The Power of Perspective

If you were standing at the bottom of a skyscraper looking up, the thing would appear huge! And if you were flying at 30,000 feet in an airplane looking down on the skyscraper that same skyscraper would appear very tiny. It all depends on your perspective.

When you are overwhelmed with problems and trouble, what you need is some perspective. I don't know about you, but I have the tendency to feel as though what I'm going through is the end of the world. The truth is: it's not. And nothing can help you realize that more than a healthy dose of perspective. So how do you get perspective? Here's three suggestions:

1) Make a list. I recently made a list all the things that were overwhelming me. By making a list I tend to find that the number of problems really aren't as many as I think. Writing them down helps me to see that. This immediately helps me start feeling better.

2) Focus on someone who is going through more than you are. One time when I was overwhelmed by problems I started thinking about a biography I read by former President George W. Bush. On his list of problems was 9/11, war in Afghanistan, war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, the AIDS epidemic, etc. When I compared his list with my list I immediately felt lest stressed.

3) Spend some time in prayer. When we deal with problems on our own, we are at the bottom of the skyscraper looking up at the huge problem. When we pray, we are flying in a plane looking down on a tiny problem. Why? Because when we pray God gives us his perspective. And from where he is sitting all the problems look tiny.

Our problems are often much smaller than we make them out to be. So next time you're feeling overwhelmed, try and get some perspective. It's powerful and I know it will help.

Interview with Rick Warren

This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren, 'Purpose Driven Life ' author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California .In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:

People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness. This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for. You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, which is my problem, my issues, my pain.' But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others. We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her- It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people. You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease. So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72. First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit.. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free. We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)? When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.

Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.

Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.

Painful moments, TRUST GOD.

Every moment, THANK GOD..

Five Reasons to Plan In Advance

"Somebody pays the price for the sermon. The preacher will pay the price of advanced planning or the people will pay the price of wasted time."

Five Reasons to Plan In Advance

1. Stress and anxiety are significantly reduced and you become a better teacher

2. It becomes possible to integrate other areas of your church in with the weekend services when you know what you're preaching on in advance (i.e. preach on the value of small groups prior to growth group sign ups, preach on water baptism prior to scheduled water baptisms, preaching on serving prior to a ministry fair, etc.)

3. You can be more creative with worship and promotion when you know which message series is coming months in advance. Your dance team, drama team and/or worship team can't coordinate complimentary elements to the worship service the night before.

4. Planning in advance helps you to balance your preaching calendar around the five purposes of the church (evangelism, discipleship, worship, fellowship, and ministry). Unless you have an intentional plan to balance your preaching calendar, you'll lean towards the purpose you are most passionate about and place a greater emphasis on that purpose to the neglect of the other purposes.

5. Many churches no longer have a Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night service. Many churches now only have Sunday morning service and then the midweek growth group. Since you're only preaching a maximum of fifty two sermons a year, you have to be strategic with what you preach. This requires advanced planning.

Planning and the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit can direct your preaching calendar just as clearly a year in advance as He can the day before. Saying you don't want to plan in advance because that takes the Holy Spirit out of the equation is often an excuse for laziness. Planning in advance gives the Holy Spirit a greater opportunity to work in your preparation than if you wait till the last minute. Planning in advance is preparing in faith.

When to Discipline Your Children

Kristin and I are strong believers in disciplining our children. Why? Because discipline is an act of love. Proverbs 13:24 says "Those who spare the rod of discipline hate their children. Those who love their children care enough to discipline them." And because we love our children we discipline them. With that said, we've never written down on paper (until now) what qualifies as behavior that requires discipline. But today I was listening to an audio resource by Sandra Stanley and she said the three "D's" of disciple are 1) disobedience, 2) disrespect and 3) dishonesty. That is, we need to disciple our children when they are disobedient, disrespectful and dishonest. I've found that very helpful to use as a filter through which to determine what actions or behavior require disciple. I hope you do too!

Requirements for Promotion

In Nehemiah 7:2, Nehemiah appoints his brother Hanani over Jerusalem once the walls are rebuilt "for he was a faithful man and feared God more than many." Hanani proved himself over time and he had a reputation of a God-fearing man. Consequently, he was promoted. And these two things are exactly what we look for at New Day before promoting someone into a high level of influence within the church (or before hiring someone on staff). We don't just appoint/hire people to influential positions before they've proven themselves in lesser tasks and demonstrated a sincere love for God.

Every single one of our staff (Rachel, Peter, Bethany, Lester, Tracey) volunteered in roles of lesser responsibility before coming on staff. Why? They needed to prove themselves faithful in little before being entrusted with more. This is the bibilical pattern. Luke 16:10 says "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much."

And each one of our staff (before they became staff) proved their heart for God (and the things of God) through their faithful attendance, through their dedicated service and through through their generous giving. You might ask how their giving proves their heart for God? Matthew 6:21 says "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." There are certain positions of service that are not available to non-givers at New Day. Why? Because we don't want people serving in high levels of influence if we aren't sure their heart is invested in the work we are doing.

So when you're looking to promote one of your volunteers, you have to first ask yourself two questions: 1) Have they been faithful? If they haven't been faithful in little, don't entrust them with more. If they haven't been faithful in little, paying them won't change anything. Don't even consider paying someone if they haven't been faithful. They are not staff material. Past performance is the best indicator of future success. If they haven't done well in the small responsibilities they had, they won't be successful with greater resonsibilities. 2) Do they have a reputation as a God-fearing person? Do they demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit in their life (Galatians 5:22)? Are they kind and patient with others (1 Corinthians 13:1)? Do they faithfully attend church (Hebrews 10:25)? Do they talk about the things of God? Matthew 12:34 says "Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." When they talk about the things of God, that's an indicator of what's in their heart. And if they are being hired on staff or put in an influential volunteer role we also must ask "Are they givers TO NEW DAY CHURCH?" Again, someone will develop a heart for whatever they give to. We want peoples hearts to be invested in New Day, so it's not good enough to be a giver - one must be a giver TO NEW DAY CHURCH.

If you'll make your criteria 1) They must be faithful and 2) They must really love God, you'll make much better promotions.

Why Don't You Have an Altar Call?

Every so often someone at New Day asks "Why don't you have an altar call?" In this blog I hope to shed some light on why we do the altar call the way we do at New Day.

Let's begin with Scripture. The first thing to understand is that the phrase "altar call" doesn't appear in Scripture. Asking people to come to the front of the church to pray after the message is delivered isn't commanded in Scripture and you're not breaking a command of God if you decide not to do it. As a matter of fact, this practice of calling people to the front to respond to the message only started about 100 years ago. It was not a practice of the church the first nineteen hundred years of the church. Calling people out of their seat and to the front of the church to pray after the messge is a method. A method is a procedure for accomplishing something, which brings me to a question I want you to consider...what is it we are supposed to be accomplishing with our preaching? I have nothing against those who use a traditional altar call, but I will say that the purpose and goal of preaching, according to Scripture, is not to get people to come to the front of the room to pray. The purpose and goal of preaching is Christ-likeness in our character and our conduct. And Christ-likeness comes when we apply God's Word to our lives. And that's why we do "next steps" at New Day instead of a traditional come forward altar call. It all goes back to God's purpose for preaching, God's purpose for human beings, and God's purpose for the Scriptures.

Let's me help you make more sense of this. Proverbs 19:21 says "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." This verse shows us that God has a purpose for everything (for you, for me, for everything). And God has a purpose for preaching. What is God's purpose for preaching? Ephesians 4:11-13 says, “(Christ) gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." The purpose of preaching is Christ-likeness! Colossians 1:28 teaches the same thing. "We preach Christ to

each person, using all wisdom to warn and to teach everyone, in order to

bring each one into God’s presence as a mature person in Christ.” Again, the purpose of preaching is Christ-likeness!

Christ-likeness is also God's purpose for human beings. And Christ-likeness is God's purpose for Scripture. Check it out...

What is God's purpose for man? Romans 8:29, "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers." God's purpose for man is very clear: to make us like Jesus. Genesis 1:26 God said "Let us make man in Our image, in Our likeness..." Second Corinthians 3:18 says "...And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like Him and reflect His glory even more." First Corinthians 15:49 says "Just as we are now like Adam, the man of the earth, so we will some day be like Christ..." The purpose of man is to become like Jesus. Therefore, the purpose of preaching is to make people like Jesus. The same is true of the Scriptures.

What is the purpose of Scripture? Second Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: THAT the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” The purpose for doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction is so that we might be perfect - like Christ. The purpose of the Bible is to change our character (help us become perfect, mature, complete). And the purpose of the Bible is to change and our conduct (help us do good works). The purpose of Scripture is to help us develop Christ-like character and conduct. The purpose for the Bible is the same as God's purpose for preaching: Christ-likeness!

Having established that Christ-likeness is God's purpose for preaching, for mankind and for Scripture - The question now becomes "How does God make us like Christ?" His purpose and goal is that we become like Christ, but HOW specifically does this happen?

By applying God's Word to our lives! In John 17:17 Jesus prayed “Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.” To sanctify someone is to make them holy (make them like Christ). And how does this happen? Scripture teaches that we are sanctified, made holy, made like Christ, when we apply God's Word to our lives. Information isn't enough. Satan and his demons have knowledge of the Scriptures but they don't apply it to their lives. Application makes all the difference. James 1:24-25 says, “Anyone who listens to the Word but does not DO what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.” Most preaching is producing hearers of the Word. But peoples lives are not changed if they are only informed by but not transformed. And peoples lives are transformed when the word of God is taught in a way that helps people apply what they've learned. Again, that's why we use "next steps" at New Day.

Now let me ask you a question...knowing what you know now about God's purpose for preaching, for mandkind and for the Scriptures (that Christ-likeness is God's goal) - and knowing now that the application of God's Word produces Christ-likeness in the lives of his followers - what seems to YOU to be the most effective method for accomplishing God's purpose? I dare not be so arrogant to say that my "next steps" are better than someone else's "altar call". I just know that I'll give an account to God someday and I've chosen the METHOD that I feel will best accomplish God's goals.

So there you have it - the WHY behind WHAT we do at New Day as it relates to the response portion of the service.

How to Measure Importance

I was watching a documentary last night called Born Rich and the manager of some upscale New York night club said something very interesting. He explained that when he arrives each night for work he looks at the guest list, figures out who is most important and then seats people accordingly. He wants the wealthy people sitting where everyone can see them so they will inspire the 'common folk' to order expensive bottles of champaign.

This got me thinking...How does the manager determine who is most important? I'm not smart but since this was a documentary on being rich - it didn't take me too long to figure out the answer to my question. According to the manager (and the culture we live in) the more money you have the more important you are. It makes me sad to live in a culture where our importance is determined by how much money and material possessions we have. Thankfully, this is not how God measures importance. When God is measuring importance, he looks at a totally different set of criteria.

1. He looks at the heart.

First Samuel 16:7 says "But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

2. He looks to see if "love" is the number one characteristic in our life.

First Corinthians 13:1-3 says, "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Translation: If you don't "love" you're nothing in God's eyes!

3. He looks for a servant.

Matthew 23:11-12 says, The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

You might not have money. You might never become rich. You might get turned down if you ever tried to get into one of those fancy night clubs. Our culture may never label you "important". But if you have a pure heart, if you love, and if you serve - you will be very important in God's eyes.

How to Begin Fasting

When someone first begins lifting weights they shouldn't do anything extreme, rather they should ease into it. When someone begins running for the first time in a while they shouldn't do anything extreme (i.e. run 10 miles), rather they should ease into it (i.e. walk and jog for 1 mile). And what is true of physical fitness is true of spiritual fitness.

As it relates to fasting, skipping an entire meal might be too much too soon. This may be the physical equivalent of lifting too much and running to far when you're just getting into exercise. A better approach might be to start somewhere small and ease into it (i.e. begin fasting snacks or your favorite food). Then, once your "resisting muscles" are built up a bit you can begin fasting other things (i.e. entire meals).

Of all the spiritual disciplines, I am definitely weakest at fasting. But I want to change that, starting today. And I'm going to begin small, and take things from there.

Giving Creates Financial Margin

Giving money away is the number one way to create financial margin. Here’s how. Your lack of margin isn’t really a money issue. It’s a heart issue. Because your heart is materialistic, greedy and selfish - you spend and spend and spend to try and satisfy your insatiable appetite for stuff. And in doing so you use up any financial margin you had - and when this heart issue is really bad it results in negative financial margin (what you may know as debt). It’s a heart issue, not an issue of how much money you make. Now, here’s how giving money away actually helps you to create MORE margin. When you give money away it breaks the power of money in your life. That is, when you give money away God changes your heart. When you give...the GRIP that materialism, greed and selfishness has on you begins to loosen - a little bit at a time. And when you aren’t so materialistic you don’t spend as much on stuff you don’t need. When you aren’t greedy, you don’t have to buy every single thing you lay your eyes on. When you aren’t selfish you don’t need to consume all the money you have to indulge yourself. And in this way you CREATE MORE MARGIN by giving your money away.

Here is something you need to learn about God...Everything he asks us to do IS FOR OUR GOOD. He’s such a loving and caring God and when he tells us to do something it’s because we’ll be better off if we obey. We don’t honor God with our finances because we think we’ll be worse off instead of better off if we follow his ways. We don't obey God by giving to the local church because we mistakenly think that if we do there won't be enough left for me. That’s not true. You want to be in the best financial shape possible? Follow God’s instructions related to money.

Why Do One Prayer?

New Day recently participated in something called One Prayer. It was absolutely fantastic for so many reasons. If your church has never participated in One Prayer, let me give you several reasons to join in next year:

1. Why not? The Bible says wise people are open to new ideas. In fact they look for them! (paraphrase of Proverbs 18:15)

2. A lot of churches say that one of their core values is to redeem technology. One Prayer is the perfect opportunity to do just that!

3. Participating in One Prayer is practicing good stewardship. Most churches could not afford to pay these amazing communicators as guest speakers. With plane tickets, hotel room, meal per diem and the honorarium it would cost thousands!! Through One Prayer, it's free!

4. It's a step toward answering Jesus' prayers for us in John 17 that his followers would unite and become one.

5. It frees up the lead pastor to work on advancing other important areas of the church (besides sermon development).

6. It gives the people of your church a chance to hear other gifted communicators and be blessed by their messages, while at the same time getting a break from you (this is a good thing from time to time no matter how much the people in the church like hearing their pastor preach).

Is It Too Much to Ask?

Is it too much to ask for both MORAL and MUSICAL excellence? It seems that churches either have one or the other. But why can't we have both? At New Day my prayer is that we have people with MORAL excellence - that is, they love Jesus more than they love music. But I also pray for MUSICAL excellence - that is, they are capable of rocking the house on their instrument. At some churches the band really loves Jesus but they stink on their instruments. At other churches the musicians are sick on their instruments, but they might not even be able to SPELL Jesus (never mind live like him). I want BOTH. I'm praying for both. I'm believing for both. God, please give us both.

Debt and the Church

Will New Day save until we have the money we need for the things we need and want to buy? Or will we use debt as a means to get the things we need and want for the ministry? That's the decision I'm facing right now. Below are some of my thoughts after reading the chapter on debt from Money Possessions and Eternity by Randy Alcorn. I'm 100% undecided at this moment (although I'm leaning towards not going into debt).

1. I teach my kids that "money comes from work." I don't teach that "money comes from borrowing." Would going into debt set a bad example for my kids? Is debt our means of short-circuiting the God-created means of acquisition - including work, saving, planning, self-discipline, patience, and waiting for divine provision.

2. I teach my church that "debt is not a sin, but it is usually unwise." Would going into debt set a bad example for my church?

3. As a Christian I believe that where God guides, God provides. If the provision isn't there, is God really guiding? Is not having enough resources to pay cash for what I want God's way of telling me it isn't his will for me to buy it?

4. Debt often results in financial pressures strong enough to break up marriages. Would borrowing create financial pressure of any kind in my life? Stress experts say that the bigger a person's mortgage (or any debt), the bigger the stress. Debt is a serious enemy of mental health.

5. I believe the government should limit spending to available revenues. Is it right to hold New Day Church to a different standard?

6. Proverbs 22:7 says "...the borrower is servant to the lender." And 1 Corinthians 7:23 says "...do not become slaves of men." Do I want to be servant to the bank or servant to the Lord? Do I want to be my creditors slave or Christ's slave?

7. Romans 13:8 says "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another..." (NASB) Does this verse prohibit debt? The NIV reads "Let no debt remain outstanding..." which allows debt but only under conditions that it be paid off. However, if going into debt is always sin it's difficult to understand why Scripture gives guidelines about lending and even encourages it under certain circumstances. If debt is always sin, then lending is aiding and abetting sin, and God would never encourage it.

8. Because of the interest you pay when you go in debt, if New Day went into debt we would have to pay a certain amount of money in addition to what the items cost. For example, if I wanted to buy $15,000 of equipment valued at $15,000 - but had to pay 15% interest on the loan, then I would be paying an additional $2,250 for the equipment. Am I a good steward when I pay several thousand dollars more than something is worth just so that I can have it before I can afford it?

9. Being a borrower is listed among the curses that would come upon the children of Israel if they disobeyed God (Deuteronomy 28:44-45).

10. Nehemiah 5:3-5 describes being in debt as NOT a good thing. In a time of famine, the ultimate act of despair was to mortgage fields, vineyards and homes. Should such things take place under normal circumstances? According to the Bible, is debt reserved for desperate situations or everyday use?

11. The Old Testament shows a strong connection between debtors and slaves. Both debts and slavery were canceled in the year of Jubilee. More often than not, the person was a slave because he was a debtor (Deuteronomy 15:2,12). Unable to pay back debts, he was sold into slavery.

12. In the Year of Jubilee debts were cancelled. If debts were a good thing, why would God establish a time where people could become debt free? I don't know that this means debt is always wrong, but I do think it at the least puts debt in a negative light (in my opinion).

13. Is the money I will be obligated to repay, and the bondage it will create, worth the value I'll receive by getting the money or possessions now?

14. Is debt a vicious cycle? Once I pay off the debt, what new needs and wants will I have? Having used debt to get what I need and want for the church, will I be tempted to use debt again as a means to get what I want? Would this violate the principle from Nehemiah that debt is for dire circumstances?

15. Do we believe God knows best what our needs are? Debt spends money we don't have. So isn't our decision to go into debt proof that we believe we need more than God has given us?

16. If we don't have the resources to buy something, and if we feel such need for it that we're borrowing to get it, are we saying God has failed to meet our needs? Is going into debt saying "God has failed to provide for our needs, so I'll just take matters into my own hands"?

17. Is debt presuming upon the future finances of the church? It's one thing to trust God to provide for our present needs (Matthew 6:33). It's another to presume upon him by dictating (via a decision to incur debt) the terms of his future provision. Is going into debt an act of faith or presumption?

18. Is debt our way of getting around depending on God?

19. James 4:14 warns that we cannot know what will happen tomorrow. And if we don't know and cannot control all that the future holds, how can we be sure that we can pay off new debts? We can be certain that God will provide for our basic material needs if we seek first his kingdom (Matthew 6:25-34), but where does the Bible promise that God will provide for all the debts we incur through our own impatience or presumption?

20. Scripture mentions three major building programs. Each was financed directly by up-front giving. There were no tabernacle bonds, no borrowing, no pledges - just straightforward giving. People gave more than enough and had to be restrained from giving to the tabernacle (Exodus 36:6-7). In each of these three building projects (the tabernacle, the temple, the rebuilding of the temple) the work didn't begin until it was obvious that the project could be completed without borrowing.

21. In Luke 14:28-30 it wouldn't be a stretch to say that Jesus taught that a project should only be undertaken with the certainty of having sufficient funds for completion (i.e. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?).

22. In the Old Testament building projects, future ministry was paid for with present money. But churches that borrow pay for present ministry with future money. Which philosophy is God in favor of?

23. Would NOT borrowing create a greater dependence on God and allow God to show his faithfulness to our church?

24. If we sang hymns at New Day (we usually don't) would we be able to sing this one if we went into debt: "All I have needed Thy hand hath provided - Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!"

25. Does debt tempt us and allow us to pursue what God hasn't provided and doesn't intend for us?

I don't have answers to all these questions, but I'll be thinking about and praying for insight as to the best path for New Day to take. Debt or no debt? Any thoughts? Please pass them along!

Why Not Start a Church?

I gave a talk yesterday on why we should start more churches (based off Ed Stetzer's Planting Missional Churches). Included in my talk were reasons we DON'T start new churches. I'm posting my notes below.

After seeing what the Bible says about church planting, you might be thinking “Man, why doesn’t everybody church plant! This is clearly what God wanted!” Here’s a couple reasons why new churches aren’t started.

1. Because people don't realize that new churches are statistically most effective in evangelism.

• Bruce McNichol did some research on the age of a church and their effectiveness in evangelism and found the following...
• Churches under 3 years of age win an average of 10 people to Christ per year for every hundred church members.
• Churches 3-15 years of age win an average of 5 people per year for every hundred church members.
• Churches over 15 years of age win an average of 3 people per year for every hundred church members.

2. Because people don't realize there is room for more new churches in their area.

• It may actually be harder for a seminarian to start a church for the following reason: A seminarian often has accumulated so much debt they can’t take the low salary that often comes with just starting out in a church plant. And I’m not even saying they wouldn’t be willing to take the low salary - a lot of times they simply can’t (because they need enough to support their families and pay down their student loans).
• A friend of mine just graduated from seminary out in Springfield MO and he’s not even sure he can afford to go into ministry. He’s considered working a secular job just to pay down his debt. Most churches don’t pay extra for education. They pay for experience and for skills that allow you to be efficient and effective at your work. Therefore, it’s not only the church planter who starts off with a low salary.
• Some denominational leaders or church leaders often consider pastoral candidates without seminary training to be ineligible or unprepared to plant new churches. This bias limits your options, increases your costs, and certainly isn’t in line with Scripture (i.e. Jesus didn’t overlook Peter just because he didn’t have seminary training - and Peter started a church that began with 3,000 and then continued to grow from there). This professional-church syndrome hurts church planting.

3. Because some are afraid to trust ordinary people to lead a church plant.

• Ed Stetzer, in his book Planting Missional Churches, refers to “Professional-Church Syndrome.” This refers to the notion that all churches must have seminary-trained pastors to be legitimate. However, while education is important, years of academic training are not necessary to start a church.
• It may actually be harder for a seminarian to start a church for the following reason: A seminarian often has accumulated so much debt they can’t take the low salary that often comes with just starting out in a church plant. And I’m not even saying they wouldn’t be willing to take the low salary - a lot of times they simply can’t (because they need enough to support their families and pay down their student loans).
• A friend of mine just graduated from seminary out in Springfield MO and he’s not even sure he can afford to go into ministry. He’s considered working a secular job just to pay down his debt. Most churches don’t pay extra for education. They pay for experience and for skills that allow you to be efficient and effective at your work. Therefore, it’s not only the church planter who starts off with a low salary.
• Some denominational leaders or church leaders often consider pastoral candidates without seminary training to be ineligible or unprepared to plant new churches. This bias limits your options, increases your costs, and certainly isn’t in line with Scripture (i.e. Jesus didn’t overlook Peter just because he didn’t have seminary training - and Peter started a church that began with 3,000 and then continued to grow from there). This professional-church syndrome hurts church planting.

4. Some people think it's better to invest in dying churches versus investing in starting new ones.

• Because it’s easier to give birth than to raise the dead!
• Some authorities argue that changing a rigid, tradition-bound congregation is almost impossible.
• In the same way that sometimes it’s more cost-effective to purchase a new vehicle, rather than pouring more and more money into an old one to keep it running like new - it’s sometimes more cost-effective to start a new church rather than pouring more and more time and money into trying to fix an old one.
• Fact: Church revitalization does not happen much. It does happen sometimes, but not much.
• Recent studies show that nine of ten people who are told by doctors to “change or die” cannot do so. In other words, they are told to stop smoking, lose weight, or quit drinking in order to survive, and nine of ten die rather than change. Churches are similar; they often choose their traditions over their future. But some can and do change.
• I personally believe we need both revitalization of dying churches and the start of healthy brand new churches, while giving a larger percentage of money and attention to the latter (to church planting).

5. Because some people are still living under the delusion that America is still a Christian nation.

• While North American Christians have access to abundant resources of information (i.e. Larry Burkett for financial information, James Dobson for advice on raising children, Third Day for Christian music, Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins for Christian fiction), the unchurched people in North America remain generally untouched by this evangelical subculture and live in darkness because we aren’t drawing them in with a culturally relevant gospel witness.
• Unchurched North Americans no longer have a biblical worldview or understanding. Their religious ideas tend to be distorted reflections of biblical truth. In other words, secular people may be familiar with certain religious terminology or ideas, but their familiarity is often a distortion of its original meaning.
• According to George G. Hunter, one of the country’s foremost experts on evangelism and church growth...
• The U.S. is the largest mission field in the Western hemisphere.
• The U.S. is the fifth largest mission field on earth.

Why Start a New Church?

Yesterday I gave a talk on reasons to start a church. I thought I'd post my notes here. This is roughly based off a section in Ed Stetzer's Planting Missional Churches.

1. John 20:21, Jesus explained, As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

• Jesus said “As the Father has sent me...” How did the Father send Jesus? He sent Jesus “to seek and save what was lost” (Luke 19:10). And we are sent in the same manner as Jesus - to seek and save the lost. We are to pick up Jesus’ earthly work and continue doing it.
• This sending statement doesn’t apply just to the disciples. If we consider the Bible a living document with relevance to God’s people through the ages - Jesus’ words apply to both those who originally heard them and to us!
• God sent Jesus to start a church! Matthew 16:18, “Now I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.”
• We should start new churches because Jesus is sending us as the Father sent Him. And Jesus was sent to start a church.

2. Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. ²⁰ Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

• In this passage Jesus gave the task of world evangelization to his disciples - both then and now. That is, we are to take the gospel to every nation - what missiologists now call every people group and population segment.
• You see - the Great Commission IS church planting! The Great Commission instructs us to 1) make disciples, 2) baptize those disciples, and 3) teach those disciples. All three of these things are tasks and functions of the church. Do you get what I’m saying. The Great Commission IS church planting! Disciples are made in the church, people are baptized in the church, people are taught the Word of God in the church. The Great Commission IS church planting.

Here’s an interesting thought...

• The best indication of what Jesus meant when he gave the Great Commission can be found in how the first hearers responded. Let that sink it. The best indication of what Jesus meant when he gave the Great Commission can be found in how the first hearers responded.
• The apostles heard the Great Commission and as they had opportunity on the Day of Pentecost, the preached the gospel and formed a church with the converts - all 3,000 of them!
• The new converts started house church after house church to do their part in fulfilling the Great commission...In Acts 5:28 the high priest said to the apostles “Didn’t we tell you never again to teach in Jesus’ name? Instead, you have filled all Jerusalem with your teaching about him...” Christianity spread through church planting. Remember Saul (before he became Paul)? What did he do? He went from place to place trying to put Christians in prison. Wait. Why did he have to travel? Because the church spread out through church planting.
• The persecuted church left Jerusalem and began doing the same thing they were doing back in Jerusalem - they started churches! In Acts 8 I think God allowed the persecution that broke out against the church because he knew that his Great Commission would be fulfilled through it. Look what happened! Acts 8:1 says that because of the persecution all the believers (by this time there were 5,000 men not including the women and children - Acts 4:4) left Jerusalem except for the apostles. And what did they do as they spread out over the regions of Judea and Samaria? Acts 8:4 says that the believers who were scattered preached the Good News about Jesus wherever they went. We know that Philip started a church in Samaria and others did the same in the regions they settled into.
• The apostle Paul, once converted, dedicated his life to fulfilling the Great Commission. And what did that look like for him? He went around starting churches. They are the same churches we read about now in the book of Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, etc.
• Again - how do we know that the Great Commission is a call to church planting? Because the best indication of what Jesus meant when he gave the Great Commission can be found in how the first hearers responded. And the apostles, the new converts of the early church, the persecuted church in Jerusalem and the apostle Paul ALL responded to the Great Commission by going out and starting churches!

3. Luke 24:47, Jesus told his disciples to preach "repentance and forgiveness of sins...to all nations."

• This is great church planting advice. This is how you start a church. You go among the lost, you reach out with love to the lost and you preach repentance and forgiveness of sins. This is the biblical model.
• When Peter finished preaching on the Day of Pentecost Acts 2:37-38 records that Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” ³⁸ Peter replied, “Each of you must repent...for the forgiveness of your sins.
• Jesus knew that as we reached out to “all nations” we’d have to use different methods to reach different people. That is - every church will look a little different because different methods are required to reach different people groups (i.e. you wouldn’t use the same methods in a retirement community that you might use with twenty somethings). But he wanted us to remember that even though we’d be using different methods to reach different people, the message must always be the same (i.e. There is peace with God through Jesus Christ - turn away from your sins and turn toward God and receive forgiveness of sins).

4. Acts 1:8, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

• Why start new churches? Because Jesus intended from the beginning that his message spread out.
• This final sending statement of Jesus provides the geography of church planting. We are to start in one place, and then expand out. This is impossible to do without the start of new churches. People will only drive so far to come to your church. At some point you need to start a new church so that people can become active members of your congregation. The statistics show that people who live a certain number of minutes and miles from your church are less likely to serve at and invite their friends to your church.
• Today we could think of Jerusalem as our community, Judea as our state, Samaria as our continent, and the utter most parts of the earth as other continents that are not our own. However you slice it and dice it, the church is to continue to expand. This is done through church planting.
• Interesting side note: Many churches take the gospel to the ends of the earth through their mission work, while forgetting about Judea (their state) and Samaria (their continent). That is, they are all for helping God’s Word spread abroad, but do very little to help it spread at home.

Why Good Enough is Good Enough

Here's a great article by Rick Warren that I had to pass along.

A survey done last year, with the United States already deep into the current recession, showed that churches and nonprofits were increasingly turning to volunteers to help them do more for less. According to J. David Schmidt & Associates, 1 in 5 churches and nonprofits had increased their volunteer use to offset the economic downturn.

Unfortunately, many churches have set the bar so high striving for ministry excellence that they can’t find volunteers to step up. Some churches have fostered this myth by making “excellence” an idol, which makes people of average talent hesitant to get involved. Many Christians never serve because they fear they aren’t good enough to do so. They believe the lie that serving God is only for superstars.

You may have heard it said, “If it can’t be done with excellence, don’t do it.” Well, Jesus never said that! The truth is, almost everything we do is done poorly when we first start doing it—that’s how we learn.

In fact, the Bible says, “If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done” (Ecclesiastes 11:4 NLT). That perfectly describes many churches today.

Yet, our growth at Saddleback has happened because we hold to the “good enough” principle,” which allows far more people to get involved. We simplify everything and accept less than perfect performance in order to mobilize more people. It doesn’t have to be perfect for God to use and bless it.Some churches hold up such a standard of excellence that they basically say to volunteers, “If you’re not a professional, you don’t need to apply, because we only want the very best.” That creates a congregation of passive spectators.

At Saddleback we would rather involve thousands of regular folks in ministry than have a perfect church run by a few elites. We’d like to be a model for other churches, so we aim for average people doing average activities in order to get extraordinary results. That’s how the typical McDonalds succeeds while being staffed by high school students. The system works; it doesn’t require unusual talent.

In fact the good-enough principle was the concept behind our P.E.A.C.E. Plan, too: “Ordinary people doing what Jesus did, wherever they are.” If we’re going to defeat the giants of spiritual emptiness, corrupt leadership, extreme poverty, pandemic disease, and rampant illiteracy, it won’t happen by just mobilizing the superstars and experts in those fields. There’s just not enough. We’ve got to mobilize everyone.

That’s why good enough beats ministry excellence – hands down!

"We simplify everything and accept less than perfect performance in order to mobilize more people. It doesn't have to be perfect for God to use and bless it. " ~Rick Warren