Kern Canyon Rock Climbing

Had a great time yesterday afternoon rock climbing in the Kern Canyon with a group of  new friends. Somehow we’ve connected up with a group of mostly twenty-something and thirty-something singles — teachers, medical residents, and managers — which is unique in our mostly blue-collar community.

Anyway, the weather was great, I got to watch my two boys (8 and 14) gain confidence on the rock, and we got to hang out with a bunch of great people. A few of us hung out for pizza afterwards, trying hard not to tell rock-climbing stories. (Like fish stories, they tend to grow bigger than the reality!)

 

Why I love our church

I just got off the phone with a writer from the Christian Standard. She was calling as part of a broader interview with Christian Church leaders on worship planning. I got to share our experiences as part of the New Thing Network, as well as our transtion to planning our services locally.

But the best part of the interview was bragging about our team’s outreach ministry to the Emerald Glen apartment complex. 85% of the residents there have a household income of less than $10K a year, and one census showed just 13 married couples out of 240 units.

Life Journey has been active at Emerald Glen for several years now — participating in food distributions, running a Vacation Bible School, and hosting several outdoor parties.

But in August of 2005 that ministry grew exponentially  when a family from Life Journey intentionally moved into that apartment complex as incarnational missionaries. It took a while to figure out the most effective way to reach people, but last Easter we started a small group for children, which soon became two groups, and has since extended into a third group aimed at junior high students.

We’re also in process to start an after-school program in the complex — offering academic mentoring and life-skills mentoring in addition to our current focus on spiritual growth.

Every time I share this story I get excited! I love what God is doing through our people to serve “the least of these,” and, in so doing, to serve Jesus.

 

Confident Obedience…

That’s the title of the new book by our friend and mentor, Jeff Floyd. It’s the third and final book in a series called The Warfare Trilogy. Previous titles in the series include Neither Give Place and A New Look at an Old War.

Jeff has had a very long ministry helping people break free from the bondage of the past. His materials are thoroughly biblical, and they are grounded in decades of hands-on experience as a pastor, evangelist, and teacher. More importantly, they deal with the root issues affecting so many in our society today. Those who have struggled for years can find real, lasting freedom as Jeff gently challenges them to examine their belief system and have their minds renewed.

Confident Obedience continues this tradition, focusing specifically on the nature and practice of faith. Jeff views faith through the perspective of spiritual warfare, and this leads to many new insights. Those who view faith as merely holding the right beliefs about God will have that viewpoint expanded as they see how faith is an absolutely essential part of an ongoing walk with Jesus. They will begin to see faith as a daily, active, and interactive relationship with God.

While the whole book is worthwhile, the appendices alone make this book worthy of investing both your time and money. Highly recommended!

 

It’s Not About the Coffee..

It turns out that the folks at Consumer Reports magazine have come to a startling conclusion: according to their surveys, the coffee at McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts tastes better than the coffee at Starbucks. To which I say, “It’s not about the coffee; it’s about the community.”

This is, of course, no startling revelation. In his book Pour Your Heart Into It, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz describes the conscious decision the company made in the 1990s to change their focus. No longer would they try to move as people through the store as quickly as possible. Instead they would focus on increasing the time their customers spent in the store. Their goal was to transform Starbucks into the  ”third place” that Ray Oldenburg describes in his book The Great, Good Place. Yes, people would still come for the coffee. But they would come back — again and again — for the community.

Here’s how this works in my own life. I visit the same location of my local Starbucks about three times a week, almost always at the same time of day. I’ve subscribed to the unlimited T-Mobile HotSpot service so I always have access to the Internet, but most of the time instead of surfing the web, I end up talking to the same group of guys, also Starbucks regulars.

In fact, one guy named Daniel (who is there every day) is a connector — he’s constantly introducing me to different people as “Pastor David.” I jokingly tell my congregation that I actually pastor two churches: Life Journey and “St. Arbucks.” And thanks to Daniel, that joke is becoming more of a reality.

There’s a McDonalds within a few hundred feet of this particular Starbucks. Their premium coffee is actually quite good. They also have unlimited Internet access. And, since I’m already an AT&T Yahoo! DSL subscriber – I can get that wi-fi access at 1/10th of the price I pay for my HotSpot service.

But here’s the thing. While I’m at Starbucks three times a week, I’ve probably been in this McDonald’s three times — ever. When I show up at Starbucks, the barista not only knows my name, she knows my favorite drinks. When I show up at Starbucks, I’m greeted by guys who know my name and a little bit of my story. I know a little bit of their story, too. Sure, we enjoy our coffee. But we enjoy our community even more. None of that happens at McDonalds, and I’m pretty confident it wouldn’t happen no matter how many times a week I came in for coffee.

I hope that my church is more like Starbucks than McDonalds. The reality is that people can get a lot better “coffee” from online sermons, TV, and the radio then they can get from my messages. And while I work hard each week to make sure the “coffee” is freshly-brewed (sometimes too hard!), I think that the Spirit is often whispering into my ear, “David, it’s not about the coffee…”

 

The Power Meter is Now Spinning Backwards!

It’s officially online — today! Our new solar energy system that is.

We’re looking forward to doing our part in helping the environment, cleaning the air, and saving money in the process. There’s a definite satisfaction in watching the power meter spin backwards as PG&E starts paying us for generating power.

 

Integrity of Heart…and Skillful Hands

In my last post, I lamented on the congressional scandals involving a powerful politician using his position to take advantage of those under his leadership and care.

But the words of Psalm 78 also make me think about my own leadership. Spiritual leaders need to lead with both “integrity of heart” and “skillful hands.” One of the leadership temptations is to focus on one to the neglect of the other.

I spent several months counseling a fellow pastor who entered into an emotional affair with a woman in his congregation. In the end, it destroyed his marriage and severely crippled his ministry. This was the same guy who led hundreds to become followers of Jesus and the whole church to a greater passion and vision — at the very same time!

And I also know of many guys who are among the most faithful and godly men I have ever encountered. But their leadership has been hampered by a series of bad decisions — not very skilful hands.

In my own journey of late, I’m being challenged by this issue of “skillful hands.” It’s all too easy to strive for excellence in personal integrity, but to not put the same effort into being excellent in my leadership skills.

My prayer for myself today is to become a leader like David — a man who leads with both skill and integrity. God — and the people I lead — deserve nothing less.

 

Congressional Scandals…and Godly Leadership

Came back from Michigan to hear the airwaves filled with the scandal of Rep. Tom Foley sending sexually suggestive emails and IMs to his teen-age male pages…and the even sadder scandal of the spin-doctoring by Democrats and Republicans alike as they seek to maximize the political advantage or minimize the political fallout.

As I was reading Psalm 78 this morning I was struck by the closing words:

“And David shepherded them with integrity of heart;
with skillful hands he led them.” (Psalm 78:72 NIV)

Funny (and tragic) — how an issue of “integrity of heart” has been given over to the “skillful hands” of the spin-doctors…

 

Back in Bako..

I’m back in town — and back to blogging — after a week-and-a-half tour of the midwest. Our trip had two purposes: to spend time with old friends at the church I served in Naperville, Illinois prior to moving here; and to attend the Leadership Conference for Jubilee Ministries at a retreat center in northern Michigan.

I was reminded once again that when we become followers of Jesus we don’t just get a new Master, we also become part of a new family. Our whole trip was marked by the generosity and hospitality of other followers of Jesus — staying at the homes of old friends, other friends providing us with meals, introducing the other members of our team to these old friends, sharing in baby dedications, and lots (I mean lots!) of time spent around the table eating.

One highlight was spending the night with the son of a couple in our small group. He’s on the staff team at the Journey Church in Rockford, Michigan. We had never met before, but he and his wife provided awesome hospitality and some really killer apple crisp! Other members of our team stayed with Chad (the lead pastor) and his wife.

All of this reminded me again of the words of Jesus: “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.” (Matthew 19:29 NIV)

I thank God for all the houses and brothers and sisters he has provided!

 

Orange Skies…

About dinnertime last night it started to grow strangely dark inside the house — like the dark that comes before a thunderstorm. That’s strange because in Bakersfield, thunderstorms are very rare.

Turns out the problem was smoke from the Castaic fire, which has burned over 80,000 acres of forest between here and Los Angeles. It made for strange, but beautiful skies last night. It also put us on a pollution alert for the next few days.

 

Henry Blackaby on "The Leader’s Vision"

I’ve been slowly working my way through Henry Blackaby’s book on Spiritual Leadership. It’s an excellent book which has really challenged me in to be not just a leader, but a spiritual leader.

One of the best chapters in the book is entitled “The Leader’s Vision.” He deals with three areas:

1. Where do leaders get their vision?
2. How does vision inspire and move people?
3. How do leaders communicate vision?

After giving a long (but very helpful) list of wrong places where leaders go for vision, Blackaby sums up the idea of vision this way:

• It’s not the leader’s job to set the vision. Vision comes from the revelation of God and from no other place.
• It’s not the leader’s job to sell the vision.
• Instead, it’s the leader’s job to share in story and in symbol how God has been working in the past, present, and future.

The leader’s goal is to demonstrate that God, not the leader, is the author of the vision.

These insights have been a huge help to me in my role as a church leader. I’ve always hated the idea of painting this picture of the future and then trying to sell them on it. But telling God-stories? I can definitely get into that! God has been and continues to do amazing things in our church, and it’s no problem at all to tell those stories.