Young Leaders in the SBC

In his post today at Biblical Church Growth, Dr. Chuck Lawless wrote an "open letter" to young Southern Baptists. Although I am leaving that category more rapidly than I care to admit, I have sympathized with the cry for more openness among the leadership of the SBC and state conventions toward young pastors, ministers, and laypeople. It does seem that certain groups have dominated boards and committees. I, too, have noticed that young leaders who are appointed to these boards often have close ties to what some would call the "power structures."

But Lawless issues a clear call that we should consider. He wisely suggests that we should consider our history and show some respect to those who have paved the way. He went to his first convention meeting in 1985 (I was a brand new believer and still in high school). Back then, people weren't arguing about regenerate church membership or Calvinism. Men like Paige Patterson, Adrian Rogers, and Jimmy Draper, all of whom would readily admit their flaws and failures, were fighting to return to the authority of the Scripture in our denomination.

Even more importantly, Lawless touches on what I believe to be one of the greatest issues for young Southern Baptist leaders today: humility. In the last paragraph of his post, he encourages us to "be both patient and persistent with us, modeling humility for us in all that you do." I am reminded of Paul's admonition to Timothy to "set the example" in spite of his youth (1 Timothy 4:12).

I am also reminded of Romans 12, when Paul reminds his reader "not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think" (v 3) and to "outdo one another in showing honor" (v 10). Peter says it even more clearly. Yes, he commands elders not to "domineer" over those in their charge, but also writes "you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves in humility toward one another" (1 Peter 5:3, 5).

I am afraid that we as younger leaders have not shown much humility. We have not done as Lawless now encourages us to do. I know we do not often feel that our voices are heard. Let's earn a voice. If the elders won't listen, that's their issue to deal with God about. I know that we do not feel that we have a place at the table. I'm thinking Jesus modeled that a place at the table is not often what we should be striving for.

"Fruitless" Ministry?

Jeff Iorg is President of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in San Francisco. He came to Paris a few years ago and did a "mini-retreat" for our team. When I was at GGBTS a few weeks ago for a meeting, I got a copy of his book, The Character of Leadership. Here's a quote that really spoke to me about the difficulty of working in fields and ministries that may seem fruitless, or about those moments of wondering, "what's next, Lord?" He's speaking here about the importance of recognizing where we are in Christ and, more specifically, being "used" by God.

Whatever pleases God and advances his mission is what is important -- not that we be used! Sometimes, God does not use a person for awhile as part of his purpose for them. Even Paul, the most effective Christian missionary and writer of all time, experienced this. Paul was busy in mission service when he was arrested and entangled in the Roman legal system. While at the peak of his ministry effectiveness and influence, Acts 24:27 records, "After two years had passed...Felix left Paul in prison."

Are you kidding me? How can that be? The most effective missionary/theologian in history was left in prison for two years while a low-ranking Roman ruler waited for a bribe to release him. How could that have happened? Why not another earthquake, like the one in Philippi (Acts 16:16-40) which set Paul free earlier in his ministry? The answer, the only answer that makes sense, is God wanted Paul to wait in prison. This was his purpose for Paul. His assignment was to wait until God was ready for him to go to Rome. Sometimes, God accomplishes his purpose by not using us the way we imagine he should, the way that seems logical, or the way that makes the most sense to us.

A good word from a leader...

A Little Exercise Listening...

I have mentioned several times what a privilege it is to be working with the guys in my doctoral "cohort." There are now seven of us, and these guys really are the cream of the crop. I've subscribed to some of their preaching podcasts for my "exercise listening." Here are three:

Calvin Carr at North Central Baptist Church, Gainesville, FL (Podcast link at bottom of page)

Mike Tatem at Parkview Baptist Church, Lake City, FL (This one's not updated recently, but I'm catching up)

Lyle Larson at FBC, Goodlettsville, TN

I'll try and find podcasts/sermons for the other guys and post them later.

A message for us

A message from David Hesselgrave's Scripture and Strategy: The Use of the Bible in Postmodern Church and Mission for all of us who work to share the gospel and plant churches, especially in our region and our organization:

Let it be crystal clear that this is not written as an indictment of any of these methodologies. Of course, some are superior to others. but all have made important contributions. Some still do and will continue to do so in the future. The weakness revealed by this history is not so much that this or that evangelistic method is mistaken or misguided. The weakness is that this or that method is so readily transmuted into an overall strategy for world evangelization. The weakness is not so much in the method as it is in our penchant for oversimplification and faddishness in embracing one method or partial strategy after another as an 'end-all' strategy. It is that faddishness that has caused church and mission leaders in the Third World to come to the place where they view American proposals and programs with a good deal of suspicion. There is indeed one way of coming to salvation, but there are many ways of contributing to world evangelization. That is the lesson to be learned from the experience of the recent past. (89)

It's not just a problem in the Third World.

The CHURCH in Church Planting

Church planters must take the time to search the Scriptures to answer the question, "What is the church?" Since the scriptures do not bow to the gods of this age, for some church planters this process will be painful, requiring them to surrender their visions, dreams, passions, desires, finances, and prestige that have developed over the years from Western cultural definitions and expectations for what constitutes a "healthy" church.

This brief excerpt from Dr. J.D. Payne's paper, "Ecclesiology: The Most Critical Issue in Church Planting Today," (available here) expresses well some of my concerns over our efforts to plant churches. I'll comment more on Dr. Payne's article later, but I have often written that our time in Western Europe has done much to strip away our "visions, dreams, passions, desires, finances [oh, yeah], and prestige" and give us a fresh, clean, simple, and, I believe, biblical idea that answers the question, "What is the church?"

Authenticity

From Emerging Churches, by Gibbs & Bolger:

"Often, congregations and groups that are preoccupied with being relevant lose their authenticity in the attempt." (181)

Fighting the good fight

It's possible that you receive our weekly "prayergram," which we've been sending out every Monday for four years. To my knowledge, we've only missed two Mondays. The prayers taken before the Father's throne every week in response to that e-mail have sustained us as has the encouragement we've received when the Holy Spirit leads someone to contact us as a result of something they've read.

A couple of weeks ago, Melanie wrote a prayergram about spiritual warfare. In that note, she mentioned that the battle is sometimes difficult and that it seems the fight grows stronger as we get closer and closer to seeing a new church in our context. Several people responded to that prayergram, some by asking if we needed counseling or medical help. That surprised me. It was almost like "struggling with spiritual battles" was "code" for "doing something that could get you in trouble." I have to confess that I've often struggled with the concept of spiritual warfare. I sometimes think that we give our enemy more credit than he deserves or that we often shift the blame for our own weaknesses to Satan's connivances. Without a doubt, though, his attacks are real and are aimed to discourage, distract, and destroy all that the Father wants to accomplish in our lives, our family, and our work in Paris.

Reality is that we work in a dark place and that, while I don't worry about malaria for my kids or persecution for my brothers and sisters in the church, there are some serious dangers in our country. Loneliness can convince us that we really are alone. Frustration with our organization or the culture where we work can convince as that there is no hope for either. The unresponsiveness of our neighbors and the slowness of our work can lead us to believe that God is neither hearing nor answering our prayers. Just as cold and dreary skies are the norm for Parisian winters, clouds of doubt and failure can darken even those most confident of their calling.

The only answer is in the Scripture and in the church. For years, Melanie has read from "Daily Light," a book of daily readings compiled by Anne Graham Lotz and based on a much earlier work. Today, those readings spoke directly to both of us.

From Micah 7:8-9 -- "Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; when I fall, I will arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me. He will bring me forth to the light; I will see His righteousness."

From Job (14:7): "There is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its tender shoots will not cease."

And from Romans 8: "The Spirit...helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for teh saints according to the will of God."

The only answer to the spiritual struggles we have is recognition that God is for us. He has brought us to this place to bring Him glory and to show that glory to those who do not know Him. His presence will sustain us.

As for the second part of that answer, the church, that will come next...

Some thoughts on leading

Ever since our big regional meeting, I've been thinking a lot about leadership. I guess it's something I should know a little bit about: I used to be a pastor and am now a church planter and team leader. It makes sense, I guess, that the subject should be getting familiar. But the more I think about it, the less I think I know.

A few weeks ago, I started asking God for wisdom: wisdom to make good decisions, wisdom on how to deal with people, wisdom on what to do today and tomorrow and the day after that. I've always turned to James 1 where he says "if you lack wisdom, ask God for it." So I asked. I asked Him to show me how to live and to lead.

A day or two later (this was all part of one of those read-the-Bible-in-a-year plans), I got to James 3, where God decided to answer my prayer. He showed me that thing number one to learn about leading is to watch my mouth. The verse (11) where James talks about bitter and sweet water coming out of the same fountain got to me.

Then, I read verses 13-18. James 1 says "ask God for wisdom" then in chapter 3 he says "you want wisdom? Here it is." In The Message, it says to "live humbly and get along with others." In the NASB, it says someone wanting to be seen wise should "show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom."

Wise leadership means humility, gentleness, and "sweet water." What a change from the model of the world and many churches. God, help me to be like that.

More on this later...