This of course makes leading the discussions a real challenge – a lot like herding cats (or better yet, lions). By end of our time together I’m always wrung out.

But right now, the big issue I’m thinking about is a dinner party that Nancy and I always host on the opening Monday night. It’s a sit-down dinner in our backyard. We’re supposed to have 50 or more show up this year. It’s a big deal for Nancy – she works hard to pull it off. And the weather report says it’s supposed to rain. So of course we are praying that the rain holds off at least until late Monday night.

Which raises a deep theological question: Does God stop the rain for everyone else when we pray that our party – or picnic – or wedding goes off as planned? And what if someone else is praying for the rain to hit Monday night so their Tuesday morning event goes off well? Does the most spiritual one win?

• I had a hard time explaining why a pastor is any different from other ministry leaders (think missionaries, parachurch ministries, Christian media, seminaries, and the like).
• I had a hard time explaining why capital campaigns are different. No one seems to object to the pastor knowing about large commitments and gifts to a building project. So how is this different than gifts to the general fund?
• I found nothing in the scriptures supporting my viewpoint. Frankly, all the verses I used to support staying in the dark could just as well be applied to missionaries or anyone leading any ministry - even the church treasurer – something that no one I know of advocates. The idea that a local church pastor is somehow different is simply not Biblical.
• Even though I took pride in not knowing, I still made subconscious assumptions. I couldn’t help it. It’s human nature. But once I had the facts in hand, I was amazed at how inaccurate most of my assumptions were.

A while back, I was discussing this with a group of pastors at a gathering I was hosting. The very next day I had an experience that showed once again why having the facts is always better than making assumptions – and how having the facts radically changes (and should change) the way we deal with individuals.

Our church was being picketed by the carpenters’ union. Their huge “Labor Dispute – SHAME ON NORTH COAST CHURCH” sign showed up during the week and during our worship services in an attempt to “motivate” us into firing a non-union subcontractor we’d hired to work on our new campus construction.

After the first weekend of picketing, we received an email from a concerned parishioner. He informed us that after prayer and reflection his family would no longer be giving their “first fruits” to our ministry. He said he would still give the Lord what was His, but it just wouldn’t be to North Coast – at least not until the issue with the union was resolved.

He then went on to say that though he didn’t particularly care for the methods the union was using, he felt our church had a moral obligation to support companies that provide a living wage in order to show the community that we care about people and not just the bottom line. He concluded by thanking us for the way our ministry and teaching had blessed his family and promised that his entire family would continue to pray for us as we worked to resolve the issue.

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If you were in my shoes, how would you respond?

Not just what would you say or write; but how would you feel?

Based on content and tone, it’s clear that the writer is a union member, but he’s also a strong Christian, fully committed to the church, praying for it regularly, and supporting it with his “first fruits.” My bet is that you’d wonder if other families like his were thinking the same thing – and if they were; what they might do in response.

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Here’s how I responded.

I asked my assistant to get me some facts. Who was this gentleman? What was his attendance pattern, involvement in our small group ministry, AND his giving record?

Here’s what I found out.

He’d attended our church for a couple of years. He’d never been involved in a small group. His “first fruits” giving the previous year was all of $500. Year-to-date, it was zero.

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Now come on. Let’s admit it. That changes things a bit, doesn’t it?

Frankly, for me, the facts changed everything. Rather than crafting a response appropriate for a strong Christian, highly committed to our church, I needed to put together a response designed for a big hat, no cattle Christian making an empty threat about cutting back his non-existent financial support. It needed to be addressed to someone who talked a good game, but whose deepest loyalty ran far more with the union movement than his local church.

Once I had the facts in hand, I realized the best way to respond would read something like this:

Dear _________

Thank you for sharing your concerns about resolving the issue with the protestors. I fully understand in light of your union loyalties why you might be hesitant to give God’s “first fruits” to a church that hires non-union workers.

Perhaps that’s a sign that we are not the best church for you or your family at this time; especially since we’re likely to continue to use our donated funds to hire the lowest qualified bidder on this and other projects in the future.

In light of your concerns, I have asked our finance department to return to you all the “first fruits” gifts you have given to our church so far this year so that you can forward them on to a ministry you can fully support. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a record of any such gifts.

Rest assured, if we find any, we will send them to you posthaste. In the meantime, may God guide you and your family as you search for a church worthy of your full support.

Sincerely,

Pastor Larry Osborne

_____________

Now, did I really send it?

That’s between him, me, and the Lord.

In the meantime, what would you have done once you knew the facts? And how might that differ from what you would have done with nothing but some assumptions based on his email?

One of my biggest surprises has been the 180-degree turnaround in the way that church planting movements look at multi-site churches. When we launched our first Video Venue, our harshest philosophical critics were the leaders of church planting movements. Most of them seemed to assume that video venues would cannibalize church planting – as if ministry was a zero sum game in which the success of one method means the failure of another.

But now, a few years later, many of those original critics have launched their own multi-site campuses as a way to handle growth. And they’ve done so without any wavering in their commitment to church planting. In fact, many of the most effective church planting movements are now led by pastors who have multi-site churches. Go figure.

Recently, my friends Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon, and Warren Bird released a book that explores many of these changes as well as the current state of multi-site ministry. It’s called A MULTI-SITE CHURCH ROAD TRIP. If you want to know where the movement is going and how it’s changed, this is a great read.

They’ve also asked me to participate in their blog tour by answering a few questions regarding multi-site and video venues. So here goes – Geoff Surratt’s questions and my answers.

1. You pioneered the concept of the video venue at North Coast. What do you feel are two or three reproducible keys to your success in utilizing video that other churches could reproduce?

I believe a huge part of our success was our decision early on to only use video for teaching. Many things don’t translate well on a screen (for instance music, drama, and the like). But teaching plays well in almost every geographic and demographic setting.

In fact, the biggest shock when we launched our first Video Venue was that it was so readily accepted by virtually every demographic. We thought our older folks would reject it outright. We thought younger generations might find it inauthentic. We assumed churches in the more traditional parts of the country would be highly resistant.

But we were wrong. It played well just about everywhere.

Looking back we should have realized that teaching is uniquely suited for a big screen. It allows people to clearly see facial expressions and non-verbals – which is why most people in a large facility with a video screen end up watching the screen rather than the little person up on the stage.

The other thing that I believe is easily reproducible is our use of differing music styles and ambiances to broaden our demographic outreach. Both Chris Brown (our other teaching pastor) and I are able to reach a far broader demographic (traditionalists, country music fans, and folks with lots of body art) than we could if we had a one-size-fits-all sanctuary.

2. How important is it for a church using video teaching to have the very best technology available?

I think the need for the quality technology is vastly overrated. You don’t need the latest and greatest in order to succeed. You can’t be so cheap that your venues are cheesy. The video can’t look like a 1980’s VCR.

At North Coast we’ve always made due with less than the best technology simply because we often can’t afford the best. We’re not a rich suburban church. We’re a blue collar church that meets in an old warehouse. If we felt we couldn’t succeed without the best and latest technology, we’d still be saving up to launch our first venue.

We’ve learned that good enough is good enough when it comes to technology. I always tell the churches we consult to buy the best they can afford. There’s no need to hock the future for cool technology you can’t afford and there’s no reason to hold off launching a new ministry just because everyone else has better equipment.

3. North Coast has multiple venues with live worship bands at multiple locations and multiple service times. How do you find enough musicians to have that many worship teams?

The secret to our plethora of musicians goes back to a decision we made long before we started our Video Venues. Because we believe the job of a pastor is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:11-12) our worship pastors have always been judged, rewarded, and paid for raising up other worship leaders rather than creating an all-star band.

I find you always get what you measure and reward. So guess what? Since we measure and reward raising up worship leaders, we get worship leaders. And better yet, once we turned the corner, we discovered that musicians draw musicians. So right now I think we have something like 24 adult worship bands to pull from.

4. In your book Sticky Church you describe the role of sermon based small groups in the life of North Coast. How integral do you think sermon based small groups have been to the growth of North Coast?

Our attendance was about 120 when we started our sermon-based small groups. They haven’t particularly drawn people in, but they have helped to slam our back door shut – and when the back door stays shut, a church tends to grow.

We’re pretty much a word-of-mouth church (we don’t do any marketing or advertising) so closing the back door has been an essential ingredient of our growth. But the biggest advantage has been the way these sermon-based groups have enabled us to get everyone on the same page – and keep them there. That’s made us a much healthier church, not just a bigger church.

5. What did I not ask that I should have?

You didn’t ask why my books are so much better than yours – at least that’s what my mom thinks; though my wife, Nancy, isn’t so sure.

By the way – Here’s a link to A MULTI-SITE CHURCH ROAD TRIP at Amazon.com

When my friends and I walked onto campus for the first day of our freshman year we were legit high schoolers, admittedly a little intimidated by the seniors, but plenty cool in our own right.

Not so with the punks that came in the next year. Something must have happened at the middle school to stunt their growth. None of the new ninth graders were anywhere near as big, smart, or mature as we had been the year before. And by the time I was a senior, the middle school was pumping out mental, physical, and emotional midgets. 

As I said, it was really strange.

____________________

Of course, that’s not what was happening. The freshmen weren’t getting smaller, stupider, and less mature; we were getting older, more mature, and arrogant.

Fortunately for each incoming crop of freshmen, the seniors keep graduating, giving last year’s freshmen, sophomores, and juniors an opportunity to spread their wings and fly. And sure enough, they always ended up flying a lot higher than the seniors would have guessed.

Unfortunately, in the church, it’s a different story. The seniors never graduate (at least not until they’ve become literal seniors and start dying off). They hog the leadership table, shutting out the next generation. It’s one of the main reasons why most churches stop growing and lose their evangelistic touch (and cultural relevance) around the twenty year mark.

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Ironically, most churches are started by young eagles. But soon after getting their nest built, nicely appointed, and fully furnished, they start to marginalize the next batch of young eagles, asking them to sit at the kid’s table and wait for their turn at middle-aged leadership.

To counteract that natural tendency, I’ve made it a personal priority to make sure that our young eagles have a place at our leadership table. I see it as my role to enhance their influence within our church, making sure that they are supported, protected, and listened to.

But I have to admit, it’s not always appreciated, especially by middle-aged eagles who think that tenure should be the primary determiner of influence.

I understand their reluctance. Young eagles can make a mess in the cage. They’re impatient. They lack the wisdom that comes with experience. In short, they make the same dumb mistakes that the old eagles made when they first started out.

But that’s not the real reason that most churches and leadership teams push young eagles out of the nest. The real reason is that leadership is a zero sum game. One person’s emerging influence is always another person’s waning influence. And that makes making room for the young eagles a hard sell, especially to those who already have a place at the table.

Again, I understand. Like most leaders, I love the idea of servant leadership and putting others first – as long as no one actually cuts in front of me or starts treating me like I’m a servant.  

But it has to be done or we’ll fall victim to the predictable twenty year death cycle when most churches stop growing, evangelizing, and making a mark.

When a church grows old, gray, and culturally out of touch – far more interested in protecting the past than creating the future – and starts to wonder, “What happened to all the young people and families that used to hang around here?” it’s a sign that the young eagles have been shut out for a long time.

_______________________ 

I’d be a liar if I said that protecting and promoting young eagles can be done pain free. I find that it’s far easier in theory than practice. I don’t like giving up my personal power, prestige, or preferences any more than the next guy. It’s kind of a drag.

But young eagles are born to fly. It’s their nature. It’s how God made them. If they can’t fly high in our church, they’ll bolt and fly elsewhere. And sadly, when they do, they’ll take most of the life, vitality, and the future of our church with them.

_______________________

So, honestly now, how are you and your church responding to young eagles? Are they written off, tolerated, or celebrated? Are they encouraged to fly, or asked to clip their wings? I guarantee you; your answer will determine your church’s future.

So, tell me, what do you think about the way we tend to treat young eagles?

“I don’t see how Larry adheres to “faith alone in Christ alone.” In fact I expect he would admit that he sees that statement off the mark of accuracy. Alone still means “separate and by itself” right? It would be nice to hear that Jesus’ promise in John 3:16 is as simple as it sounds. Instead, I can grab a packet with hours of sermons to explain to me what “giving Jesus the Steering Wheel of my Life” means.”

Of course, “faith alone in Christ alone” is not a phrase found anywhere in the Bible. It’s a theological summation. And it’s always interesting to me how we can get all worked up and divided over terms the scriptures don’t even use. But, still, it’s a legitimate question. Is faith in Christ enough or isn’t it? Exactly how do faith and obedience intersect?

Here’s my response:

I’m sorry, but before I can claim to adhere or deny “faith alone in Christ alone” I need to know what you mean by “faith alone.”

If by “faith alone in Christ alone” you mean an intellectual assent that matches the way the demons believe in Jesus (James 2:19) then I have to plead guilty as charged. I don’t buy it. If you mean that we can claim to have faith in Christ and live like hell (and still count that empty faith as saving faith) then you can count me out.

But if you mean by “faith alone in Christ alone” that salvation can only be found through faith in Christ and can never be found or furthered by our good deeds or the works of the OT law – then I’m all in. And if your definition of faith matches that of Jesus and the NT writers, I’m there.

Bottom line: When it comes to trying to figure out how faith and obedience intersect, it seems to me that we can’t improve upon the Apostle John’s simple test to determine if we actually know God.

We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. 1 John 2:3-6

I see no reason to redefine or tweak his words – after all, they are scripture, and all of our theological ruminations are not. 

And didn’t Jesus speak about a group of people who called him Lord but did not do what he said?  When it comes to determining the role obedience does or doesn’t play in our salvation, doesn’t it make sense to let his words speak for themselves?

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Matthew 7:21 -27

And finally, doesn’t the Great Commission conclude with a command to teach those who have come to Christ to “obey everything I have taught you”? Apparently, Jesus considers obedience to be neither “adding to the gospel” nor an extra credit add-on for those who are really into it.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20

 __________________________

So, when I speak of stepping over the line and giving God the steering wheel of our life, I’m not suggesting that we somehow work our way into God’s favor or earn our salvation. I am suggesting that genuine faith, by definition, includes a pattern of obedience.

Obedience is not a stairway to heaven – or the final steps that complete what Jesus started. But according to the Apostle John, it is the one test that distinguishes between genuine faith and counterfeit faith.

The Steering Wheel packets we provide at North Coast Church contain practical pointers to help new Christians know what following Christ looks like and how to grow in their  walk with God.

And according to Jesus and John (and the rest of the scriptures) this thing called obedience does seem to be a rather important by-product of genuine faith and belief.

But that’s not the only place they err. They also miss it when they bemoan our waning cultural impact as if cultural impact is an accurate scorecard of spiritual faithfulness. Culture is not and never has been an accurate scorecard of the church’s faithfulness.

That’s not to say that we’re not supposed to try. The Great Commission sends us all on a life mission. Salt needs to get out of the salt shaker. Light needs to be set on a hilltop. The gospel must be articulated and defended.

But the results are out of our hands. If you’re a Calvinist you know that the response of people depends upon God’s irresistible call. If you’re an Arminian, you know it’s determined by freewill and choice. If you’re neither – well, don’t worry about it.

Our Waning Cultural Influence

Admittedly, the American Church has lost much of its cultural influence. We are no longer the religion of power. We no longer determine cultural values or political correctness.

But does that mean that today’s Christians are any less godly or faithful?

I don’t think so.

Cultural impact has far more to do with who’s in political power than whether or not the church is living up to its calling. And those times of unique visitation we call revivals are much more about what God is up to than what we are up to. Fact is, the church of high cultural influence is just as likely to be filled with hypocrites and sin as the church of low cultural influence.

LOOK AT ROME: It took a few hundred years for the early church to spread its influence to the point of dominance (don’t miss that, we think in terms of what happens in a 20-70 year time span while history tends to play out in centuries). And once Christianity became the official religion of Rome it may have appeared that a faithful church was winning the day, but I would argue that it was actually losing – and losing badly.

The ascent of Christianity’s political and cultural power caused lots of people to claim to be Christians in order to gain the social acceptance and power that came with it. But the continued widespread moral decline, decadence, and eventual fall of the Roman empire leads me to believe that even as the church was growing more and more influential it was becoming less and less faithful.

LOOK AT AMERICA: Much the same thing holds true when we look back at the so-called heyday of the American church’s influence upon culture. I’m not so sure that we were as faithful or our culture as godly as we paint them to be.

Yes, Biblical values were more likely to be articulated than today. And our laws and courts were far more in tune with God’s laws – that is unless you happened to be a black man during the days of slavery; or later during the Jim Crow era; or a single mom seeking a good paying job; or a Jew trying to join the country club, or . . .

And as far as the glory days of Father Knows Best, Leave It To Beaver, and stay-at-home moms; were they really that great? And if they were, how did they end up producing a generation of sex-crazed, free-love, dope smoking hippies who grew up to be self-absorbed boomers?

Fact is, the heyday of our influence wasn’t necessarily the heyday of our faithfulness.

Faithfulness and Impact

In fact, if the faithfulness of today’s church is to be judged by the measure of our cultural influence, then Jesus, the prophets, and the Apostles have a lot of explaining to do.

Jesus drew big crowds during his earthly ministry. But they included lots of losers and sinners (not former losers and sinners, current losers and sinners). I’m sure some of the critics of today’s church would have lambasted him for the low quality of his followers. And no doubt they would have noted his dismal long-term impact as the crowds dwindled down to 120 hiding in an upper room after his death and resurrection.

The prophets weren’t much different. Take Jeremiah. He was no spiritual slouch. But his impact upon his contemporaries was practically nil. And the same goes for most of the others.

Ditto for the Apostles. Didn’t all but one of them die a martyr’s death? That’s hardly winning the culture wars. I’m sure lots of books and conference talks could have ripped on their inability to win over the world around them.

Fact is: Sometimes culture responds to Godly living and truth – sometimes it doesn’t.

Yet the harshest critics of the church today seem to ignore this. They assume that if we’d just play all our cards right – and live out our faith exactly as God wants – then large numbers of people around us would automatically respond to the gospel. It’s an assumption that neither scripture nor history supports.

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None of this is meant to say that the American Church today is the epitome of spirituality. On the contrary, we’re messed up big time. But before we pick up stones and start throwing them at our brothers and sisters (have you noticed that all the critics always exclude themselves and their tribe or movement) we need to remember that struggling with sin and carnality has been the plight of God’s people throughout history. Maybe that’s why it’s called grace.

Jesus continues to build his church. He promised he would despite our failures and shortcomings. That’s why I’m an optimist. As I survey the national landscape, I see a new generation of passionate and godly leaders being raised up by God. Many are unknown at this point, some already have mega ministries. But these men and women are fully committed and well equipped to reach their own generation. I’m confident they will fight the good fight.

Will they win large crowds?

I don’t know.

Will they win the culture wars?

I have no idea.

But I do know that I won’t judge their faithfulness by the response of those they are trying to reach. Instead, I’ll let God judge it by the only thing that He’s ever held his people responsible for, their faithfulness, not their cultural impact.

But frankly, I don’t buy it.

Some of the most popular conference speakers on the circuit today excel at drive-by-guiltings. They paint a picture of a church that lacks guts, cowers from dying to self, and lives out a self-satisfied, what’s-in-it-for-me Christianity.

In most cases, I like these speakers. They are good guys. I respect them. But I just don’t agree on this issue.

I’ve noticed that their audience is usually a room full of charge-the-hill-type young leaders who eat it up and then return home to look with disdain upon other churches, pastors, leaders, and often their own congregation (oblivious to how much they have in common with the self-congratulatory zealot in Luke 11: 9-14).

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Now don’t get me wrong, I’ll agree that we have lots of carnality and self-centered living in our churches today. But come on, that’s nothing new. It’s been like that from the beginning. It’s simply not accurate to paint a heroic picture of the early church without also pointing out its many failures. In reality, the early church was pretty messed up, about as messed up as the American Church.

Have we forgotten . . .

• Those who willingly sold what they had to share with those in need thought Jesus was returning any day. So when the Pentecost pilgrims who stayed rather than return home ran out of money (no one carried a debit card) the Jerusalem Christians sold possessions, fields, and homes to meet their need. I’m sure I would too if I thought Jesus was returning in the next couple of weeks. 
•  They ended up broke. So much so that the Gentile churches took up a special collection for the impoverished saints in Jerusalem. Between persecutions and previously selling much of what they had, the Jerusalem church ended up in poverty. Perhaps Acts 2:41-47 is descriptive rather than prescriptive. After all, I know of no one who suggests we should be meeting daily, in Jerusalem, in the temple courts.
• The early church ignored Jesus’ command to take the gospel to the world. They flat out disobeyed. They stayed in Jerusalem. Eventually God had to send a great persecution to drive them out of their holy huddle and jump start the expansion of the kingdom. That’s the only reason they left according to Acts 8:1
• The early church was unwilling to share the gospel with Gentiles. And once they did, they didn’t want to allow them full status as Christians. Only after a contentious debate at the Jerusalem council did things change. And even after that, the battle raged on. That’s one of the major reasons we have the books of Galatians and Hebrews in our Bibles.
• The Apostle Paul’s church plants were so messed up (both doctrinally and morally) he later had to write a bunch of letters to get them back on track. The Corinthians were visiting temple prostitutes, ignoring sin in the name of grace, hoarding the good stuff at church pot-lucks. And they seem to have forgotten that the resurrection really mattered. Timothy had to be reminded not to appoint the town drunk as an elder. The Galatians’ and Colossians’ flirted with heresy. And that’s just the beginning of a long list of sins and goofy thinking that had to be corrected.
• The early church leaders were as feisty and flakey as today’s leaders. Paul and Barnabas had a messy split over how to handle a young intern named John Mark. Peter fell into hypocrisy and pretended to be a legalist until called out by Paul. And didn’t everyone skip out on Paul during his time of greatest need?
• Jesus also had some rather unflattering things to say to the New Testament churches. Most of the churches mentioned in Revelation 2-3 hardly set an example I’d want my church to follow. 

So when we call for a return to the New Testament church, do we really know what we’re asking for? In many cases, I think not.

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And in light of that, here’s why I’m so pumped about the future of the American church.

1. Jesus said he would build his church and the gates of hell could not hold it back. So I’ll bank on his promise despite some occasional setbacks.
2. As seen above, things might not be as bleak as they appear. Yes, we’re messed up, but so was the early church; and God used them to turn the world upside down.
3. God has already hand-picked a new breed of leaders and shepherds to care for his flock and beautify his bride. In my travels around the country, I run into them all the time. I wish everyone could see what I see and spend time with them as I do. They are the real deal. Many are already leading huge churches at a young age. Thousands more are heeding the call to become church planters. A plethora of church planting networks and organizations have spontaneously formed to recruit, train, and deploy these folks into ministry. It’s not only encouraging, it’s humbling.

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Does that mean they will win our nation back?  

I don’t know. That’s out of their control. They can only be faithful and prepare the horse for battle. God will determine the outcome.

I said I was pumped about the future of the American church – not America.

So what do you think?

10 DUMB THINGS SMART CHRISTIANS BELIEVE is my latest book in the spiritual formation category. It was finally released today (that’s author speak for the long wait between finishing a manuscript and finally seeing it released to the public). I think you will find it to be a careful and approachable look at ten of the most dangerous spiritual urban legends of our day.  

I call these dumb ideas spiritual urban legends because like all urban legends, they’re widely believed and quickly passed on by otherwise smart people who hear them, think it makes sense, and then pass it on without checking the facts – in this case, checking to see what the Bible actually says about these issues.

But unlike the typical urban legend, spiritual urban legends are dangerous to our spiritual health. They don’t just misrepresent the facts, they set us up for profound disappointment and disillusionment with God when he doesn’t come through on a promise he never made.

Here is a list of the big ten. See if you don’t agree with me that lots of us have come to think and believe these things – so much so that calling them dumb ideas is a bit of a fashion (and friendship) risk.

  1. Faith Can Fix Anything  

  2. Forgiving Means Forgetting

  3. A Godly Home Guarantees Godly Kids

  4. God Has A Blueprint For My Life

  5. Christians Shouldn’t Judge       

  6. Everything Happens For A Reason

  7. Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide

  8. God Brings Good Luck

  9. A Valley Means A Wrong Turn           

10. Dead People Go To A Better Place

At the end of the book, you’ll find study questions for each chapter. They are designed for individual reflection or a group study. And for those of you who are teaching pastors, these ten chapters can be a springboard for a powerful and fun sermon series.

You should be able to find a copy at your local Christian bookstore, Amazon, and all the usual places. If not, they can order one. Here’s a link to Amazon if you’re interested. (By the way, it’s also available in a Kindle edition.)

I had a blast writing this book. The pre-release reviews have been especially gratifying and exceptionally kind. I know you’ll find it personally challenging and helpful in your own spiritual walk. And after you’ve read it, let me know what your think either here or in an Amazon review post.

And just for fun, here’s a list of the chapters with all the teasers and subheadings included.

1. Faith Can Fix Anything

John’s faith and Susan’s cancer – Why positive thinking can’t change anything - The big problem with faith in faith - How the English language mucks up everything - How faith sometimes makes things worse - One story you can bet the kids in Sunday school will never hear - The one thing faith can always fix  - What a geographical moron and a GPS have in common with a life of faith

2. Forgiving Means Forgetting

Four goofy ideas about forgiveness - The myth of a forgetful God - The two realms of forgiveness - Are justice and forgiveness mutually exclusive? – The  strange math of score keeping—why it is nearly always inaccurate - The power of a good mirror – Something for Calvinists and Arminians to fight about  - The prayer of Permission - Why you might want to take a sin walk—and how God will meet you there

3. A Godly Home Guarantees Godly Kids

Why Don and Sharon hate it when their friends pull out the pictures - Mike and Rhonda’s head-in-the-sand optimism - The one promise lots of parents count on that isn’t really a promise—and why it doesn’t say what most people think it says - How B. F. Skinner snuck into our churches - Mitch’s foolish pride – How Ten Rules for Raising Godly Kids became Three Suggestions for Surviving Parenthood - Why bad kids often make great adults

4. God Has a Blueprint for My Life

Why does the search for God’s will feel like an Easter egg hunt? - Why a blueprint is a bad metaphor for God’s will—and why a game plan is a great metaphor for God’s will - Is there a reason why the New Testament ignores the kind of decisions we typically stress over? - Why God doesn’t do consulting, and what happens when we think he does - How obedience makes everything (even some pretty lousy decisions) better

5. Christians Shouldn’t Judge

How to get your non-Christians friends to quote the Bible - Why “Do not judge” doesn’t mean what most people think it means - When and how the idea of tolerance changed from “You have the right to be wrong” into “Nobody is wrong” - Log-in-eye disease - Did God really forget to put some important stuff in the Bible? - Why it’s a bad idea to judge non-Christians by Christian standards - Are judgment and grace incompatible?

6. Everything Happens for a Reason

Nancy’s cancer  ¡ Happy talk and other stupid things people say - How Romans 8:28 became the most misunderstood and misquoted verse in the Bible - Two conditions most people don’t seem to notice - Are self-inflicted wounds God’s doing? - Why Murphy matters - Can a bad thing be a good thing? - Why we might want Jesus to wait a while before coming back - The power in a path called obedience

7. Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide

The one type of person I’ve never been able to help – The musings of a tax dodger -A Jiminy Cricket code of ethics—why so many people trust it and why that’s not a smart thing to do - How our conscience is more like a thermostat than a thermometer - Blind spots and bad software - What heart disease does to our conscience - The one thing everyone’s conscience does with unerring accuracy

8. God Brings Good Luck

Why I worry when someone angles to be last in line - Tim’s rather “unusual” choice of words - The high price of unrealistic and unfounded promises - Job’s wife and Asaph’s journal ¡ Eddie Haskell Christians—do they really think God is stupid? - Do we? - Why it’s never a good idea to judge a king’s banquet by the finger food - One cliché that’s not only wrong but flat-out absurd - Why an abundant life might not be so abundant

9. A Valley Means a Wrong Turn              

Why my Dark Years had nothing to do with a wrong turn. - How extended valleys can make our friends’ advice nearly worthless - Three simple but profound fog-cutting questions - The kind of valley we never want to leave prematurely - Shortcuts we don’t want to take, even if they work - The day a bunch of guys with iron chariots proved to be stronger than a bunch of guys with God on their side - What to do when God says, “Get someone else to help you”

10. Dead People Go to a Better Place

How to start a mini riot - The truth about wicked Uncle Ernie - Funeral assurances and the frantic search for a nod-to-God - Blame Jesus – The myth behind the myth - A rather testy e-mail - How and when did obedience become an extra-credit assignment? - Why Mickey Cohen couldn’t be a Christian gangster - The big difference between struggling and setting up camp - The one tell-tale sign of whether or not we love God

Take me to Amazon.com

I then proceeded to look at the question of how many hours from a leader’s perspective. In this post we’ll look at it from a staff member’s perspective.

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From a leader’s perspective, the question of how many hours a staff member spends on the job or in the office is irrelevant (assuming of course their job is not to answer phones or be constantly available in a support role).

That’s because the only question that really matters is, “How well is this person accomplishing the task for which they were hired?”

Everything else is secondary. If someone gets the job done with excellence in far fewer hours than I expected – more power to them. If they need more hours than everyone else – I’ll find a way to keep the lights on.

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But from a staff member’s perspective the question of how many hours I spend on the job is relevant. That’s because the key issue is not just, “How well am I doing my job?” It’s also, “Does my work and work ethic honor God?”

Colossians 3:22-24 puts it this way. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”

Anyone who takes that verse seriously will find that it’s a game changer. I know it sure changed the way I approached my job when I was in a staff role.

Here are some of the impacts it made in the way I thought and approached my job when I was a staff member – and some ways it still impacts me when I’m not the one in charge.

To do a good job I have to do the right job. Now that might sound simple, but it’s not. In a staff role, the right job is not what I think should be done first. It’s not what I want to do most. It’s whatever my boss wants me to do.

Frankly I’m amazed how many employees fail to fully understand the importance of putting their boss’s agenda first. And I’m even more amazed by how many think it’s not as important as what they want to do.

Go the extra mile. Jesus said to go two miles when asked to go one. At the time he was actually referring to a Roman law that allowed the army to conscript anyone into service for one mile.

Now if the godless Roman army deserved more than the bare minimum required, certainly any ministry I work for deserves the same. That makes it hard to justify an attitude that says, “I did my job, what more do they want?”

Toughen up. Ministry isn’t a union job. It’s not about boundaries and benefits. It’s about service and sacrifice.

Lots of us love to talk about the concept of servanthood as long as no one treats us like a servant.

When I was a staff member I used to remind myself that most of the people I worked with were working 40-55 hours a week before attending our worship services, small groups or volunteering. That made it pretty hard to justify a 40 hour ministry work week that included a worship service and mid-week ministry.

Be thankful or quit. I once had a job I hated. I learned it wasn’t so bad when I lost it.

I now tell anyone who complains to me about their workplace, boss or job to go ahead and quit – and to do it first thing tomorrow morning.

That always brings some strange looks.

But the fact is, if they can’t find a better job (for whatever reasons, the economy, geographical constraints, family issues or whatever) then they must have the best possible job at the moment. And if that’s the case, instead of complaining they ought to send flowers or a thank you note.

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So how many hours should a staff member be expected to work?

The answer depends on what side of the coin I’m answering the question from. Yet ultimately, the only answer that really matters is the one that corresponds to the role I play.

If I’m a leader, the answer is found in whatever it takes to get the job done.

If I’m a staff member, the answer is found in whatever I’d do if I was doing it for the Lord.

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So what do you think?

I’m surprised how often both business leaders and pastors ask me about the number of hours they should expect out of a salaried staff member. The answer is a coin with two sides.

On one side is what kind of work ethic can a leader realistically expect from the troops? On the other side is what kind of work ethic can Jesus rightfully expect from a Christian?

Today I want to look at it from the leader’s point of view. In my next post we’ll look at it from the staff member’s point of view.

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To business and ministry leaders who ask the “How many hours” question, I always point out that they’re asking the wrong question.  

The right question is: What did I hire this person to do and how well are they doing it?

Here are some important things to keep in mind.

If someone can get their job done with excellence in fewer hours than most people – more power to them. If someone else needs more time – keep the lights on. Now obviously I’m assuming that issues like character, integrity, and teamwork line up well. But all things being equal, it really shouldn’t matter how long it takes someone to do the job I’ve hired them to do. It should only matter how well they do it.

I’ve also noticed that, “How many hours should I expect?” is often code for “how many hours should they be in the office?” When that’s the question behind the question, it’s usually asked by a leader who has a personality or work style that prefers the office.

These types of leaders tend to forget the many nights out and off-site meetings that some of their staff members have. And since these meetings and events take place out of sight, they fail to add them back into the work ethic equation.

Not long ago I was talking to a pastor who was complaining about the work ethic of his youth pastor. Seems he never showed up at the office before 10am and was often out for long lunches, sometimes never to return.

I asked the lead pastor if the youth group was healthy and growing. He told me it had doubled in size and that lots of great things were happening with the kids. I asked if the parents were happy, He told me, “Yeah, they love him. But I can’t ever keep him in the office.”

I told him to fire the kid and give me his phone number so we could hire him.

It’s unrealistic to expect a staff member to think like an owner. Business owners and senior ministry leaders often complain that their staff members don’t have the same work ethic and concern for the big picture that they have.

My answer is, “Of course not.” That’s what sets an owner or top leader apart.  If everyone had the same drive, work ethic, and dreams that owners and top leaders have, no one would ever be satisfied in a staff role.

Healthy organizations need leaders and role players. We need folks who see the big picture and strive to climb to the top. But we also need folks who thrive on doing their job and have no real desire to do more.

It’s a sign of emotional immaturity to assume everyone is just like me (or will be when they grow up). Yet I find that’s how lots of us think. You can see it in the way we try to change people. We pepper them with facts and then run them through experiences based on the belief that if they only knew what we know and experienced what we’ve experienced – they’d see the world and behave as we do.

But nothing could be further from the truth. We’re all different to the core. That’s why one of the secrets to building and maintaining a healthy staff is learning to see, treat, and evaluate everyone as an individual.

No one is an island – not even a superstar. If “How many hours should I expect” really means “I can never get hold of that prima donna,” the problem isn’t the amount of hours spent in the office. It’s a lack of respect and teamwork.

Failure to take into account the needs of other staff members isn’t a work style issue, it’s a character issue. Even superstars have to play well with the rest of the team. Otherwise you’ll end up with the Barry Bond’s Syndrome (a great performer who destroyed every team he was on).

If availability and predictable hours are genuinely important to the performance of other staff members (who need input or a timely response) then someone who refuses to play along, needs to go – no matter how well they are doing “their job.”

But in an age of cell phones, texting, and email, it’s a mistake to confuse timely access with lots of hours sitting in an office.

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Bottom line: Wise leaders never forget that people and staff are hired because we have a job that needs to be done. As long as they aren’t poisoning the team, and as long as they do their job ethically with excellence, it really shouldn’t matter how they go about it or how many hours it takes. Quickly or methodically – in the office or at Starbucks – in the middle of the night or banker’s hours – all of these are secondary.

When it comes to evaluating a staff member’s performance the only question that really matters is: How well are they doing the job they were hired to do?

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So what do you think?

How do you evaluate? How does your board and the rest of the staff evaluate?

How do you want to be evaluated?