Engineering vs. Ministry - Part 1

After one year of full-time ministry, I want to take some time to point out some of the changes and challenges of leaving the engineering world to jump into ministry.

As an engineer, I was confident of my ability to solve problems. I knew that I could come up with a design for every project that I was working on. It wasn't arrogance, but I knew that I had the training and knowledge to do my job. It might take hard work and research, but I had no doubt in my mind as I worked on each project. My job was enjoyable, but predictable.

As a pastor, I constantly realize that uncertainty is part of my life. I doubt my abilities to lead a growing church. I doubt that I can find a solution to every problem that arises in the church. I doubt that I know what I'm doing. And that doubt is a good thing, because through that doubt in myself I learn to trust Christ. I'm understanding more and more not to trust in my ability, but to trust in God working through me.

For me, engineering equaled certainty and predictability. Ministry now equals uncertainty and unpredictability. But I'm truly living life now, instead of just working for a paycheck. So to anyone actually reading this, what is holding you back from following God wherever he is calling you?

The Evangelism vs. Discipleship Debate

It seems like the conflict within the western church regarding the priority of evangelism and discipleship has come to the forefront in recent years. So many articles, books, and blog posts have been proclaiming the importance of one or the other. Unfortunately, I have observed that many churches have elevated the importance of one over the other. To me, evangelism and discipleship are inseparable. You cannot be faithful to the Great Commission and not do both.

Some churches in reacting to the spiritual shallowness of churches that neglect discipleship, have abandoned their efforts to reach the lost and focused only on growing believers. Have you ever heard the statement that church is just for believers. Stop and think about the absurdity of that statement. Do we completely turn our backs to those who don't know Christ and turn church into some kind of Holy huddle where outsiders are not welcome? I know that we should live our lives in such a way that non-Christians are drawn to the hope that we have within us, but they catch a glimpse of a Holy God when we come together to see believers worship corporately. They are challenged and convicted when the truth of God's Word is preached.

Some churches in reacting to the spiritual elitism of churches that neglect evangelism, have focused entirely on reaching their lost and forgotten the command to "make disciples." Churches like this have a great outreach program but have become ineffective at leading people to a deeper walk with Christ. I know the Holy Spirit can work inside of us and can lead us as we grow, but that does not allow the church to abdicate our responsibility to teach people how to walk with Christ.

Instead of being reactionary and choosing one extreme or the other, I feel that the church must be focused and committed to both reaching the lost and leading them to obey Christ. Evangelism and Discipleship working hand in hand. It has been exciting to me to follow Willow Creek's story as they have realized that discipleship does not necessarily come through serving within the church. They have re-focused their Sunday morning service to both believers and seekers. I will share more about what we are learning at Cornerstone in a future post.

If we are fulfilling the Great Commission and the Great Commandment, we will always have both seekers and believers together. It is the church's responsibility to provide opportunities to seekers so that they can follow Christ, and then provide believers the training and knowledge to grow closer to Christ. As churches, we need to quit throwing rocks at each other and instead work together to make an impact in the Kingdom of God.

Staying In The Past

I went running yesterday, or at least I tried to go running. It's been a long time since I have ran any distance at all. I have been going to the gym, and I have been riding my bike, but I just couldn't work up the passion to hit the trail. Here's my problem. In high school I ran. I ran all the time. On most weeks in the summer I ran about 50 miles, with long runs on Sunday where I would typically run 10 to 15 miles. I competed in numerous 5K's and even ran a half-marathon. I wasn't the fastest runner in the world, but I could break 5 minutes in the mile. When I think about running, I think about myself 20 years ago.

Yesterday, I stretched, I warmed up, and then I started running. After about 2 minutes it felt like someone was stabbing a knife in my ankle. I sprained it badly about 6 months ago and it obviously is not fully healed. I tried to keep going and I alternated walking and running, but I just couldn't run through the pain. I know what I need to do to get back into shape. I know that it will take some time to strengthen my ankle and I know it will take some time to build up my endurance. But my problem is that I don't know if I am willing to put in the time and effort to start running again. I would rather remember the past instead of create the future. I'm not sure that the results are worth the effort. Even though I need to lose weight, even though I need to get in better shape, I would rather substitute the counterfeit workout at the gym for the real thing. I see a spiritual application here.

For too many churches, it's easy to remember the past ... the past accomplishments, the past successes, the past growth. But even though they realize that things need to change, they aren't sure that the effort to change is worth the results. They would rather live in the past and think about how it used to be. So they continue on, doing what they know and trust, taking the easy road, and miss out on the blessings of creating the future that God wants for them. Let's not be afraid to do what hurts, to do what is hard, to do what is needed, so that we can be healthy and used by God.

Weekend Wrap-Up

As the weekends get busy, I typically don't post here on the blog. But now that the weekend is over, here is the wrap-up.

• We had a yard sale on Saturday morning. Jennifer was busy all day on Friday getting things together and I was busy carrying and moving "stuff" up to our garage. We made about $200 selling our stuff, but we didn't get rid of everything that we wanted to. I am not a huge fan of having yard sales. People walk around and look at your stuff and try to act like you have it priced too high. It's all part of the bargaining game. You have to appear like you are too good to pay $10 for something that originally cost 10 times that. I wish people would just cut the attitude and games and either buy stuff or walk away.
• Jennifer and I also met with a former student and his fiance who are getting married in a few weeks. I'm helping officiate the wedding so we were working through all the final details. This wedding is extra special to me since I was there when they first met each other. We were on a youth trip to a concert at Carowinds when he saw her sitting in the next section. It took a little bit of encouragement (i.e. questioning his masculinity) before he finally went over and introduced himself. But here we are several years later and they are getting married. Awesome.
• We continued the One Prayer Series at church on Sunday. I had planned on showing Craig Groeschel's message on unity, but I changed my mind on Friday and switched to show the message from Greg Surratt at Seacoast about obedience. One of the great strengths of the One Prayer series is the many sermons to choose from. There are so many different teaching styles and we can learn from all of them. If the pastor loves God and loves His people, then we can learn and grow from what they share. The Seacoast message was a great "fit" for our congregation. I have visited there several times on vacation and they have been gracious about answering some of my questions about how they do church. I showed parts of Craig Groeschel's message during youth on Sunday night and they loved it, but I think for our congregation Greg Surratt's message was the right choice for this week. I am thankful to Craig Groeschel and the entire staff of Lifechurch.tv for getting this together. It's been great and it has given me a chance to focus on getting some planning and administrative work done. And have I mentioned that our attendance has been growing during the month of June! Typically June is a down month, so I'm super excited about what God is doing.
• And finally we had youth last night. We had planned on meeting outside on the Blue Ridge Parkway, but when there is a severe thunderstorm warning, you don't want to be around me (I'll have to share my lightening story in a future post). We instead met at the new building downtown. It was the first time in almost a month that I was really able to teach and I loved it. I always love teen's enthusiasm and their desire to learn and grow. They naturally have questions, so it is so important to create a safe environment for them to seek the truth.
  

Joe Sangl Featured in Money Magazine

For all of those who got to meet Joe when we hosted the Financial Freedom Experience, you'll be glad to know that his crusade is still moving forward. Joe was featured in Money magazine this month. See below for the links. Be sure to visit Joe's website and share your success stories. I've heard quite a few great stories from people who attended FFE. As part of the One Prayer series last week, we listened to Perry Noble from NewSpring church. For those of you who didn't know, Joe Sangl was part of the original group of people who started NewSpring.

Congratulations Joe and I look forward to seeing how God continues to use you to help people break free from financial bondage.

Money Magazine, has written an article that includes a profile about Joe and some of his story. You can read an abbreviated on-line version of the article on CNNMoney.com. They’ve also included an online profile of Joe.
(ht to Tony)

Improving Firefox

I posted yesterday about the official release of Firefox 3. I've been using the beta versions for several months now and I love it. It's stable and faster than anything else out there. However, I can't just leave it alone, so I had to trick it out with some add-ons. I think one of the great benefits of firefox is that many people are developing all different kinds of add-ins and themes to customize the browser. Here are a few add-ons that I use that have helped make my internet life a little easier.

• Del.icio.us - This one is great. Del.icio.us is a bookmarking service that lets you access your bookmarks from anywhere on the web. I have installed this on several different computers so I always have access to the same set of bookmarks.
• Google Gears - Google is working on several of their web apps so that you can work or read even when you are not connected to the internet. This one will be huge in the coming year. Google Reader is already using it.
  
• Greasemonkey - this one is a little harder to explain. It allows other custom scripts to run that actually change or enhance certain websites. I use this so that I can use the next two.
  
• Better Gmail2 - This is a collection of greasemonkey scripts to improve the gmail webpage. You can select themes, add html signatures, and do several other cool things. I like this one a lot.
• Better GReader - This is a collection of greasemonkey scripts to improve Google Reader which I use to track quite a few blogs.

Overall, these add some neat features. What add-ons are you using? Drop me a comment and let me know.

Download Firefox Day

I do blog all the time about technology, so I have to let you know about Firefox today. I have been using Firefox on all my computers for a long time now. I like it in both mac and windows. It's faster and better than Internet Explorer or Safari. I like the ability to use add-ons and custom scripts to improve web browsing. Today, Firefox is releasing their new version 3 and trying to set a world record for the most downloads in a day. They have been having server trouble most of the day, but hopefully they have everything up and running by now. Tomorrow, I'll share which add-ons I am using. If you haven't given it a try, then check it out. Version 3 is awesome.

Make Us Dangerous

We have never been afraid to try new things at Cornerstone and this week was no different. This week was a first because we did the sermon on video. I was a little nervous about showing a video. I didn't mention it the week before because I didn't want everyone bailing out and skipping this week. But when we decided to join the One Prayer Series, I knew this would be a great opportunity to expose our people to some great teaching and preaching from other churches. This comes at such a great time for me as well, since I am really working on some structure and administrative details for the church. I don't think I have to worry about how video teaching works after this past Sunday.

This week we showed a message from Perry Noble, the pastor of Newspring Church in Anderson, South Carolina. He had everyone on the edge of their seat, laughing, crying, and listening to every word. I started reading Perry's blog over a year ago and really connected with his vision for an evangelistic church. After hearing about the Unleash conference that Newspring hosted through several blogs, Jenni and I decided to go last year and loved it. We went back this year and took about 10 people from Cornerstone with us. Whenever you visit Newspring, you immediately notice the passion and vision that they have for reaching the lost and transforming their community. Perry's sermons and blog have had a great influence on my leadership.

Perry's message for the One Prayer series was "Lord, Make Us Dangerous" You can listen to the message on the Cornerstone podcast online, or in itunes. He had a powerful message from Luke 7 about being dangerous by walking with Jesus, listening to Jesus, and believing in Jesus. He ended up the sermon by sharing that God isn't done with us yet. That there is more to come. Our young adult band played this week and closed the service with "God of this City" I put together a movie background for the song with pictures from our city and it was a powerful moment. The whole service was great.

I had many requests for cd's and dvd's of the message. We will have more available next week at Cornerstone. You can also see a video of Perry's extended message at NewSpring by going to Newspring's website here. It's about 20 minutes longer than what we viewed in church and you also get to see their worship band open the service with a cover of the song Dangerous by our hometown friends in Decemberadio. Greater things are yet to come and greater things are still to be done in our city! Let's continue pressing on because God is definitely not done with Cornerstone!

Cardboard Testimonies

This is powerful. Check out the testimonies. Short, brief, and life changing. Mine would be

"thought I could do life better my way"
"Surrendered to God's plan and ministry"

What would yours be?
Leave a comment and let me know.



(thanks to Chris)

Great Blog Posts From the Web

I read several other blogs throughout the week using Google Reader. When I come across an interesting post I tag them to show up in my sidebar here on the blog. You can also go to my shared Google Reader page here to see other great blog posts. So be sure to watch the sidebar on my homepage or check out my shared page for some interesting stuff.

(for you tech gurus out there, you can even subscribe to the RSS feed of my shared Google Reader page)

Marketing and Youth Conferences

I've got to share a frustration of mine. I have been working in youth ministry now for about 13 years, so I have been to my fair share of youth conferences. Some I have liked, and some I won't go back to, but I still think conferences have a valid place in youth ministry. But here is my frustration. Almost every conference will call and pressure youth pastors to bring their youth group. I have had more high-pressure sales pitches thrown at me than I care to count. And most of the time, it is an intern or someone fresh out of school calling me trying to tell me what is best for my kids.

I had a phone call today where the caller actually criticized me for not wanting to drive 8 hours to attend their conference. He said that I should do what is best for the youth group and not worry about money or travel arrangements. First of all, the real world does involve budgets and second, your conference may be good, but it is not the most important part of our youth ministry! RELATIONSHIPS will trump a conference every time. I have attended their conference before and felt that it was good, but a little too much hype and emotionalism. So don't call me and criticize my leadership for not supporting your paycheck. That my friend is arrogance.

Please, I expect high pressure sales tactics when I deal with secular companies trying to sell me something. But leave the sales pitch out of youth ministry. It is first and foremost about students. I have definitely seen lives changed as a result of going to conferences. But the parents and leaders closest to those students still by far have the greatest impact.

- End of Rant

I do have to give a shout-out where one is due. One conference that has been very professional and low pressure has been the PlanetWisdom conference. They occasionally call, ask if I have any questions, let me know about deadlines, and thank me for my time. That is why I have been to it more than any other. They focus on the Bible and support the local youth pastors. That's a great combination.

Looking Down

Yesterday was the first time our kids have biked down a trail. They are used to the New River Trail here in Galax that we ride all the time. It's a cinder trail and it is flat, smooth, and easy to ride. Yesterday they had to get used to riding down uneven surfaces with rocks, roots, and gravel. They were awesome, no wrecks and they had a blast. But at one point, Emma hit a big rock in the trail. It knocked both her feet off the pedals and she about lost it. She managed to stop her bike without wiping out, but it scared her. For the next several miles, she was focused on looking down right in front of her tire. We kept encouraging her to look up so she could see what was coming up, but she was too scared. By the end of the ride, she was having fun again and she was fine, but there is a valuable lesson to learn here.

As leaders, many times you encounter a rock in the trail. You hit something unexpectedly and it almost wrecks you. You have a choice, do you become paranoid and focus on every rock on the trail, or do you keep your eyes focused ahead on the destination. I'm afraid that our natural tendency is to become distracted and scared. When we look down, we miss so many things along the way. Instead of enjoying the journey, we become preoccupied with what might happen. Instead of boldly going forward, we become timid, scared, and paralyzed by fear.

So what are you scared of? What rocks have you hit? Have you lost your joy in the journey? Let's take our eyes off of what could be, and focus on what should be.

Riding Down the Creeper Trail

I took Monday off and drove over the mountain to ride bikes with the family. We drove to Damascus, Virginia to ride down the Creeper Trail. Jenni and I have biked the trail several times, but this was the first time we took the kids. We parked in Damascus and took a shuttle up to Whitetop Station. We then biked 17 miles back to Damascus, it's pretty much all downhill and you drop about 1600 feet in elevation. It is a gorgeous ride, the scenery and mountain views are incredible. You can even check it out in Google Earth here. Emma and Luke didn't have any trouble and Drew was riding in style in the trailer. Here are some pictures of our fun day together as a family.

Blogger Lunch at Whiteboard

Here is a video of all the guys at the blogger lunch at the Whiteboard Sessions. I felt way in over my head with these guys and gals, but we all had one thing in common, our passion for Christ. If you want to find out who all these people are, head over to ChurchyMedia.com for all the info. If you want to watch some interviews and segments from the conference, then check out this site. Good stuff!



The Ultimate Blog Shout Out!! from Churchy Media on Vimeo.

Twitter has made me lazy

Since I have started "twittering", I have noticed that my blog posts have decreased. In essence, twitter has made me a lazy less-prolific blogger. But I am not complaining, because by decreasing the number of posts, I think my blog has become more focused. I'm not blogging about every crazy idea that runs through my head, instead those ideas are now reserved for twitter. So if you want a glimpse into more of my family life and more of my crazy ideas, then follow me on twitter. But if you want to read a more focused blog on ministry, technology, and pastoring in a small town, then you are in the right place.

Reading Your Bibles

The Summer Reading Challenge is back for the second year in a row. I'm throwing down the challenge for all of my blogging friends to read through the New Testament this summer. I shared about this in church last week as we wrapped up our txt series. If we want to see God's power transform and change our lives, then we need to get serious about reading and studying His Word. I'm adding a couple of other options this year by giving you two other reading plans. Print one out on cardstock and stick it in your Bible. Let's all commit to spending consistent time reading God's Word. And one last thing, don't forget your pen. Take notes and journal as you go.

Download the following PDF files and printout the one you want to use.

• Summer New Testament Reading Plan - 3 chapters per day x 3 months
  
• One Year New Testament Reading Plan - 5 minutes per day x 5 days per week (this is for the slackers)
• One Year Entire Bible Reading Plan - Read 4 different parts of the Bible each day

Before you speak ...

After watching this video, I guess I need to think about what I share on Sunday mornings Jennifer got a good laugh from this one.

Happy 13th Anniversary

Thirteen years ago, I was able to marry an incredible young woman named Jennifer Jacobs. We actually started dating 18 years ago while we were still in high school (I've got to be a little careful here, you'll have to do the math). I have got to say that each year of our marriage has been better than the year before. We have grown and matured together, and our love for each other has just grown stronger. This past year has been a year of changes, with me leaving the stability of my engineering job and diving headfirst into pastoring a church. She has been right beside me the entire time, encouraging me and supporting me.

I am a blessed man and I want to thank Jenni for being such an incredible wife. Thirteen years ago, I don't think either of us would have guessed that we would have 3 kids and I would be a pastor. But I'm glad God brought us together when he did. Thanks for being a great wife and mother to our kids. I love you Jenni.

Weekend Wrap-Up

Another busy weekend, but it was all good. Whenever I get the chance to spend some quality time with Jennifer, I realize how lucky and blessed I am.

The weekend got an early start with a trip down to Lexington, North Carolina on Friday for a wedding rehearsal. You know you are getting old when all of your former youth students are getting married and having kids. I was asked to officiate the wedding, so last week was a little hectic preparing a wedding message and church message. We were able to eat some good Lexington barbeque on Friday night and then Jenni and I headed back to Winston to spend the night. We stayed at a favorite hotel of ours in Winston, it's a converted old Cotton Mill called Brookstown Inn. The rooms have ceilings that are over 15 feet high and brick walls with all the original exposed beams. It's a neat place right in downtown. Jenni's birthday was last week and our anniversary is tomorrow, so it was great getting some time alone with my incredible wife.

On Saturday, I spent the morning catching up on some work while hanging out at Panera Bread (I love the free wi-fi) while Jenni spent the day shopping. I woke up Saturday morning with a sore throat and it got worse throughout the day. I made it through the wedding without having a coughing fit, but I was feeling pretty bad by the end of the ceremony. The wedding was outside at Childress Vineyards Saturday evening and it was beautiful. I didn't mess anything up and nobody fainted from the heat, so I guess it was a success. I'm always honored to be part of such a special day, but I want to always make sure that a wedding is a celebration. I do my best to keep all the guys loosened up leading up to the wedding.

We made it home late Saturday night and I stayed up late getting everything together for church. Our attendance was done, since the summer has officially started, but we did have quite a few visitors. We wrapped up the txt series and I feel like I was able to share a passionate message about reading our Bibles. It is so important to spend time in God's Word. When I get busy, I tend to let my study time replace my devotional time, but I'm really working on preventing that in the future. My screenless time in the mornings is helping me stick to my commitment.

Sunday evening was the typical preaching hangover followed by hanging out and teaching the youth on Sunday night. But when you see people really catching on to the vision of the church, and you see teenagers get excited about reading God's Word, it makes all the time and effort worth it.