Well, that's not hilarious.  But the way Driscoll talks about it is hilarious, and his response to the guy was, "A naked lady is good to look at, so get a job, get a wife, ask her to get naked, and look at her instead" (p 60).  This is typical Driscollian bluntness, and it works for him.  He seems to use frustrations to push him toward prophetic sorts of responses.  You will laugh at his strangely courageous moments, and wonder if you are being too soft with those who frustrate you.  Will you do what Jesus wants or what the people want?

You don't get the impression from the book that getting from a few people to 4,000 has been easy.  It's been rough.  There have been problem people ("nut jobs"), pastoral mistakes, spiritual struggles, and even the near miss involving Driscoll, a massage from a hot lady, and the decision to run from rather than receive sexual favors (p 128).  Driscoll's openness to his own problems is helpful.

Theological Issues

Ecclesiology is a big issue in the book, especially dealing with church polity.  Of congregational ecclesiology he says, "As I studied the Bible, I found more warrant for a church led by unicorns than by majority vote.  Practically, it seemed obvious that a congregationally governed church would not be led but would instead make decisions by compromise to appease all of the various interests in the church" (p 103). Driscoll instead holds to elder ecclesiology and his thoughts should be challenging to those with other positions.  He should also be challenging as a complementarian who believes the biblical view is for male eldership.

Buzz

A term that comes up time and again is "buzz."  Different events in the history of Mars Hill created a "buzz" that brought in curious people, and some of those people would keep coming, get saved and join up.  My impression throughout the book is that the buzz they have at Mars Hill is usually created by either weird people doing uncontrollable things or by God's people doing bold and biblical things.  "Buzz" was a result, but I don't think ever spoken of as something to be created.

Future

Driscoll believes that comfort is an enemy at Mars Hill and so he has to keep the church ready to charge hell with their squirt guns instead of becoming complacent.  To do that Driscoll and the elders strategically blow up the settlements of MHC and push toward risky and bold goals.  They buy more property, add more services, and decided that Mark should stop being the pastor of everyone and instead transition to being more of a "missiologist-preacher."  They have now begun to move toward so many venues and services that some are video rather than Mark preaching each one.  And they are adding a bunch more elders and some staff to serve and lead the church.  They have decided not to be happy with where they are.

Their mission is much bigger than growing a megachurch of more than 10,000.  Though they have a lot to focus on internally (Driscoll says they are like a "kite in a hurricane"), they have a church planting network and are continuously planting churches and discipling new planters.

III. My Take & Recommendation

This has been one of the most important books on church and ministry I have read, and I think will hold a unique place among books about ministry.  My advice?  Get this book.  Read it.  Reread it.  Give it away.   It's most helpful for pastors and planters since it deals a lot with dealing with preaching, logistics, pastor's family issues, church growth, etc.  But I highly recommended for all church leaders and thoughtful Christians. 

Where could this book be better?  I don't know.  Some people will be offended at Driscoll's "in your face" approach.  Some will disagree with his reformed theology, his ecclesiology, his charismatic tendencies, his complementarianism, and more.  I have my concerns with some of the practicals, like video venue preaching.  I'm concerned that a lot of Driscoll's ministry is founded upon his personality.  I'm concerned that there may be better ways to go than to build a monstrous church.  These are some of the things I've wrestled with in this book and found myself wondering if there might be a better way to go.

But I don't answer to God for Driscoll and Mars Hill.  Driscoll does.  And I don't have his growth problems, unfortunately.  And one of the things he points out in the book is that he has learned to be more careful in his criticisms of others (such as Rick Warren) because it's easy to disagree with the big church guy who is seeing so many good things happen that there are few ideal options open.  Instead of considering how to disagree with Driscoll's directions, I encourage you to read the book, be thankful for what God is doing, and learn from it.

Now some positives.  Conservative evangelicals need to learn from Driscoll's willingness to identify with the "emerging" church while distancing himself from movements within it that he finds problematic (at the least).  By considering himself an insider, he has influence that many evangelicals who only scold the ECM will never have. 

I hope this book will be read by many who are practical (or theological) cessationists.  Driscoll's "Ghost" stories will be shocking to much of the frigid American Church.  I hope this book sparks discussions on the miraculous, the supernatural, the voice of God, the will of God, and more.  I hope this book will be widely read and cause many of us to say, "How is God speaking to us?"

For all I've written about, I've neglected so many good things in this book.  I've left out lists and charts and stories and systems and ideas that have already become a part of my thinking with my local church.  It's a theology book, a missiology book, and a practical book.  You will find help no matter what kind of church you are in, where you are located, or what size you are.

I think most of all Confessions is a Jesus book.  You cannot help but to read and feel that Jesus is the focus of Driscoll and Mars Hill around every corner.  Driscoll writes, "My answer to everything is pretty much the same: open the Bible and preach about the person of Jesus and his mission for our church" (p 86).  Good advice. 

I think many who read this book will be awakened from their bland Christian slumber to ask good questions of ourselves and our churches.  May we hear and respond to the voice of the Ghost, preach Jesus and be on His mission, and have our churches buzzing from the work that God is doing.

Don't Waste Your Cancer

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John Piper is always good, but rarely so good as he is when speaking of suffering.  And now he has offered this article as he deals with surgery and prostate cancer: "Don't Waste Your Cancer."  His ten fantastic points are...

  1. You will waste your cancer if you do not believe it is designed for you by God.
  2. You will waste your cancer if you believe it is a curse and not a gift.
  3. You will waste your cancer if you seek comfort from your odds rather than from God.
  4. You will waste your cancer if you refuse to think about death.
  5. You will waste your cancer if you think that “beating” cancer means staying alive rather than cherishing Christ.
  6. You will waste your cancer if you spend too much time reading about cancer and not enough time reading about God.
  7. You will waste your cancer if you let it drive you into solitude instead of deepen your relationships with manifest affection.
  8. You will waste your cancer if you grieve as those who have no hope.
  9. You will waste your cancer if you treat sin as casually as before.
  10. You will waste your cancer if you fail to use it as a means of witness to the truth and glory of Christ.

(HT:JT)

Erwin McManus and Denominational Headway

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What do you think about Erwin McManus?  Just an open question for anyone who has read one of his books, heard him speak, been to his church (Mosaic).  I've appreciated his ministry and writings.

Baptist Press has an article today on McManus and a class he taught on leadership at GGBTS.  It's a nice introduction to him if you don't know much about him.  He will be preaching at the SBC Annual Meeting Pastor's Conference in June.

I really like McManus' approach to the SBC, in that he makes his noise with his church, his books, his speaking and it's a "building" mentality and not just tearing down.  It's all gospel and mission and zeal for Christ.

Confessions of a Reformission Rev.

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Driscoll_confessions_250I just received my pre-publication copy of Mark Driscoll's new book Confessions of a Reformission Rev.: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church.  Mark asked me a couple of months ago if I would read and review this book and another one on emerging church theology (esp Scripture, Trinity and atonement).  It will include stuff from Doug Pagitt, Karen Ward, Dan Kimball, and John Burke.  Each are writing sections and then commenting on & critiquing one another.

So I hope to begin the Confessions book very soon and plan to blog on it sometime after the holidays.  I'm not sure when I will get the theology book, but I'm looking forward to that one too.

The Pastor's Wife

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Wow.  Some of the blogs I read are far more profound than the books I read.  Today I was humbled and encouraged by Gary Lamb's post "Church Planting Wives."  This could be written about the wife of any pastor. 

And if you are not a pastor, church planter or pastor's wife, you still need to read this.  I want church members of all sorts to read this and realize the stuff going on in a pastor's home and marriage.  Here's the post.
_____

Today Ben (who has one of my favorite blogs) posted about the tears, burnout, and stress that the wives of church planters go through.

His exact words were:

Most Church Planter's wives are in tremendous pain. Tears streaming down their faces from the emotional, spiritual, and physical exhaustion of starting a new work.

I have seen this and I couldn't agree more.

However I feel that this is a result of us as church planters putting our wives in position's they should not be in. It is that plain and simple.

I am prepared to get BLASTED with this post that is why I have waited so long to post it but please realize that I am not trying to be a mean with what I am about to say but this is a huge problem and it needs to be fixed.

I am in my second church plant (and last), I have been in full-time ministry since I was 20 (I'm now 29) and I have to say DeAnna has never went through this or experienced it and it is because I made some choices early on in my ministry.

1.) God did NOT call my wife to pastor this church. DeAnna is 100% behind what I do. She could not imagine doing anything else with our lives BUT I pastor and lead this church not her. There is no reason for her to feel the pressure or stress that comes along with doing what I do. She doesn't have to give me advice on every decision that the church makes. She is my wife not the other pastor of the church.

2.) She doesn't need to know every thing that happens. DeAnna and I talk a lot and we talk about the church a lot, however I do not tell her every thing. There are things she doesn't need to know because it will change the way she looks at situations, people, or events. If she knew what people have said to me or have done to me, it would cause her to get bitter and angry. She doesn't need to know every thing.

3.) She doesn't have to be at every thing. Being married to me is rough. :) Besides being married we have two wonderful children. They are a full time job. She attends what she wants too or what we feel would be good for her to be at but she does not attend every thing the church does. There is no need for that and all that does is burn your wife out. The church needs to know she has other responsibility then just them.

4.) I am VERY outspoken about complaining to my wife.  In our membership class and from the stage I have made it very clear that if you have a complaint about the church or me you better not go to my wife with it. That is what cowards do and we need to let our church know she is not the complaint department.

5.) She serves where she feels called. Early in my ministry I made my wife play the good pastor's wife. Not anymore. I only expect of her what I expect of every other member of Ridge Stone. She must serve somewhere. For the first 9 months she led our preschool ministry. When she was ready to quit and turn it over to someone else, she did. She now serves in there once a month and leads a bible study for mother's of preschoolers.

6.) I don't dump all my problems on her. The reason your wife hates ministry is because she sees and hears that it is tearing you apart. All she hears is the negative stuff and because of her love for you, it upsets her. She doesn't need that.

7.) I don't cheat on her with the ministry. Most pastors are having on an affair on their wife with the church they pastor. This might not be popular but I would let all of Canton die and go to hell before I allowed my wife to grow bitter and stressed in her feelings for God. I work a lot of hours. I leave the house at 5 in the morning and I usually am not home until about 6:00 p.m. but when I get home, it is time for her and the kids. I talk ministry all day, I don't want to or need to talk it with her.

8.)  She loves where we are at. If DeAnna wasn't happy, we would leave. She knows that. That is important to me. I have had several job offers lately that I didn't accept (I'm here until I die, I hope) but if I would have she would have killed me because she is happy here. That is important to me and she knows it.

9.) I don't put financial pressure on her. Church planting is hard and the pay stinks. Of course she lives by guidelines when it comes to spending but when things are tight I don't pressure her or make her feel guilty in this area. She has not worked since we have had kids and that has been fine. God called me to plant a church, God called her to be a mother.

10.) I date my mate. We make time for each other. No matter what is happening in our lives, we make time for each other. It might be sitting around the house after the kid are a sleep but we spend one on one time with each other no matter what. You need to make time for you wife. I tell my church all the time, "If you don't make time for your spouse, someone else will."

11.)  I made sure she felt called. We had a lot of discussions on this matter. Just as God called me here, He called her. She has a different role but she has the same call. That is so important. I know that I know this is where God would have us to be and part of that call is because she feels the same way.

12.) I protect her. Under NO circumstances will I allow someone at church to hurt her. You haven't see redneck until you see how I will react. I will not allow her to be attacked, I will not allow her to be taken advantage of, I will not allow her to be put in a bad position, etc. She knows that.

Church planter, listen to me. Your wife is the most important thing in your life. You have the duty to make sure she isn't feeling stressed, pressured, or bitter about church planting.

I meet with church planter's and their wives all the time and I am amazed at the ready to quit attitudes of most wives.

Ladies, know your role as well.  Remember God called you to be a help mate to your husband, not run the church.

I am so passionate about this topic. I could not do what I do without my wife. She is my anchor and I will do whatever it takes to keep her from feeling what most planter's wives feel.

You should do the same for your wife.

Are You A Leader?

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Kevin Cawley (Sufjan Stevens' Aficionado) has found a nice list (from Tony Morgan) on leadership that rings true to me. 

"Ten Easy Ways To Know You Are Not A Leader."

1. You're waiting on a bigger staff and more money to accomplish your vision.
2. You think you need to be in charge to have influence.
3. You're content.
4. You tend to foster division instead of generating a helpful dialogue.
5. You think you need to say something to be heard.
6. You find it easier to blame others for your circumstances than to take responsibility for solutions.
7. It's been some time since you said, "I messed up."
8. You're driven by the task instead of the relationships and the vision.
9. Your dreams are so small, people think they can be achieved.
10. No one is following you.

I find it interesting that people write out lists like these.  If all this list is good for is to remind leaders that they do all these things already, then it's wasted time.  So that can't be the reason.  If this list is simply to point out to non-leaders that they really aren't leaders, then I don't really think we'd spend so much time making lists because leaders by nature want to develop more leaders, not usually stop non-leaders.  I know these may be sub-strata goals, but not main ones.

I think these lists are to get true leaders out of the snares we get caught in where we lose track of vision, responsibility, risk, relationships, etc.  I think they are the products of leaders who want to encourage other leaders to keep their eye on the prize through continual refocus.  That's why #7, saying "I messed up," is in the list, because the list should produce redirected leaders, not just describe perfect ones.

What do you think?