Musings on Spiritual Matters

by Matthew Morine

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Matthew is originally from Nova Scotia, Canada. He has a beautiful wife named Charity. Matthew has two wonderful children, Gabrielle and Noah. He has graduated from the Brown Trail School of Preaching, Heritage Christian University with his Bachelors of Arts in Biblical Studies, Lipscomb University with his Master's of Arts in Biblical Studies and Freed-Hardeman University with his Master's of Divinity. Presently, he is working on his Doctorate of Ministry at Harding Graduate School of Religion. His articles have appeared in the World Evangelist, the Highway to Holiness, The West Virginia Christian, The Christian Echo, The Firm Foundation, Church Growth, and the Gospel Advocate.

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What Will Get You Fired?

Posted By Matthew on July 30, 2010

33_15_10---Fire-Flame-Texture_webThis week I had a interesting conversation with my friend Colin Packer about what will get you fired in a congregation.  Of course, there are certain things that will get you fired, and most of you know what they are, like moral sin, or teaching false doctrine, but this post is about the differences between what will get you fired in a 200 member church compared to a 600 member church or larger.  It is a contrast of a middle size church to a large size church.  Colin has predominantly worked with larger size congregations in his past while I have been more involved with middle size congregations in my past.  In a middle size congregation, if you do not bring growth to the congregation, typically you will not get fired, in fact, I have had friends who were fired for doing the opposite and bringing a ton of growth to a church, and the elders asked them to leave.  In a middle size congregation, you maintaining means that you are relationally connected to the church.  Do you have a good relationship with the elders, do you have a good rapport with the long standing members, and mostly do you provide the relational aspect to the membership.  This means do you visit enough.  Your preaching has to be sound, but does not have to be great.  Mostly, you will not be fired in a middle size church because you are not providing growth.

In contrast to this, in a larger size congregation, if you are not providing growth to the church, you will be asked to leave.  You have to be a leader more in this situation, and help a large congregation move the attendance up.  If you do this, you will be hired away quickly in a 500 member congregation to a larger one, but once you are in the 1000 member congregation, mostly  you need to continue to provide an increase in numbers.  The relational aspect declines a lot in the large church, and moves to a great speaker format.  This is because this is all most members will judge you by.  Can you bring down the house?

What do you think of all of this?  And how do elders or congregation make a bad hire because of these differences in outlook in congregational size?  Love to hear your thoughts.

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The Paradigm for Social Justice

Posted By Matthew on July 29, 2010

awesome_god_640x480In 1 Corinthians 15:24-27, the theocentric focus of Paul becomes more in view.  This section emphasizes the post resurrection work of Jesus in which Christians participate in overthrowing the rule and authority of this present age.  Jesus will deliver up the kingdom of God when “He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.”  1 Corinthians 2:6 “…nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away…” is the present tense which means that this overthrowing of the powers of this world is a continuing work of God and Christ.[1] Verse 24 can be seen as a partnership with Christ.  The church follows the lead of Jesus in seeking to abolish those structures and systems that enslave those who are weak.  The idea of “power” refers to government, while “rule” and “authority” could refer to the abstract idea of “God opposing authority”.[2] The missional movement is larger than evangelism; it also seeks to overthrow injustice in this world because this is also the mission of God.


[1] Hebrews 2 and 1 Corinthians 15:24-27 seem to be parallel verses, but in Hebrews the overthrowing is accomplished by God and in 1 Corinthians the work is done by Jesus.  Instead of seeing a conflict, more than likely there is a partnership in ridding the world of destructive forces that enslave God’s people.  Wilber B. Wallis, “The Use of Psalms 8 and 110 in I Corinthians 15:25-27 and in Hebrews 1 and 2” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 15 (1972): 25-29.

[2] F. W. Grosheide, Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, The New International Commentary on the NT (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1976): 366.

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Review of “A Year of Living Biblically”

Posted By Matthew on July 28, 2010

The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as PossibleI read this book because of my friend Josh Ross.  He mentioned a story from it.  And I am always looking for some new books to read.  I thought about reading it before, but with his endorsement, it was a sealed deal.  This book was really interesting because the author comes from a Jewish background, more of a family Jew than a religious Jew, really the guy did not even believe in God, but he did this experiment, which he took really seriously.  He attempted to follow every command in the Old Testament and New Testament, which was hard, especially some of the Old Testament stuff.  In fact, the author even highlighted some stuff that I never heard about before, like stealing some egg from a bird.  The book does two things, it points to the fact that most of us do not follow the entire Bible, we mostly pick and choose, and second of all, it does make a person change when you are following the word of God.  The author felt like he was a better person, and maybe even a little happier, such as when he was working on being more thankful.  He even became addicted to gratitude.  Though the guy looked funny with his long beard and hair on the sides, he felt that he was in a special club, a certain “in” club he was introduced to.  This book certainly was a wonderful read, he is a good writer, and being a minister I enjoyed the journey.  Well worth the time.

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A Church for Weak Christians

Posted By Matthew on July 27, 2010

3 lazy polar bearsSometimes I hear about churches that would rather have a congregation of 150 truly faithful over a congregation of 350 of weak Christians.  This is really a funny situation or desire.  First of all, can you really have a church of one or the other.  Can you have the entire church full of mature Christians and can you have a church totally full of weak Christians?  Probably not.

It seems though that sometimes churches see the 150 strong Christians as a better option than the 350 weak Christians.  People say, “we rather have 150 people that are totally dedicated to the Lord than 350 people that are weak in the Lord.  It reminds me of those math assignments in elementary school, “put the alligator’s mouth on that which is greater.”  Often people would place it on the 150 strong Christians. But I would argue that you could never have 150 strong Christians in a congregation.  This is an impossible situation because these Christians would not be that strong.  First of all, if the congregation remains at 150, it seems that these strong Christians are not that evangelistic.  Also, these 150 of spiritual strength must not be that loving and friendly because if they were people would be flocking to the congregation.  And the ultimate problem with this value system of picking the 150 over the 350 is that the 150 would be the most selfish and internally focused congregation ever.  What ever happened to the strong serving the weak (Rom 15:1-3).  If you have all these strong Christians, the 250 weak Christians need to be mentored, loved, and encouraged by them.  And what about the weak Christians, do they not deserve to be in our churches.  These are the people that we need to work with the most.  Not consider to be less than the strong Christians.

It is my value to have a church for weak Christians.  We need to be working with them, not pushing them away.  I would rather work with a congregation of 500 weak Christians than one of 150, because if they are so strong, they do not need me to work with them.  So Lord, let me be a minister to the weak and not to the strong.

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The Best Gift Ever

Posted By Matthew on July 26, 2010

1178354_old_bibleThroughout my ministry, I have received some pretty awesome gifts.   Sometimes I feel like the best treated minister in the Churches of Christ.  People are always doing amazing things for me and are always giving me over the top presents.  But this latest gift has been the best, by far, ever.  When I say this, you need to realize that I have been given a car before, I was given a ton of money before, and I was given a Kindle DX for Christmas one time, and I was given A signed Sidney Crosby autograph of him after the game winning goal.  I have received some super nice stuff but none of these compare to what was sent to me in the mail.  It is the most special gift I was ever given so far in my life.  Of course I am not saying this is better than eternal salvation, my kids, and my wife, but hopefully you see the point.  This past Friday, I went to the mailbox and opened it.  There was a package from Linda Wesbrooks, she is the wife of my mentor who passed away last year.  There was a little note in the package explaining the gift.  She said, “Burnice would have wanted you to have this.”  It was his preaching bible.  The little New Testament that he carried into the pulpit with him.  It still had sermon outlines in it.  Of all the things I have ever received this was the most dear to me.  It meant so much because my ministry is such a reflection of him.  He mentored me, loved me, encouraged me, believed in me, and helped me with everything.  It is so hard sometimes these days to know what to do, I feel so alone in this work, because he is no longer with me to bounce ideas off of, or how do I do this in the church, and how do I work out this situation.  How I miss this so much.  But his Bible sits in my office, as a reminder of his influence in my life.

I watched Karate Kid (the original one) this weekend, and in the show there was a line that so reminded me of our relationship.  Daniel said to his mentor, “you are the best friend I ever had.”  And Burnice was the best friend I ever had.  Thank you Linda for the best gift ever.  It means so much to me to have his Bible.  Man, I miss my friend.

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Review of “NurtureShock”

Posted By Matthew on July 23, 2010

NurtureShock: New Thinking About ChildrenThis was an awesome book.  It is not a “how to” on parenting but is a scientific study of some of the ways that people raise children.  This book was a great read, which means that it flowed well, and was a highly interesting read.  It really causes you to think about some of the habits that you have in training your children.  The book looks at some of the common assumptions that people have that are important in raising children to be good kids in this world.  And it looks at some of these methods, and through studies, shows that this is really a wrong approach.  One of the best chapters was on the nature of praise.  How you praise will dictate your child’s future.  It talked about the need to address race in the family.  It even talks about why brothers and sisters fight.  Of all of the parenting books that I have read, this was the most interesting.  It might not be filled with step one and step two stuff, but it will seriously causes you to think about some of the stuff you see in parenting.  This was a great read people and I highly recommend it.

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How to Make Friends at Church

Posted By Matthew on July 22, 2010

handsThis is typically not the problem with a minister.  You might not have any close friends, but you are always invited to all of the parties.  There is always a standing invitation for you at the door, unless it is a sinful party then you will not be invited, which is fine with you.  Most people want to be nice to the preacher and his family.  Everyone will talk to you.  But for the average member, just the normal happy family, how do you make friends at church?  This might seem easy but from what I hear from church members, this is one of the hardest things to do.  How do you get into a church?

1.  First of all, you have to be there.  You have to go to the events, whether a potluck, or services, but people will be your friend it seems after you have put in the time.  This can take awhile because often church members will not talk to you much.  They will be too busy talking with their friends.  So hang in there, you will feel out of place, but with time, you will make friends.

2. Second of all, join a ministry.  It is hard for church members to go to the next level with you.  They do not know what to say, so it is a lot more enjoyable to talk with their previous friends, but if you join a ministry, people will talk to you because they need your help.  Of course, no one will ask you to join, so just jump in there and start working.  You will make friends if you do.

3. Third of all, the sad reality is that you must first be friendly because typically the church members will not.  They will not invite you over for dinner, they already have enough friends and they are coming over anyway, so you will have to do the inviting, and yes, I know this is not fair, but this is reality.  If you do get a invite sometimes, it is that “I have to do this” which is never fun to go to.

4. Forth of all, often the established members in the church do not want to be your friend, they might be nice, but the reality is that they already have enough friends, and really they do not care if you stay or go.  Yes this is really sad, but I have seen this too much.  So what can you do, well, look for other new members, they are really looking for friends and would be happy to connect with you.  Start here and not at the long time members.

Here is some practice real life advice.  I know everyone struggles with coming into a new congregation, but if you follow these suggestions, you will make friends quicker in the congregation.

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What Was That Sower Doing?

Posted By Matthew on July 21, 2010

Emmaus2“Behold, the sower went out to sow;” and some fell on the rocky soil, and some on the thorny soil, and some fell along the road, and some fell on good soil.  This sower has really bad aim.  If this guy was working for me, I would have fired him.  He cannot get the seeds to where they belong.  He is throwing those seeds everywhere, and seems to be wasting them.  Does he know that there is just a limited supply of seeds, does he not watch where he is throwing, maybe he has no aim.  Seems like this guy will put a seed anywhere.  Seeds are money, and this seems to be a huge waste for the farmer.  Maybe we should fire the sower?

Or not, notice that this guy is not concerned with where the seeds are spread.  He is just throwing the seeds left and right.  He seems to care less about the destination of the seeds.  Does he not know we like middle class white people in this church, and how about Saddleback Sam, hopefully he threw some seeds his way.  Maybe if we are lucky, none of those seeds went into the projects or to the trailer parks.  But probably they did, and the next thing we know this church might be filled with Gentiles and Samaritans.

Sometimes we spend so much time making sure the seed is placed so perfectly in the soil, that we barely sow anything.  We are so concerned about the destination of the seed that we stop throwing seeds left and right, but the sower in the parable just whiffs seeds everywhere.  He seems to care less about final destination.

It seems that in church we have courses on how to throw seed (church growth), but this sower is just throwing seeds everywhere.  We talk about how to throw seed, techniques for casting seed, but the sower just throws and he lets the soil do its thing.

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Clarity in Change

Posted By Matthew on July 20, 2010

mother_child_handsEveryone who understands system theory knows that “change is always resisted.”  This is a rule that will never be broken.  This rule is even more solidified in a church setting.  People will refuse to change.  If in the little stuff, change can cause some serious anxiety in the congregation.  And sometimes, it is warranted.  One prominent congregation in the churches of Christ once made huge changes to the congregation and printed, “if you do not like it, you can leave.”  Wow, now this was a great change strategy.

Change is also a problem because people need to know why the change.  A lot of church members feel that “change for change sake is wrong.”  No one wants to change just to change.  The process is too hard.  So people in our churches are looking for a reason to change.  This is where good leadership takes place.  You must communicate about the change clearly.

Change is always resisted when there is little direction concerning the purpose, motivation, and end game for the change.  It is not that people are mean spirited, but often people are confused.  People would come with you, but they do not know where they are going.  Of course, there is hesitation in following the leaders.  It is always amazing when a preacher or a leadership announces a change movement, and people resist it and the leadership and preacher are shocked.  And then these leaders become upset with the membership, but it is not their fault, the leadership never told them where they wanted the church to go.

With every plan to change, if the little stuff, there must be a communication plan as well.  Until you know how to communicate the change, the change must be pushed aside.  All leaders must dialogue about how to clarity communicate the change to the congregation.

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Searching for Bright Spots

Posted By Matthew on July 19, 2010

408022651_ec1346a050_mOur natural tendency is to focus on the negative in life.  This is seen in marriages, churches, and jobs.  It is a powerful force of negativity in life.  It can start to take hold of a person and cause some serious problems.  In the church, this is especially true.  People general look at the negative or the problems in a congregation.  From my experience, no congregation is problemless and no congregation is perfect.  In most cases, you have to make the mental choice to focus on the positive or the negative.

For an example, the congregation at Castle Rock has shifted evening services to 1:30pm.  This was done to help those who travel some distance as well as free up time for families in the evening.  It was done on a trial bases to make sure if there was problems we could address them and we could improve it.  We saw this time shift as somewhat as a inconvenience because of the cutting into nap time for the kids, but once again God provided the reason for the shift.  Yesterday, our nighbors had a huge block party for the street.  Typically we would have missed this time together, but because of the time shift, we were able to attend.  This was a huge event to show our love to our community.  It was a great missional opportunity and Charity and I saw the work of the Lord in this.

In a congregation, I really believe we do not give enough credit to God in change.  It might be a small change, and we can debate about it, and resist it, but we must allow room for God to world.  The more that I see God working, the more I realize that God is always up to something, and in most cases He can bring a positive in some of the worst cases.  People, look for the bright spots in your churches.  You can start to see them if you look, they are all around us.  I believe that God always blessings us when we are seeking to move for Him.  We can choice what we focus on, look for the bright spots, if we do, we will see the Lord.

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