Boldness

It is so interesting to me that when God was talking to Joshua after the death of Moses that He kept repeating to Joshua that he must be strong and courageous. The outcome, the Lord said, would be success. There is such tension between courage and arrogance. Yet, courage and boldness may appear to the onlooker as arrogance and pride. As a matter of fact, to the average person boldness in God may appear to be pride, and fear and cowardice may appear to be humility. God told Joshua that his success, and that means pleasing God, would require strength and courage.

When Daivd approached the Army of God as they were camped and quaking in fear at the confrontation with Goliath, his brothers rebuked David for what appeared to be pride. They were wrong. What they saw manifesting in their little brother was what we used to call, "Holy Ghost Boldness"! He was moving in strength and courage just as Joshua. The outcome was victory and success.

As I started the first grade my Dad instructed me this way: "If you start a fight I will spank you when you get home. If someone attacks you and you don't win, I'll spank you when you get home"! That sounds really strange these days but he was trying to make me understand that there are times when the enemy comes calling and you have to stand. Spiritually there are times when the enemy of our soul and the enemy of the extension of the Kingdom of God comes calling. Primarily he comes attacking with fear, lies and accusations. He's looking for a weak conscience. He wants to find a person who isn't sure who they are and where they stand with God. He wants to stop you cold. His method is almost always to attack your BOLDNESS. He wants you to be quiet and weak. He wants to knock you off balance so you stop any aggression against him.

Proverbs 28:1 (NKJV)
1 The wicked flee when no one pursues, But the righteous are bold as a lion.

Social Networking

Relax, this isn't primarily about Face book or Twitter. It is about social connecting though. I must admit that I am not the biggest fan of electronic relationships (thougth I do it) because they can be shallow and even dishonest. In talking about reading books a friend recently said, "I know about iBooks but I still like to feel the pages in my hands and smell the aroma of a good book." I feel the same way about social connecting. In my opinion connecting through any form of writing is the least effective form, the phone is one notch above but nothing is like that eyeball to eyeball connecting. All can be good if the less effective ways aren't the primary. I have actually seen husbands, wives and children texting each other while in the same building!

Let me get to my point. We are moving toward a loss of the ability to read people and situations and arrive at true connection. We are now seeing a new generation that doesn't know how to look you in the eye, shake your hand and carry on a real conversation. While more and more are involved in minute by minute social networking less and less are involved in actually connecting. Recently I attended a church where I was a stranger. After several visits to the early contemporary service I decided to go to the traditional service just to learn. I love studying people and groups! It's kind of like going to the zoo!:) After about six visits to the early service filled with mostly younger people I went to the other service filled with the "blue hairs". I came away shocked! The younger crowd had made sure the coffee and cookies were in place, the service made me comfortable and that I was under no pressure whatsoever. I was left alone! No, really, I was left alone. No one spoke to me unless I spoke first. Six visits!!! When I went to the older service I was overwhelmed with the warm genuine expression of love and welcome. My conclusion? We are losing something. Young people need to watch older people interact and try to regain some social skills. And yes, it happens all the time in non denominational churches too.

May we all keep learning!

Ownership or Stewardship

In reseaching leadersip transition for over 5 years now I have looked at churches and business models alike. The basic problem is systemic. When a leader of a church comes to believe that because of longevity he or she owns the ministry we are in trouble. I have even known of this becoming so blatant that outgoing senior leaders have demanded that they be paid huge sums of money for them to turn over “ownership” of the church! Some have even done it. In truth, we as leaders are stewards of the ministry of God. We must never get to a place that our welfare takes precedence over the welfare of the church or ministry. This can also happen among a group of leaders and they might presume ownership as well. This can happen from the church to the Congress. When ownership is assumed by a person or group the end result will be death and not a healthy continuation of the ministry. The church is the Lord’s! As leaders whatever we have built we have built with the offerings of the people and while doing so we have been compensated for our labor. While I believe a church will greatly benefit from honoring an outgoing leader generously, it should never be demanded.
Let me encourage every leader to close your eyes, envision the end of your life and visualize how you want to finish. I think most would say, “I want to be cared for but mostly I want to feel that I have done a good job for the Lord and his Church and that I will finish with dignity, honor and leave a healthy legacy in ministry. Are you walking a road that will produce it?