Brian/Katie/Charles & Reality

The USA Today (August 29, 1D) has a feature article on the continuing decline in the number of viewers watching the "Evening News". The networks apparently still don't get it. America is NOT even remotely interested in the daily droning of the network annointed guardians of our minds. They do not realize that the average American is quite capable and willing to acquire the facts concerning that days events, interpret them, and draw their own conclusions. All this long before the 'triplets' seek to invade our cherished privacy. We have turned them off and tuned them out. The stats look like this:

Brain = down 7%

Katie = down 7%

Charles = up 3%

Net Results = down 11%

However, this does not deter CBS et al. They continue to whistle through the cemetery as though some new fad, some new feature, some new ? ? ? will resurrect their decades old choke hold on America every evening at 6:30 PM. NOT! NOT! NOT!

The church in America engages in a similar lunacy. The tincture of reality seldom, if ever, graces the assessment of our, to quote Jim Collins, "Brutal Reality". We continue to decline at a rate that accelerates faster than NASCAR. Denominations continue to bring sophmoric and utterly ineffective pseudo solutions to profoundly real problems. Their chief concern is to preserve staus quo and most of all, protect the 'coffers'. Don't do anything that might disturbe the constituency and perhaps cause them to dry up the cash flow. The church in America continues to 'count the numbers on the roles' much like the networks count viewers.

The viewers are disappearing and so are the members. Soon, the church will be forced to face 'Brutal Reality' or resort to counting the dead in the cemetery out back!

We simply must face our 'Brutal Reality'. We must confess that we have become so much like the world around us that there is little or no distinction. We have reduced the responsibility of belonging to a sparodic 'guest appearance' on an occassional weekend when we don't have any other activity that we prefer. We have reduced Pastor/Shepherds to mere managers of the gig once a week with a lot of activity in between, but most certainly, nothing that grapples with the utterly essential dynamic of Transformation, redeemed sinners becoming like the Chirst who purchased a people for Himself and left us here to honor Him as Salt & Light!

So, we either change, or start numbering those grave markers out back. Which will it be?

Tom

Yapping Chihuahuas & “Keeping Men on Their Feet”

My wife’s Dad had a little four legged companion, a Chihuahua of sorts. ‘Tiny’ was his name. You could not approach their home without ‘Tiny’ sounding off. If his actual ferocity were as real as his ‘yapping’, visitors would have been, pardon the pun, “dog meat”. However, in spite of all that verbosity and noise, he never harmed anyone.

Pastors deal with a whole host of “Yapping Chihuahuas”. They sound ferocious. They terrify those who are not familiar with their routines. Essentially they are territorial little beasts. How dare you invade territory that they have staked out as ‘theirs’? Remember, no matter what the issue is, the issue is ALWAYS control! This is applied to ‘space’; that is MY classroom! That is MY Small Group! That is MY Worship & Praise Team! Get the picture.

Like Tiny, these people seldom bite, they just make noise. The lessons are these Pastor.

Don’t let the yapper, (notice this noun is singular - - there is usually only one) become
more in your thinking than they deserve. Don’t magnify the size of the opposition.

Don’t fight ghosts. Don’t hear a whole pack barking when there is really only one.

Don’t invest more energy than “Tiny” merits, usually none. Serve God and let Him take
care of the yapping.

I wrote this to ENOURAGE you Pastor.

The following will help “Keep You on your Feet”! Many a time a word of praise or thanks or appreciation or cheer has kept a man on his feet. Blessed is the man who speaks such a word.

We must encourage one another. One of the highest of human duties is that of encouragement. There is a regulation of the Royal Navy which says: “No officer shall speak discouragingly to another officer in the discharge of his duties.” Eliphaz unwillingly paid Job a great tribute. As Moffatt translates it: “Your words have kept men on their feet” (Job 4:4). Barrie somewhere wrote to Cynthia Asquith: “Your first instinct is always to telegraph to Jones the nice thing Brown said about him to Robinson. You have sown a lot of happiness that way.” It is easy to laugh at men’s ideals, to pour cold water on their enthusiasm, to discourage them. The world is full of discouragers; we have a Christian duty to encourage one another.

Finally, the writer to the Hebrews says that our Christian duty to each other is all the more pressing because the time is short. The Day is approaching. He is thinking of the Second Coming of Christ when things as we know them will be ended. The early Church lived in that expectation. Whether or not we still do, we must realize that no man knows when the summons to rise and go will come to him also. In the time we have it is our duty to do all the good we can to all the people we can in all the ways we can.[1]

[1]The letter to the Hebrews. 2000, c1975 (W. Barclay, lecturer in the University of Glasgow, Ed.). The Daily study Bible series, Rev. ed. (122). Philadelphia: The Westminster Press.

Membership, Peacocks & Metrics for Ministry

Southern Baptist, ‘strut like peacocks’ as they boast of the 16.3 million members they zealously guard ‘on the roles’. We are the largest Evangelical Denomination in America. Really?

Recently The ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) announced at their annual meeting in Chicago that they zealously guard 4.8 million on their roles.

Both of these hypocritical facades are driven by a common cause. What is that cause? What makes well educated men stand before the whole world and God and flat out lie? They would certainly qualify for a seat on the Sanhedrin. Their membership in Pharisees International is current when they pound their puny chests and harrumph about their numbers. LIARS ALL! Worse, they spout this tripe knowing it is utterly and absolutely untrue. Why?

Metrics for Ministry! You see, the measure of church ministry in America is one dimensional. It is driven and validated by numbers - - how many, how much, how often, etc. Most "God is calling us elsewhere" scenarios when a Pastor changes churches are predicated by his going to a larger (that is, 'bigger') church. When a Pastor attends a gathering of other Pastors the first question is usually something like this - - “How is the church doing?” Answer – “Oh great. We had 586 this past Sunday.” One of my favorite responses to this baloney was uttered by Howard Hendricks. To his former student, who was full of himself, Howard simply said, “ 586 what?”

Back to the '16.3' Million Southern Baptist. According to the ACP (Annual Church Profile), a report produced by the statistics turned in by the individual churches, on the best Sunday of the year the SBC has about 6.1 million people in attendance (37% ). This gets even worse. At the National Convention this past June held in San Antonio, TX, there was a well written and prudent resolution presented to correct this insanity, pretending to be what we are not. The result? The “Committee” would not even permit a public reading of the resolution. If Moses had a Committee, Israel would still be in Egypt. This is hypocrisy of the first order.

The ELCA knows that they have only 30% of their announced total of 4.8 million - - about 1.44 million - - in attendance. Yet they too continue the hypocrisy. Why?

Until the church in America finds the Grace of God that humbles us, until we repent of this pharisaical charade, we will continue to decline. Worse, we will continue to make the God we claim to serve nauseous. He stated such quite clearly in Rev. 3:16. Read it for yourself.

The legitimate measure of ministry for the church is Transformed people. Ministry is supposed to be dedicated to and shaped by initiatives that lead to the transformation of saints into the fullness of the image of Christ (Rom. 12:2; Col. 1:28-29, 2:6-7). This is possible and more importantly it is required by the clear and compelling revelation of Scripture. Yet, most in positons of leadership (notice I did not say leaders) are not even remotely interested in changing the metrics. They enjoy the chest thumping and the "comparing themselves with themselves" which Paul warned us about (2 Cor. 10:12). They will not consider even an attempt to measure ministry by transformation. The day is coming when that measurement will be applied and there will be not one word uttered in defense of this sham, not one!

Lets stop being peacocks. Lets stop counting nickels and noses. It is time, past time, to make disciples who live to obey all that Jesus commanded (Matt. 28:18-20). Anyone want to join this glorious and Christ honoring initiative?

Tom

Is The Medium The Message??

Think on these things!

The recent Summer edition of Leadership Journal is focused upon the "Visual Dynamics" of Preaching; Power Point, Technology, etc. There is an attempt to trace the use of visual ehancements to preaching through church history. I suspect that Martin Luther's use of visual aids was NOT the primary causal dynamic that produced the glorious Reformation!

A Brief History of Communication

• Herbert Marshall McLuhan CC (July 21, 1911 - December 31, 1980) was a Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar-- a professor of English literature, a literary critic, and a communications theorist. McLuhan's work is viewed as one of the cornerstones of the study of media theory. McLuhan is well-known for coining the expressions "the medium is the message" and the "global village".

What prophetic utterance that was! McLuhan voiced this perspective in the 1960's. His observation is now being validated once more by the virtual craze to acquire and utilize with often obnoxious ostentatious splendor the latest & greatest techno gadgets.

Being current and conversant with the culture and essence of our times is valid. The church is typically 20-25 years behind the culture in many areas. Shame on us. Technology is an amoral commodity. The value or benefit is found in our motive and method of application, not, the gadgets themselves. We should be current. We must be conversant. What we must NOT do is worship at the altars of "those who live around us" per the Israelites as they entered the land. Has the church become MTV lite?

Premise - The purpose of preaching and ministry is the Transformation of people created in the image of God into the fullness of the Image of Christ. This is the focus of the Great Commission. It is repeated in various forms in the Epistles; Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 4:16; Col. 3;12-14.

We have endured twenty years of what I label "Worship Wars". Do we sing from a screen with Power Point or do we sing out of a hymnal? Do we preach from a wooden pulpit or must it be Lexan? Do we use candles and incense? Here is a 'biggie' - - do you have to wear a tie when you preach? (I once baptized 6 people one morning, four of which were adult converts to Christ, two were children of regular attenders. One 'not so sanctified critic' offered the following affirmation - - "at least some of our men know how to dress for the Lord's Table").

My point is simply this: almost ALL churches are lost in one dimensional ministry = how many, how much, how often, etc. Our focus should be, must be, TRANSFORMATION. That must be measured with an objective and legitimate metric. God rejoices when the elements we incorporate in ministry serve as the instruments of transformation. A sermon must be evaluated by the allegiance and correspondence the content demonstrates to the text of Scripture, not, by what material the pulpit is made of. When we sing, what is the focus and condition of our hearts? Whether we sing from memory (a good thing) or from a hymnal or Power Point is tertiary compared to coming before the True & Living Holy God of the ages with humble, joyful, celebratory & submissive hearts. Did we listen to the sermon with a passion to obey all that Christ has commanded, or, to run a quick and brutal critque on the speaker?

A blind man is not benefitted by visual aids. A deaf man must 'hear' the message through other means. Both will be Transformed. By what? The TRUTH of the unadulterated gospel. So whether you utilize all of the above is indeed tertiary when compared to the real issue -

Are people TRANSFORMED into the fullness of the Image of Christ?

Tom Fillinger

A leader Is - -

Heb. 13:17 is often cited by frustrated Pastors. Their angst is caused by the fact that while they think they are leading, no one is following. In this verse the words that we read in our English Bibles "your leaders" is in fact a participle that is accurately translated 'the ones leading you'. Could it be - - if no one is following, you are not leading?

Barna said in his "New Directions Letter" of April 2005:

My concern has always been whether or not our assistance really made any difference in people’s lives. The most discouraging study we ever conducted was one in which we attempted to identify churches in the U.S. that consistently and intelligently evaluate life transformation among the people to whom they minister. We found that very few churches – emphasis on very – measure anything beyond attendance, donations, square footage, number of programs and size of staff. None of that necessarily reflects life transformation. Further, our on-going research continued to show that churches do not act strategically because of a paucity of leadership. My objective had always been to get good information into the hands of leaders so they would convert those insights into great strategic decisions about how to minister more obediently and effectively. Not having the leaders in place to utilize such information was an obstacle I had not foreseen.

We do well to avoid the egregious error of offering simplistic answers to complex questions. The fact that many do not submit to pastoral Leadership is attributable to the fact that they are simply unregenerate. The churches of America are populated by people who "know not the LORD". They DO NOT acknowledge the authority of Scripture nor are they able to in this lost condition.

On the other side of this chasm are those who have the position or title of "Leader" but exercise none of the essential qualities of a Leader.

So Pastor, the next time you lament the fact that no one is following, look in the mirror and not out the window. You may discover the cause. If in fact you suspect you are the problem, call us. We will walk with you on the journey required to become a more effective and transformational leader. God promised Asa (2 Chron. 15) that God is with those who are with Him. You can become a better Leader. It makes an eternal difference.

Because it matters,
Tom