Today is part 10 of my ongoing series of reflections of 40 years here at the Church. This has been fun for me personally and there is much more that I might write out for the sake of missions history, but I have decided to put some conclusions on this series today.
Learning to work with Crisis: In the life of a church, if I have learned anything that is inevitable, it is that crisis and conflict is essentially unavoidable. This is a sad comment and certainly painful when it happens, but we are of course fallen people (all people – the general world but certainly even as Christians in the church) AND we live in a world that is depraved as well. I absolutely love the Church and I love this specific Church, but I have no rose colored glasses on that pretends that all things are always wonderful.
In our 40 years here, I have seen and experienced my share of conflicts that the Church has with the culture for sure. Some of those are difficult to work through while attempting to remain biblically obedient. Those conflicts come out of nowhere sometimes and it is my job as a Pastor to help the Church Body dealing with them in a biblical fashion. Then there are conflicts within the Church Family that appear due to personalities, likes and dislikes, preferences, styles, and a whole host of other issues. My reflections this summer on our 40 years brought to mind a whole series of these conflicts. I will personally confess to you that as I have thought through some of these conflicts, I admittedly have caused a few of these conflicts myself. At other times the issues and conflicts were thrown in my lap and a surprise, but I still have had to react to them. I will not go through these conflicts line by line in this article. But rest assure, they have been real for me and this Church family, and they have NEVER been fun. But here’s what I have learned from them…
- Be careful the hill you are willing to die on:
- My Pastor from years ago Larry Nixon who was my mentor during college and seminary days (I wrote about him weeks ago). He made this statement many years ago. I have tried hard to remember it when dealing with people or issues that have been raised in the work of the Church.
- The Church Body is more valuable than any one of us in the Church — and this includes the Pastor (that would be me!)
- Larry Nixon again used to teach us that even as a Church Pastor or Leader, we are to lead the way, but in the end it is the work of the Church and the Church Body itself to is the priority. Sometimes that means the leader myself. I have had to learn to be essential as a Church leader but not irreplaceable.
- Love the Church
- I must not only grow in my love for the Church Body through the ages and the Church around the world that Christ died for, but for this particular Church Family. Sometimes this is very easy to do. Sometimes honestly this can be a great challenge. But my Father as a Pastor and my mentoring Pastor Larry always challenged me with this and I have tried hard to live by this.
- Teach the Word in season and out of season
- I have no illusions of being the ‘great leader’ that always has a wise response to every situation. I know that as a Pastor there are plenty of hats that I wear from time to time depending on the situation that is in front of me. Sometimes I am the pulpit preacher; sometimes the counselor in an office dealing with life trauma; sometimes I am the budget and office team manager trying to work out the calendar and logistical details; sometimes I am the crisis manager and HR negotiator for upset people within the church; sometimes I am the pastoral representative for this church among other churches in the city and region; sometimes I am the missionary leader on some foreign field; sometimes I am the evangelist who shares Christ with those seeking answers; sometimes I am the facility manager making sure all the light bulbs are working; sometimes I am the guitar player in the band; sometimes I am the Youth Camp cheerleader. As I think through each of these roles that I play now and have played over the years, I can honestly say that at different levels and different times I have enjoyed each one of them. But it was during one of those significant ‘crisis times’ at LifeWay about six years ago when confusion seemed to reign and things were getting out of control that I came to a conclusion that is now the one bit of advice I would give to anyone who is in any role of church leadership. I have found this to be a truth for not only me but for all Churches. We had become a mile wide but only an inch deep. It was easier to lead a church to be a mile wide, that is keeping our focus on the far-flung places in the world. That is a sign of a good missions church. This is a compliment and not an insult. BUT — it is also a challenge for us to grow deep in the Word of God because we excuse ourselves with lack of any real depth and maturity. We often show God how far we are willing to go into the world, but in our haste we don’t pack our bags very well. And when trials come we are in danger of faltering and giving up on the task Christ has assigned us. I actually call this the disease of a “Savior complex.” We who ‘become the Savior’ in our work have a horrible habit of not really needing the real Savior during the challenges of life.
- The current journey that I am on right now is to help guide this church and any other church leader that will listen is to bear down on the depth of God’s Word. Maturity does not just happen from experience and age. Maturity does not grow automatically with time. Maturity doesn’t sprout out mechanically and spontaneously just by going places for God. Maturity and depth can only be found in the Word of God. There is nothing magical about what I have called the “Six Year Teaching Plan” for LifeWay, but the Sunday messages for the last four years have come from this realization. I so desperately want to help God’s people in this wonderful Church to not only catch a vision for where God wants to use us, but I pray for a depth and maturity that can ONLY come from a long journey of walking with the Word of God.
As I draw a conclusion to this 10 part series of reflections on our 40 years here at this Church, I want to again thank you to the many people over the years that have impacted us. Some of them I have written about in these articles, some I have not been able to include at this time. But I thank God Almighty most of all. As it says in a prayer on the wall of my office that Martin Luther wrote 500 years ago… “Please God guide me, because if it is left up to only me I would certainly bring it all to ruin.”
Fall 2024