Musings on Spiritual Matters

Lectureships, Lies, and Legacy

Matthew — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:02:21 +0000

A lot of my friends will be heading to Henderson, Tennessee soon. The famous Freed-Hardeman Lectureships will be starting next week. This was a yearly event for me during my time in Waynesboro. It was always a highlight of the year for two reasons. It was a week off from graduate classes and an opportunity to go hear some great speakers and see some old friends. Maybe I should not say this, but lectureships are like the prom for preachers. Who is looking good, who is with who, is there going to be a big break up, someone leaving a work for another, and now this congregation is starting to date again. There are preachers looking for new works, and elders seeking new ministers. There are connections made. There is a lot of social activity taking place. And yes, for me, I love this stuff. I love eating lunch with people, talking with famous preachers, seeing old friends, and yes, I am a loser to some, getting preacher’s autographs. Yes, I am that guy. I love lectureships, and especially the big ones. Unfortunately, lectureships do not carry the weight that they once did. They are still well attended, but I hear stories of the famous ACU lectureships years ago, in which the big guys would come and speak. I wish I was there for the Jimmy Allen racism sermon. I wanted to hear the “woes”. At the lectureships, history happened. It still does, but does it reverberate through the church? I guess in one way it does. For the people there, they go back home and influence the congregations. It still makes a impact. I love hearing a powerful sermon, that rocks the place. Or the huge name preacher, bringing down the house. Going to a lectureship is like going to the best movie for me. I heard great things about so and so, and he preaches, and you say wow, this guy is awesome. At FHU, some say they dislike the open forum, I personally love this, it is one of the huge highlights, yes people debate, but those who come are big boys, let them deal with the issue and not pretend they are not there. I love this time together. So yes, at lectureships, this is a big deal to preachers and church members. Those that come are blessed. Of course it can all be taken to far, at one lectureship, not FHU, but it seemed that every speaker praised the director to such a degree that once one of the students just yelled “preach.” And he was right, we are here to hear the preaching. I do love the talking and visiting, the shaking and dealings, and meeting some of the older preachers. But let us always make sure the preaching of the gospel comes forth. I just love it when a guy Preaches.

Review of “LeadershipNext”

Matthew — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:58:57 +0000

I have been reading a lot of leadership material for my last class at Harding’s School of Theology. I am taking a class called “Spiritual Leadership” with Dr. Huffard. This is hard to believe that it is going to be the last class for this program, but do not worry there is still plenty of dissertation work to do. One of the books picked was, LeadershipNext, which was really one of the best leadership books that has been produced for a church setting in a long while. It has a missional focus, and it seems that there was line after line of wisdom through the pages. The strength of the book is its reflection on the changing dynamic of America culture. It studied some of the up and coming leaders for insights into doing leadership within this generation. The book deals with the postmodern matrix, the attitudes that people have toward authority, and the perspective people bring to a church. The book builds a strong case in making sure church leadership understands the make up of the congregation to best reach and lead them. It talks about some of the previous styles of leadership, and how these styles can be hurtful to present churches. It is a good tool box, but also a good look into leadership dynamics for people who refuse leadership or authority. Of course the author notes that churches must be moved to mission, and not be content to “play church.” Some of the authors lines are just funny, and maybe a little to true. I love this one. ”Movements are meant to move.” If you are looking for an up to date text on leadership dynamics, and one that is missionally focused, this is one of the best.

Healthy Leadership Development

Matthew — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:33:20 +0000

Leadership has been on my mind recently. Probably because I am reading a ton of books for a class at Harding’s School of Theology. It seems that the church has struggled with leadership development for some time. This weakness is seen through various roles within a congregation. Of course ministers will point to weak leadership in elders, but this post is about weak leadership in ministers. A good leader does not blame, but improves whatever situation he is in at the time. But why are we weak in minister leadership? I believe there are certain reasons.

1. Lack of Elder development of the minister. This past Sunday Justin Styron was edifying me in his address to the congregation. But something that he said noted that he has the proper attitude toward a minister. He said “Matthew is like wine, he gets better with age.” This showed that he, like the rest of the elders realizes that one of their roles is to develop the minister into better leader and servant. It seems that I have been blessed with elderships that know that part of being an elder is the job of training the minister and working with him. No minister is perfect out of the box, and it takes patience to mature him. The attitude of the elders makes a big difference in the finished product of a preacher.

2. Lack of minister development of the minister. It takes a minister to train a minister. Once again, I have been blessed by other ministers working with me. Though, It seems that sometimes there are no older ministers to go with younger ministers. A guy will never reach his full potential without a minister investing time into him. The lone ranger preacher is a failure waiting to happen. I am completely thankful for my friend Greg Tidwell investing in me, and helping me develop as a preacher. There are other guys that seem talented in this area. Dale Jenkins is one that seems to invest well in young preachers. Of course I feel that Jerrie Barber is one of the best mentors a preacher can find. This is a call to young and old, join up with one another, all will be blessed because of this. One of the reasons that this is not happening as much as it should is because of this youth minister-pulpit minister divide. Youth guys are running in a crew and pulpit ministers are running with a crew. Yes, yes, you know the thoughts on this, but we need to have the young guys matched up with the old guys. Greg and I have been thinking when this school stuff ends for me of developing a wilderness leadership training opportunity together. It will a small group of guys that we are going to invest in to help develop and train. I know that Jerrie and Dale are doing this stuff as well through Monday preacher meetings. We need to be about this business boys.

3. Lack of educator development of the minister. I have been to a ton of schools, yes, and I have learned that not all schools are created equal. Sometimes when you go to a school you go to class and you go home. Of course this is more of the graduate level classes, but we must have more. As educators, we need our professors investing in a mentor relationship with the students. At Heritage Christian, Dennis Jones was a huge encouragement of me. He was the cheerleader. There were numerous guys like Coy Roper that invested in me. I loved the school because it was smaller, and there was a ton of one on one mentoring. Steven Guy was excellent in this area, though he is not there anymore. I believe it is more than the professors of the school, it was the culture of the school that is the difference. At Harding Graduate, I feel I have this with Dave Bland. He is the chair of my dissertation, but through the years, he is my friend and coach. We need guys reaching out to the students to coach them.

4. Lack of training development of the minister. Guys, young guys like me, you cannot expect to be growing unless you are working on growth. There are a ton of good workshops in the church, and a ton of material on leadership. You cannot expect to grow unless you are working at growth. You have to be humble. There is a guy in the area named Ron Carter, a truly seasoned warrior of the faith, and he is willing to eat lunch with me. His health is bad, so I go to him. But you got to take time to invest in training. Go to your local preacher lunch, go to visit a seasoned minister, drive two hours each way if you have to. The older guy will love your visit, and you will love him. Make the time, as it will save a ton of time of church problems.

I hope these thoughts help. If we keep the health of the leadership healthy, our churches will be healthier, and growing faster. Remember, when Jesus talked to his disciples, he typically did not use the term disciple for them, but rather “my friends”, “my children,” he treated them as family, because he had a personal relationship with them. This is what we need in the church.

Thinking of Updating the Blog List

Matthew — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:46:48 +0000

I have not updated the blog list on the side of this site for some time now. Some of the links are old, and need to update anyway. But I have been thinking about updating it with some new blogs. There are some guys that are doing some good work in this area and I need to include them in the blog list. I do not like having a ton of stuff on the list, but having stuff that I personally like. Also, if you are a friend, I try include you. There are some new guys that I want to draw attention to in the brotherhood as well. Shocking, because of people reading this blog, or just spam, it is highly ranked for church of Christ blogs. So I want to use it to highlight good works in the church. So here is what I want, if you want your blog noted, do not be shy, and just send me a note, I want to include you. Also, I want blogs that are updated a lot, once a month does not do it for a good blog, it must be weekly, and if there are months between posts, I am not going to include it on my site. Just because I want it to be a good refreshed list. Too many people start blogs, and stop using them. I want people who are dedicated to the work. It is hard for me to keep the site updated, but it is something that I committed too, so I want people on the blog list that are too. Adam Faughn is a good example of what a great blog looks like and operates like. He updates it often, it is positive and helpful, it is sound, in fact, it is one of the best blogs out there and one of the best run ones too. He includes stuff I like, for an example, book reviews, he stays away from issues just to have them, but looks at the positive, and really praises people and builds them up. He has themes somethings, and it is plain to see that he is serious about this area of his ministry. I highly like his blog, so this is an example of what I am looking for in including a blog on the list. I have a few blogs in mind, but please send me a note about yours, I do not want to forget some of the good blogs out there. For an example of a good blog that is not on the list is Neal Pollard’s blog. I have been watching his for a while, and it is excellent. Really good stuff. I also like Tim Spivey’s blog because of his knowledge on leadership, he talks about church issues well. He is a little more prophetic, but as a blog, it is always a worth while read. I love his as well, and his needs to be updated on my site. So guys, help me too if you have recommendations.

Review of “Invitation to Biblical Preaching”

Matthew — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:58:48 +0000

There is nothing fancy about this book on preaching. But this does not mean it is not an excellent text on preaching. As the book notes, it is serious about preaching the text, but realizes the need to bridge the times to create a relevant message for the church today. It provides a good model for preaching with three words, happened, happens, and happening. This process helps the preacher to move from the text to the testimony of the gospel. One of the best aspects of the book is the practical advice that it provides. It talks about how to set up the text reading. It talks about the need to move shifts of paragraphs, and not focus on the details as much. It is probably one of the most practical preaching books out there. Another strong element is the section on application. It talks a lot about how to do this properly. In one section, it mentions dealing with people rejecting the message because of various reasons. One is not buying the solution, so the minister has to make a case for why the gospel will work in whatever case the minister is teaching on. There is also excellent advice on introductions for sermons. This book is really a “huge how to manual” on preaching. It mostly deals with all of the elements of a sermon. Mostly it will help the preacher to expand his tool box. Too often ministers are not trained in a variety of methods, and only have one or two ways to illustrate, apply, conclude, or open a sermon. After reading this book, you will have a lot more tools at your disposal. This is one of the best, and detailed texts I have read on preaching for a while, and I would recommend this to students in school, and young and old preachers.

God’s Word and the Face of God

Matthew — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:07:20 +0000

My friend Greg Tidwell posted this quote from Martin Luther. It reads “They do not believe they are God’s words. For if they believed they were God’s words, . . . they would tremble before them as before God himself .” This is a powerful quote, but one that is not believed by some. Maybe you have heard of the church of Christ joke of somebody reading love letters from a husband in bed, it goes that he has returned home from perhaps war, and the wife wants little to do with him because she has his letters instead. He mentions to her to stop reading the letters and spent time with him. I believe this is how this joke goes. Of course it is not told well, and proves the fact that I rarely tell canned jokes because this is definitely not a skill I have. Of course church members are to laugh at this joke because of the accusation that those in the church are more in love with the Bible than with Jesus Christ. People have been accused of loving the word of God over Jesus. But really this is a false dichotomy. There is no “either/or” situation. There is no you love the word of God over love for Jesus Christ. It is really one and the same. This is evident in the Gospel of John. The apostle John is writing to a generation that has not experienced Jesus in the flesh. There is no personal experience that these disciples have had with the risen Lord while he was on earth. So John is writing to present a case that testifies that belief in the words of God are just as valid as belief with one’s eyes. Essentially, if you have read the account of Jesus, this knowledge is as good as knowing the bodily Jesus himself. The words of God testify of Jesus. In reality, today this, like John’s audience is all we have of Jesus. And the word of God is sufficient to witnessing Jesus on earth. So when we read of the word of God we are experiencing God himself through the text. So Luther’s quote is powerful, because he hit on an eternal truth. Reading the word of God is like standing before the Lord himself. So when the word is read, listen, God is speaking to you.

Christmas Lights and Programs

Matthew — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:09:08 +0000

Down the road there is this house with the best light display in the town. It is amazing, lights everywhere. The house is the first stop in the Christmas lights tour for the children. The house is requested by the kids. The display is beautiful to look at and surely the owners of the house have received numerous praises for the hard work that is evident in the presentation. The problem is that the lights are still on and it is January 23. Everyone else in the town have turned the Holiday lights off for the season, but this one house is still showcasing the lights. One cannot blame them in a way, most people spent an afternoon or one day putting up their lights, while this house must have spent a week. It would seem reasonable for them to showcase the work a little longer. But the problem is that we are over the season now. Instead of rejoicing over the lights, I am annoyed with them. Turn off your lights, you Christmas braggers. It was beautiful while it lasted, but you are killing the displaying by showcasing it too long. You are ruining a good thing. It seems that churches do this too. They take something that is good, and drive it into the ground. By the end, you are done with it. It was a good ministry, a good program, a good work, but it was taken too far. People are sick of it. Yes, there was a ton of praise, a ton of excitement, a ton of good produced, but it is too much. The people should have quit long ago, and if someone wanted to start it up again, it would fly, but not now. They lit the ministry up too long.

So what to do? Here are some helpful hints.

1. Start Small. Churches and church members are addicted to the big start. The church has a great idea for a ministry, and spends a ton of time promoting it, and it starts with a bang, and the only place it has to go is downhill. It is so much better to start small and allow it to grow. This way it will have a longer life in the church, and if it grows, this is good, but if it does not, there is a good reason.

2. Establish a time frame. Not all ministries are developed to last forever. Or even all year round. So make a time frame at the beginning, like this is going to go for one year, we have objective goals to reach, if we do not meet these we are going to stop, reorganize, or something else, like a change in leadership.

3. A Program is a Program. Sometimes people become too attached to a program. Remember these are tools to accomplish the work of the Lord, not the gospel. One must remember that fruitfulness is part of faithfulness. Just because one is being faithful to a program does not mean that it is wise to keep it.

Effective congregations are those that have effective ministries. One must always remember that “movements” are meant to “move.”

Scholarly Journals and Usage

Matthew — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:58:30 +0000

For my readers that are preachers, do you remember those days in school, and especially in undergraduate school in which the teacher would make you quote one of these strange works. The professor would always require to quotations from to scholarly journals. You were probably a better student than me, so maybe you read the whole journal, not me, these journals never made sense. It was like reading German or worst. So mostly I looked for a line that seemed to make sense and quoted it. Well done, I got my two articles in there for the mark. Now graduate school happened, and at these places you had to read them and report on them. At first this was hard, but with time, and yes 6 years of graduate work, two graduate degrees do that to you, the journal made sense and yes, were interesting. The journals really honed in on the verses that we were studying. Mostly, if there was a class without journal articles, I would wonder about the level of it. But on to the Doctorate level, at this point, funny but you can argue with the articles, yes, they make sense enough that you can actually think through what the guy is saying and disagree. You can interact with the guy. So why have I told this little story about scholarly articles, why to help people use them.

1. As ministers, scholarly articles can go to the way side like Greek. You read them in school, and now you are done. Most times the level of the article is too much for the average church member. But do not give up on them, use some of the insight of the articles into your teaching on the text. The members will love some awesome insights that you can bring from the articles. Now do not quote them, but explain what the guy is saying in normal talk. It will add a lot to your preaching and teaching.

2. Some journals are just “up there.” It is really too much and too technical. So I recommend “Interpretation”. This is an excellent semi-scholarly journal that has good articles and a section of sermons and numerous book reviews. If you want just one, this is the one to have.

3. Continue to think theological. There is an art to this, and if you do not use it you lose it. Continue to challenge yourself with this journals. It might just be you reading for yourself, but you are developing your mind. This is a wise practice.

Well, hope everyone enjoyed a little walk down journal lane. This is one of the reasons that I have stayed in school for so long. It continues to challenge me to grow. Journals do this, so try to keep this a part of your working for the Lord.

Review of “Road to Missional”

Matthew — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:18:26 +0000

I continue to stay informed concerning the missional dialogue in Christian culture. This is one of the newer books that has been produced with a missional agenda. It was written by Michael Frost who is at the forefront of this conversation. What is interesting about this work is that it is a defense of the missional agenda. Shocking, after about ten years of missional material being produced, it is starting to be outdated. People are becoming tired of the missional conversation already. So the author provides a apologetic of the theology. He really needs to because lately everything is missional. Missional is such a buzzword that all ministry in the church is missional. Sadly, this should be the case and at the some time is not the case. All ministry should have a missional dynamic, but mostly everything is given a missional name without a missional ministry. For an example, small groups materials are being produced with a missional perspective, the problem is that those who have studied the dynamics of small groups realizes that these forms of ministry do not produce outreach into the community, there can be serve but typically are not that welcoming to newcomers. The ministry is good for spiritual formation, but not good for accepting new people into the fold. Of course this is not to say it cannot happen, it is just that it rarely happens. Bruce Bates wrote an excellent dissertation on this process some years ago. But back to the book. The book is good, and seems to restore some of the purity within the missional movement. The author is disturbed that missional has become so big that it essentially means nothing today. It finds it odd that he was at the forefront of this wave of thought but his now considered outdated. He does a good job of restoring the concept of the missio dei which is the foundation of missional action. He moves in the correct direction of focusing on spiritual formation to influence the culture around Christians. And he deals with ministry to the downtrodden well. The book is not a fresh treatment of the material, but is a good reminder of the foundation thought of the theology. The author seeks to pull back the reigns on some of the recent material that is being produced under the term missional. He states correctly that missional is a way of living not an activity that is produced. He also wants to deliver missional from the product mindset that is developing. Overall the book attempts to research missional from another church growth program.

Reflections On Leadership

Matthew — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:38:27 +0000

Often a minister will turn to John Maxwell for his first information on leadership. These books are full of helpful suggestions on leading an organization. The rules or principles are simple, and are motivational. But with time these books become too simplistic for a complex organization like a church. One realizes that a “character or charisma” foundation of leadership does not work effectively in a church. So a minister will turn to other sources. But sometimes a minister does not know about other existing models. So here is a quick overview of some of the styles of leadership that I have researched and have used throughout the years.

1. Charisma. ”If they like you, they will follow you.” Over the years I have spend some time on this model. The basis of this approach is to learn good people skills. In a congregation, it is wise to have a likable personality. You need to understand conflict resolution, basic principles of human relationships, and a little salesmanship. A lot of the business material provides a good foundation for this approach. A book on sales will help you with mirroring and listening skills. But with all models, there are weaknesses. No minister, no matter how good, can create change and forward movement with just likableness, because once you introduce change this will create resistance, and you will no longer be liked. The model is too dependent on the people. It develops the pipe dream of creating consensus in a church.

2. Character. ”If they respect you, they will follow you.” This is certainly a better model because the foundation in on a Christ-like character. You are to demonstrate certain traits to the people. If you have the right character, you will have people who will listen and follow you. A lot of the material out there will draw lessons from other great leaders, and there are always books about the leadership style of Christ. If you model character people will respect you. The problem is that all character is weak in some way. We all of strengths and weaknesses. This model creates the illusion that if you can perfect your character than all will be good in the church. The problem, no one is perfect in all areas. This is not an excuse to develop character, but a realization that the model creates an unrealistic goal. Also, it is a myth dream because Jesus was perfect and people still rejected him and his leadership.

3. Conviction. ”If they cannot change you, they will follow.” This approach to leadership is from the thought of “self-differentiation.” You must be convicted on your path of leadership or you will be sidetracked by people and resistance. Material from Edwin Friedman is the key resource for this approach. The approach takes into account a systems perspective on the church. This model is aware of the level of resistance and the amount of sabotage in a church. If a person is to lead an organization he must be convicted on the direction one is taking or the people will pull in so many directions that ultimately burn out and depression will take over. The leader can be so far ahead of the people that the people never understand what is taking place and ultimately reject his influence.

4. Coaching. ”If they learn of you, they will follow.” The coaching method would be in line with the equipping thought. You are working with the people to take the people where they ultimately want to go. You might have more tools to use, and more training, but instead of you dominating the organization, you are coaching people to better effectiveness. This is a wise process because you are partnering with people. The problem is that people must be motivated to move forward. It assumes motivation on the part of the learner.

These are just a few of the models that I have used and have studied. With all leadership models there are strengths and weaknesses. But with a complexity paradigm, you are able to use which model with the correct situation. Hope these little pieces of information helps you to continue to move forward to be the best servant possible for the Lord.