From The Lion's Mouth

At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. 

- 1 Timothy 4:16-17

This is a later stage in Paul’s life. Just a few verses earlier he says that the time of his departure is near, meaning he is near death. He pleads with Timothy to come visit him and bring some of their closest friends and ministers along with him. This is a very rough time for Paul. No one was there to support him. Everyone deserted him. He was alone.

Can you resonate with that? Have you ever felt like Paul did as he was writing this? Have you ever felt deserted and like no one supports you? Have you ever felt so empty that you were literally begging people to come be with you? Have you ever felt like you poured yourself out completely to the point you were out of strength entirely? If you haven’t, you will at some point in your life.

Luckily Paul doesn’t stop there. He continues on to say that the Lord stood by him and gave him strength so that the Gospel may be proclaimed. What can we learn from this? First, we learn that everyone, even one of the most prominent Christian leaders of all time, will be hit by loneliness, depression, and emptiness. Second, we learn that even when everyone and everything else fails, the Lord will give us strength. God remains faithful. Third, we learn that the Lord gives us this strength not for our own benefit, but for the proclamation of the Gospel. We are given strength to accomplish God’s mission. It is merely a side effect of our God’s love that we will be delivered from the lion’s mouth in the process. 

Glory Thieves

 I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols.

-       Isaiah 42:8

Rant time. Yay. I’m tired of seeing pastors, authors, and Christian leaders saturating their ministry with self-promotion. I see it more now than I ever have before. Big shot pastors and evangelists and authors can easily become consumed more so with themselves than they seem to realize. One in particular stands out to me. His name is plastered all over everything that his church does. The books written, the curriculum created, the church planting they do, the music they create, and even Sunday morning service are infused with self-advancement and glory robbing.

Sure, the Gospel is preached. Worship music is played. God is worshipped. But all of the God and all of the good are poisoned by men attempting to rob God of his glory. Example time: In one church service I was at recently, after the worship through music, the pastor took the stage and announced the tour dates for his book, which he encouraged all the members to buy and tell their friends about. On the church website, the pastors name is plastered all over the place. His books, radio program, and blog are advertised like beer during the Super Bowl. This particular pastor is not the only one by any means. I am tired of seeing pastors attempt to steal the spotlight away from the Creator of the universe. The Lord God is His name, and he does not yield or share his glory with another.

Don’t misunderstand me. If you’ve written a book or have a website or speak for a living then by all means continue to make a living and support yourself and your family and so on. Even promote your own name and network and things like that. I have no problem with that. When I have a problem with it is when it steals glory from God. Don’t use church, the house of the Lord, to make money or promote yourself. That’s exactly why Jesus tossed tables in the temple and threw people out of his house. The Lord does not share his glory with another and he will not tolerate the self-promotion of Christian leaders who try to steal his glory and praise, whether or not they realize it. 

Pastor: (n) [pas-ter]

The top three online dictionaries’ definitions of “pastor” say something like this: A minister or priest who is in charge of a church or congregation. It appears to me as though dictionaries have really no idea what it means to be a pastor. Now, the second definition from these websites is perhaps a more accurate definition: A person having spiritual care of a number of persons. And finally, only one online dictionary has an accurate and helpful third definition: A shepherd.

Yes, a pastor is a minister or a priest. However, no pastor is in charge of a church or congregation; God is always in charge. Second of all, yes, a pastor is a person who has spiritual care of a number of persons. This definition is much more helpful than the first.  But I believe that the best definition of pastor is perhaps the most overlooked one: Shepherd. Why is “shepherd” the best of these definitions for a pastor? In John 10, Jesus refers to himself as “the Good Shepherd” and the Pharisees as evil shepherds and thieves. In the Old Testament, both David and Moses are referred to as shepherds of God’s people. Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel show how God will condemn false shepherds and appoint faithful shepherds to lead his flock and his people.

What we learn from Old Testament history and basic shepherding knowledge can give us some very meaningful insight into what it means to be a pastor. Every shepherd has a distinct call or whistle that his sheep know and recognize so that they will follow him. In addition to this call, shepherds also know their own sheep. Many shepherds give their sheep names and those who don’t will remember their sheep by their distinctive features. Sheep do not follow the voice of a stranger not only because they don’t recognize the voice, but because that means the shepherd does not know his sheep. A shepherd who knows his sheep guides them with his distinctive call. The shepherd is responsible for guiding his flock to places that can meet their unique personal needs. If the flock needs water, he finds a way for them to get water. If they need food, he does the same. He protects them from any harm or danger that may be stalking or hunting them. A shepherd knows his sheep and is willing to do almost anything to keep them safe.

Lets go through that again, this time replacing shepherd with pastor. Every pastor has a distinct way of relating to the people that he serves and his people are familiar with this, which is part of why they have chosen to follow him. In addition to this call, pastors know the people whom they serve. They know their names. They know who they are. They know their distinctive features that separate them from everyone else. They know their strengths and weaknesses. Pastors lead people who know them and recognize them for who they are. A pastor is responsible for guiding the people he serves to places that can meet their unique personal needs. If they need financial help, he guides them. If they need counseling, he guides them. If they need to be taken to new levels of spiritual growth, he guides them. A pastor protects his people from harm. He knows what is hunting them and is humbly willing to do almost anything to keep them safe.

Online dictionaries have very little idea about what it means to be a pastor. Don’t listen to them. God is the head of the church. Pastors are merely shepherds that God has placed in positions of leadership in order to watch over, care for, know, and guide his people closer to Himself. 

Paranormal Activity?

Scary movies are something that many of us enjoy, why many others of us do not. There is something about the thrill of being scared and the shock of being surprised that brings out that small bit of life inside us that nothing else has the ability to penetrate. Arguably the most popular and profitable scary movies that have been made in recent years are the Paranormal Activity movies. These stories, while are admittedly always somewhere between creepy and terrifying, tell the story of a family that is haunted by evil spirits because of a deal that was made with the devil for wealth and power by a family ancestors. Death and torment plague the characters in the movie throughout the series and no matter how hard they try or how far the run, they cannot escape the evil that relentlessly pursues them.

 

It is easy to watch these movies, be scared, and then afterward try to comfort yourself by telling yourself: “Ah, that wasn’t real, it is just a story. That sort of thing doesn’t really happen.” The spiritual world is one that we as humans will never fully understand and I firmly believe that God meant it to be that way. While we are fighting a spiritual battle and living a world controlled by spiritual forces, we have not been called to focus on or dwell in a realm other than the realm in which God has placed us. The devil is real and demons are real and they are absolutely trying to harm you and cause you to run as far from Jesus Christ as possible. They have no other concern than drag you into a spiritual wilderness apart from Jesus.

While you can try and comfort yourself all you want and tell yourself that there are not really evil forces out there trying to seek and destroy, you would be entirely wrong. Now should we take these movies as real events or even accurate descriptions of the spiritual evils that do exist? I don’t think so. But the reality is that there is paranormal activity in our world. There are evil forces trying to destroy us. And there are good forces trying to do the opposite. CS Lewis said, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.” We must be aware and believe that there are devils and they are trying to harm us. But we also must not feel an unhealthy obsession or fascination with them. In other words, we must not focus on them or dwell in a state of mind where that becomes our reality. Be aware of paranormal activity but do not fear it and do not live in it. 

America: Mega-church and Mega-decline

There are two major trends facing the American church today. The first is the rise of the mega-church. In recent years, research has shown that the larger the church is, the faster it grows. Churches with more than 1,000 members are the fastest growing churches in the country. Churches with less than 100 members are growing approximately 45% slower. The simple fact is that small churches are not growing numerically while large churches are.

The second trend is an overall decrease in church attendance, baptism, and overall effectiveness. In the past decade over 300 million people have become new believers in Christ from around the globe. 10 million of those, just over 3%, are from North America and Europe (The other 290 million, almost 97%, are from South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia). Of the top 25 denominations in America, with combined members equaling about 146 million people, only 6 have seen growth in the past 10 years (and this growth is very minimal). About 50% of the mega-churches in the world are in the United States. Every year in America, 4,000 churches close their doors for good while only 1,000 open new doors. While larger churches are growing larger and smaller churches are growing smaller and closing their doors, the overall effectiveness in the American church is dying. With more resources, more money, and more freedom than any other nation in the world, somehow we have managed to botch church. Yes there are both small and large congregations that are sharing the Gospel, preaching the word, and providing fellowship and community. Not all churches are ineffective. There are many churches that are doing great things for the kingdom – both small and large.

What are we to make of these to trends? Are large churches the future? Are big buildings, multiple sites, powerful speakers, and superstar worship leaders necessary for church growth in America? The trend tends to support this statement. Churches with fewer resources, smaller buildings, and less money are dying and dying quickly. So what are we supposed to think? No one, even members of growing churches, can deny that the overall growth of Christianity in America is negative. When it boils down to it, fewer people every year are attending church, fewer people every year are getting baptized, and fewer people every year are coming to know Jesus in the United States. While around the world, churches are exploding exponentially. There is no money. There is no big building (many times there is no building at all). There are no superstar worship leaders. There are no budgets. There is no staff to be paid. And millions and millions of new people are saved and baptized as a result.

Are we missing something in America? Yes. Are we increasingly becoming an unreached nation? Yes. Do these trends of mega-church and mega-decline directly correlate? All that matters is the spreading of the gospel of Jesus Christ; whether small churches or large churches are the ones doing that effectively. In America, very few churches of any size are doing that effectively. Around the world, house church movements are leading to rapid growth (of people, not churches). The 20 largest and fastest growing churches around the world are house church networks. Maybe we need to change our strategy and start learning from the rest of the world…