SHOULD WE BE CONCERNED?

Should we be concerned that America is starting to become diametrically opposed to Christian values.  Our parent’s generation could be grouped as the moral conscious generation.  America during the early 1900s were a time where Christian morals were embraced and lived out by the majority of American citizens.  Some could make the assumption that we were too moral conscious as a country.

Being too much of anything is never a good thing.  Being healthy requires a balance between the two extremes.  Many times to bring that kind of balance one goes to the other extreme to try and bring some balance, but sometimes in our turning the other way, we create another imbalance.

I feel that is what is happening with Christian values in America.  Recently a story broke about the remarks of Miss California at the Miss USA pageant.  Miss California was asked what her views were on gay marriages.  She simply stated that she grew up being taught that marriage is between a man and a woman.  Unfortunately, that had repercussions for Miss California that she never expected.  One of the judges confessed that her answer ruined her chances of becoming Miss USA.  To make matters worse, she was later informed that the State of California was considering taking away her Miss California title.

I read another story in a magazine the other day that a woman was auctioning off her virginity.  She wanted to attend law school and the way she was going to pay for her tuition was sell her virginity to the highest bidder.  The highest bid came in at $3.5 million.  This young woman stated that she didn’t believe there was anything wrong with making money off of her virginity.

As Christians, we can nod our heads with disgust and say this is an abomination.  I wish that by nodding our heads we can impact the lives of people, but unfortunately that is not the case.  In fact, I think it is sad when Christianity is known more for what we are against rather than what we are championing and standing up for.

The fact of the matter is that the most effective way to change someone’s action is not to direct them to the right path, but to impact their belief.  If you change someone’s belief than you will change their actions.

We can speak up till our faces turn blue with how America is losing its Christian heritage, but the fact of the matter is Jesus calls us to love and accept rather than judge and be critical.  Jesus’ love and acceptance often caused people to believe in him, and in that belief they changed the way they lived their lives.

My hope is that as Christians, we wouldn’t be afraid to do life with people who live contradictory to our Christian values.  If we are all honest with ourselves, we are just as messed up too.

Our calling as Christians is to stop nodding and start walking towards people who in reality are not too different from us.  Rather than being judgmental, we are called to love and accept like Jesus Christ, and in that doing, maybe we can change a belief or two.

Top Five Worst Movie Titles

I had lunch with some staff and friends at Metro Church.  We talked a lot about this year’s summer blockbuster movies.  Needless to say we are excited about: Star Trek, Terminator, Transformers, Public Enemies, G.I. Joe, and Year One. It is going to be a good summer for movies.

I asked the group what were the top five worst titled movies.  Many were stumped.  I’m intersted to see what your top five worst movie titles are.  Here are mine.

5. Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot

4. Gigli

3. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids

2. Blackula

1. My Astronaunt’s Wife

You figure with the kind of money Hollywood spends on films they could come up with a more marketable title.  What are your top five worst movie titles?

Is Christianity Dying In America?

Last month, Newsweek featured an article titled: “The Decline and Fall of Christian America” Often times when a liberal magazine like Newsweek focuses on Christianity, we think their taking a cheap shot at the Christian faith. At least that is what I thought initially. However, the article was based on empirical data. The Northeast and no longer the Northwest is now the most unchurched region in America. The reason why this is scaring many Christian leaders is because the Northeast use to be the foundation or the roots of American Christianity. The foundation has been shaken, the roots are decaying, and that is why people are concluding that Christianity is fading in America.

What do you think? Do you think that Christianity in America is on the decline? And if so how should we as Christians respond? I would love to get your feedback on this.

The Four Life Cycles Of A Leader

There are four life cycles that every leader goes through.  Pastor Steve Stroope, Senior Pastor of Lakepoint Church, in Texas taught me and a group of pastors this amazing nugget of wisdom a few months ago.

The first stage is called the: Dreaming Stage.  This is the sweet spot for every leader.  Being able to dream about how God can use you to impact the Kingdom is definitely something every leader enjoys.  It would be great if a leader could stay in this stage forever, but of course this is not realistic.

The second stage is called the: Doing Stage.  This is the stage where the leader gets caught up in the doing so that the dream can become a reality.  A leader often works very hard in this stage because they are still being motivated by their dreams.

The third stage is called the: Doldrums Stage.  This is probably the most critical stage.  Every five years or so, a leader starts to struggle with their workload.  Often times what happens is that the leader will lose passion in leading and the dream becomes a burden.  The critical point in this stage is to get to the fourth stage, but what usually happens is that a leader will revert back to stage 2 – the Doing Stage.  And after a while what happens is that the leader enters into this vicious cycle of living in stage 2 and 3.  They lose the capacity to dream and they will eventually burn out.  The burdens become bigger than God and life itself.  And eventually, the leader begins to entertain the option of quitting.  This is where leaders get in trouble.  This is where pastors will often commit adultery or enter into some vicious sinful pattern.  The key is to try and get to the fourth stage.

The fourth stage is called the: Cocoon Stage.  This is the stage where every leader must be willing to go when they are in the Doldrums Stage, otherwise a leader will burn out and lose passion for life.  The Cocoon Stage is where every leader must find refuge if they feel like they are hitting a wall.  The problem is that the Cocoon Stage is a painful place to be.  And this is why most leaders will revert back to the Doing Stage because they would rather avoid the pain.  However, if they are willing to stay in the Cocoon Stage then transformation will take place.  The person who enters the Cocoon Stage must ask themselves: “Why am I in the doldrums?”  “What sin is in my life?”  They have to ask the hard questions and must be willing to put themselves in a vulnerable place.  They must seek the help of others and be comfortable with being weak.  Once they get thorough this stage, the leader is able to start dreaming again.

The one thing that can slow down the process of falling into the Doldrums Stage is practicing a weekly Sabbath.  The Sabbath will help us to lead at a much longer sustainable pace, because it invites us to stop, and in that ceasing, fresh possibilities abound.  However, the reality is every leader will hit the Doldrums Stage every five years.

Where are you in the four stages?  I’ve been through each stage myself and I’m learning that my struggles in leadership need proper time of reflection so that I can process what is going on with my soul.  I hope this will help and if you are in the Doldrums Stage, may you have the courage to enter into the Cocoon Stage.  As we bear the pain, God will do a marvelous work in and through us.  Let’s make sure that before we lead others we lead ourselves well.

Half a Decade of Blessing!

This past Sunday, Metro Community Church turned five.  It was a memorble time where we looked back at God’s faithfulness.  Not only did we look back, but more importantly we are eagerly looking ahead at the things that God has instored for us as a church.

Here is our five year anniversary video.  Many thanks to Koo Chung who was the mastermind behind this documentary.  I’m glad that you weren’t working in my department when I use to work in television, because I would have been out of a job.  You are a gifted producer and director.

“Being Homeless Has Its Perks”

This past Sunday, forty people and yours truly from Metro experienced a foretaste of heaven.  It was an evening that I will hold dear to my heart.  Each year, Metro Church throws a banquet for homeless people in the Bergen County area.  And when I say banquet, I mean a serious partay!  We go all out.  Our purpose and goal is to treat the homeless like Donald Trump.   Why you say?  Because the first thing a homeless person loses is not their money, but their dignity.  It is a painful experience, and yet when you think about it, they are no different from you and me.  If truth be told many of us would be a few paychecks away from being homeless.

We call this banquet event Livin it Up.  We had two chefs from our church cook a three course meal for 200 homeless people.  The food was delicious and although I would have loved to eat it, this five star meal was not for me, or the people at Metro, but for our special guests.  We ate Papa John’s Pizza before the event.  Our servers were dressed up in black slacks and a white-collar shirts waiting on each person and meeting their every need and request.  The highlight of the evening was the dancing.  Each year, we have a band called Total Soul who performs.  Total Soul performs at weddings and big parties.  They do not come cheap.  To hire them for an event like ours would cost in the ballpark of $10,000, but they do it at no cost because they believe in what we are doing.  The food and the entertainment were incredible.  I even busted out a few moves on the dance floor.  It was completely humiliating, but well worth it to be dancing with people who I feel is Jesus to me.

When the evening was over, I drove some of the folks back to their shelters.  Their comments about the evening brought tears to my eyes.  Comments like: that was the best night I ever had,  the food was great, the music was great, but the best part was being treated like a human being, my favorite comment was from a woman who said: being homeless has its perks.  I drove back home humbled and thankful for this wonderful experience.

What made the evening even more special were the people who served.  Many shared with me how they experienced God’s love through the homeless.  In fact, more than the homeless being blessed that evening, the servers confessed that they received the greater blessing.

We teach a few things at Metro that I hope as Christians we will never forget.  The first thing is that we do not receive God’s blessings until we are willing to first release it to other people.   Our blessing of other people, especially the poor and oppressed should not be continent upon the blessings we receive from God.  In fact, the Bible teaches us that we are to release God’s blessings before He blesses our life.

The second thing we teach is that Jesus is among the poor and oppressed.  We should never approach the poor out of a sense of noble obligation, but out of reverence because we are in the presence of Jesus Christ.  In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus teaches us that whatever we do to the least of these, we actually do it unto him.  How arrogant of us to think that we are bringing Jesus to the poor and vulnerable.  Jesus is already there and doing something beautiful.  So the next time you decide to minister to hurting people, please be aware that Jesus is already there, so prepare to meet and worship Him through the poor and oppressed.

This banquet idea came from Luke 14:15-24.  Metro has been doing this for the past five years as an annual event.  We also do something on a monthly basis but on a smaller scale.

I hope as Christians we would have a heart for God’s hurting people in this world.  It is sad when non-Christians have a greater concern for the least, the last, and the lost than Christians.  Let’s challenge each other to look deep within our life so that we realize: financial success, a nice home, kids going to a good school is not what we should be living for.  Nothing wrong with that, but that is not God’s dream, it is the American dream.  God’s dream is for each of us to dedicate our lives to growing in our relationship with God through serving the people the world has given up on.  And when we do this, then I believe God will transform us and our faith will be something more than just a belief, but a lifestyle that is radically lived out.

Twitter Mania

I now have a twitter account.  Follow me and I’ll follow you.  Click here.

Spiritual Sweet Spot

In the past few weeks, God has brought me to a good place.  It is a place where most Christians try to avoid.  It is a place where discomfort is the norm and not the exception.  I call it the spiritual sweet spot.   The spiritual sweet spot is when you get to a point in your life where you realize you have no one or nothing else to rely on, but Jesus Christ.  Though this may seem like an easy sell it is hard to live out.  Often times, we like to depend on ourselves and other people to make things happen in our life.  We will make phone calls and set up strategic meetings.  This is not a bad thing, in fact I think it is necessary.  But if you ever get to a place where you have exhausted every resource at your disposal, and things are still not going according to plan, you might find yourself in a desperate place.  And in that moment of desperation, you come to realize that all you have is Jesus Christ and nothing else.  Though this may seem like a scary place to be, it is actually a beautiful moment – a moment that we must treasure.  A moment I call the spiritual sweet spot.

If you are unemployed as a result of this struggling economy, or if you are going through a difficult season in your life, this can be a spiritual sweet spot moment for you.  I tell the people at Metro that we are in a good place when we realize all we have is Jesus Christ.  The Holy Spirit will do His greatest work when we are at this place.  So if you feel down and beaten up by life, I hope you can pause and reflect that quite possibly God has privileged you with a spiritual sweet spot moment.   So rather than thinking you are being cursed, I hope you can enter your spiritual sweet spot and allow God’s mercy and grace to transform those curses into blessings.

When To Hire And When Not To Hire

This is fresh on my mind because I was speaking with a church planter early this morning.  One of the biggest mistakes a church planter makes early on is hire part time or full time staff before they even launch their church.  There are a couple of key reasons why I think this is a mistake.

1. When you hire staff early on then it takes away from the full participation of your core team.  One of the pitfalls that I see in early church plants is that we are quick to give out titles and when we do that, it causes the core team to relax and depend on the folks who have the titles.  I tell church planters that they should not give out titles in the beginning so that they can encourage everyone in their team to put in a 100%.  Everyone needs to think of themselves as a staff member.  Titles takes away from full participation.  Staff heavy churches often struggle to get volunteers to serve in their church.
2. When you hire someone on staff at the beginning stages of your church plant, I question if the person is really committed to the vision of your church.  They could be a part of your church for the salary and not the vision.  I love to find people who are so committed to the church plant that they will do it for free.  These are the people I want on my staff eventually because I know that they will be fully committed to the church and not be swayed by other job offers.
3. You should hire staff not to grow your church, but to maintain the growth of your church.  It baffles me when a church planter hires someone to be their worship pastor or children pastor when they haven’t even grown.  The mistake that leaders make is to believe that a new hire will grow the church.  It usually does not happen that way.  It takes a lot more than a hire to grow your church.  I wish it was that simple to hire someone and the church all of a sudden grows.  Please do not make the mistake of hiring someone to grow your church, hire them to maintain the growth of your church – meaning you should be growing and you need someone to help manage that growth.
4. God is the one who grows the church, not a new hire.  Nothing more to say about that.

Unfortunately, I have learned these lessons by making a lot of mistakes.  If I can save you from making the same mistakes, then it was all worth it.

The Monkey and the Fish

I’ve been fortunate in my life to have been mentored by some great leaders that I have the most profound respect for.  One of those people is Dave Gibbons.  Dave is the Lead Pastor of NewSong Church, in Irvine, CA.  Dave, has mentored me through some of my most difficult times in ministry.  With his wealth of ministry and leadership experience, I find that Dave is a great resource where he challenges me to think outside my box.  Some of these lessons have come through unconventional ways of just hanging out and observing how Dave lives his life.

Dave recently wrote a new book, “The Monkey and the Fish.”  In this book, Dave addresses the need for churches and their leaders to adapt to a style of liquid leadership.  Dave, talks deeply about Third Culture leadership/lifestyle.  Dave contends that being a third culture Christian is how we can make the greatest impact in this world today.  Whether you like him or not, President Barack Obama is a third culture leader.  As our world becomes smaller and globalization is changing the way we communicate, we must learn to adapt to different cultures to make the Gospel message relevant.  Dave’s book addresses this topic.  I recommend that you buy this book and learn about third culture Christianity.  You can order the book here.

We are currently in a series that is focused on third culture.  If reading is not your thing you can listen to some sermons that cover some of the main principles in the book.  I would start with “No Strings Attached.”  Click here.