"I Want To Become A Leader...But How?"

I had a young man approach me on Sunday with this question, "If someone wants to become a leader for the Lord how does it happen? What's the process he or she goes through to become influential for the Lord?"

I can't tell you how excited I was to hear that question asked me from such a young person. He was thirsty to be used by the Lord but just didn't know how. I love it.

I remember the same question running through my mind when I attended the Tulsa Workshop in Tulsa, OK in college- it's one of the largest Church of Christ lectureships in America. I listened to a young man speak at that workshop and found myself having great admiration for him. In fact I remember trying to convince myself to approach him afterwards and ask, "I want to lead people like you are leading people, but how do I do it? What's my first step?" I thought it was a stupid question to ask at the time but now I'm wishing I had.

So what's the answer? How does one become a leader for the Lord if the desire is there? I will share what I shared with my friend on Sunday with a short preface that I did not share.

It begins, I believe, with a close, intentional walk with the Lord. The Lord is the One who creates people for influence. As Jesus said so strongly, "Apart from Me, you can do nothing" (Jn.15:5). The Lord exalts people to influence not ourselves. It is our responsibility as Christians to "humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God" (1 Peter 5:6) not to seek to be great. The more we seek to be great the less great we will be. Let us therefore seek to be nothing and Him be everything and perhaps He may just favor us with influence.

Secondly, becoming a leader for the Lord continues with absorbing the right information. 200 years ago most of the schools of Higher Education in America had as their initial purpose the building of leaders for the next generation. Over time, however, the purpose of Higher Education became to increase one's earning potential. The right information learned through education has always been effective in building leaders for the Lord. But not just any information will do. No person can have a close walk with the Lord without a solid understanding of the Word of God, and no person can become a leader without it either. The Word of God is primary and indispensible if one would become an influencer for the Lord. It's the Truth. It's Heavenly information. It is Holy Spirit inspiration. It is a must for the Christian influencer.

Other things people have always studied are the Classics. Classic literature tells the stories of people who have gone before us and have influenced. These stories are also very forming for the character of the next generation.

Thirdly, becoming a leader for the Lord concludes with finding a mentor who is himself closely walking with the Lord and solid in the Word of God. At some point all of us need someone to model. Paul told the church at Corinth, "Imitate me just as I also imitate Christ" (1 Cor.11:1). A mentor shows a mentee what influencing people looks like in person. He/she is someone to follow because they are devoutly following Christ. Worthy mentors are sometimes difficult to find and they will not often come to you and say, "Come follow me as I follow Christ". That would be great if they did though! You will have to seek out worthy mentors if you really want to become a leader for the Lord.

May the Lord give us more young people who are thirsty to be influencers for the Lord.

Governor of MA: "Darkness Cannot Drive Out Darkness; Only Light Can Do That"

Deval Patrick, Governor of Massachussettes, gave a speech at the Prayer Vigil in Boston on Thursday (4/18). In that speech he quoted from Martin Luther King Jr and said, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that". I agree.

When Jesus came into the world He was the light of the world. As the light of the world He dispelled darkness. Darkness could not remain in Jesus' presence. Demons were terrified of Him. If Jesus was there the demons asked to leave, and quickly! (see Mark 1:23-26). The darkest things on Earth can only be expelled by Jesus and to talk about fighting the darkness without talking about Jesus is to talk about fighting Mike Tyson without arms- good luck.

It is the role of a Christ-follower to dispell the darkness wherever we go. Darkness runs away from light. This I believe is the perspective we should have about every aspect of our communities. We should not let the Gentiles, so to speak, do their thing in government and business and education while we confine ourselves to religious matters. No, we as Christians are given the power and the call to invade all areas of society and dispense the light of Jesus Christ in them. Our call is not to take over places by force but to quietly invade our schools, businesses, municipalities and social networks and shine light from within them. We call this process transformation.

One of our members, I must boast, is transforming her workplace one work-day at a time. Sarah (not her real name) works in a Senior housing building in North Brunswick. She got hired in November and has been quietly dispensing light ever since. She notices the politics in the workplace but refuses to get involved. She hears the gossip but does not participate. She sees what's wrong with the system and a few within it but she keeps her efforts focused on working in a way that pleases the Lord. The residents know about her strong faith and they love her. She brings the names of certain residents to our prayer meetings so that the church can pray for them. The best part is that Sarah turned down a job making 6 figures in order to work where she is working instead. She felt it was a better place from which to dispel the light of Christ.

Sarah is bringing Christ to the workplace and the Lord is blessing her. Let me challenge all of us as Christians that it is our job not to run from darkness but to invade it and by the power of the Holy Spirit drive it to the door. I envision a time when every business owner in our city will find Jesus and use their mode of employment to dispense the light and truth of Jesus into our community. Oh what eternal meaning this would bring to our vocations which we so often think have no eternal value at all.

I can see the light of Jesus dispensing our community because I have seen it in our own members. I also know it can happen in every city nation-wide, especially Boston now. But if Jesus Christ is not the Light we shine then the darkness will not leave. We will find ourselves in a ring with a world champion boxer having no way to defend ourselves. The darkness surging in the person(s) heart that detonated those bombs on Boyleston St. on Saturday can only be eliminated through Jesus Christ. There is no other defeater of evil. There is no other preventer of evil in society than to everywhere dispense the light and truth of Jesus Christ. Let us not think that policies, good intentions or kind words about camaraderie or Patriotism can solve this problem of evil. Only Jesus can.

Keep invading the darkness folks, and let us pray for our Boston brethren that now more than ever they may dispense the light of Jesus into their beloved city.

Do We Want To Get Well? (lesson excerpt)

Shawshank Redemption tells the story of Andy Dufrense, a banker charged with the murder of his wife and her lover. Andy spends nearly 2 decades in Shawshank State Prison. While in Shawshank Andy becomes the assistant to the prison librarian, elderly Brooks Hatlen. After 55 years in prison for a murder he committed, Brooks is up for parole and learns that he will be released into a halfway house. But after 55 years in the prison Brooks is more afraid of the outside world than the prison and so in an effort to remain incarcerated for the rest of his life, he attempts to murder another inmate. Brooks’ behavior comes as a shock to everyone in the prison, including the guards. Brooks has a good reputation. He is known as an educated man and holds a well respected position in the prison. It comes to be discovered that the reason Brooks attempted the crime was because he feared release. As a result the authorities have mercy on him and even release him. But after 3 weeks in the outside world Brooks is unable to adjust to freedom and hangs himself in the halfway house.

Word gets back to his friends at Shawshank about his suicide. In one scene Red, the wise sage in the circle of friends, offers his explanation for Brooks’ actions. Here it is. “There is something funny about these walls. First you hate them. Then you get used to them. Then you depend on them. That’s institutionalized…They put you in for life and that’s exactly what they take; the part that matters anyway.” We will come back to this.

In John 5 Jesus is in Jerusalem. He comes to the healing pool called Bathesda and fastens His eyes on a man sitting there who had an infirmity for 38 years. This man had been crippled for 38 years- living longer as a crippled man than many well men lived in that time. He was probably the most senior sick person around the pool.  Likely everyone knew him. He probably had life-long friends that he met at the pool regularly. In fact his longevity as a crippled man may have been the reason Jesus approached Him and no one else. Now we do not know how long he had been frequenting this pool, but what we do know is that he missed the stirring of the waters a number of times.

It is in this context that Jesus asks the lame man a seemingly rude question; “Do You Want To Get Well” (v.6).

‘Hmm. I’m sitting around a healing pool because I like it. I just enjoy hanging out with sick people in my spare time.’ You can imagine what may have gone through the lame man’s mind here.

But in asking this question maybe Jesus knows something we don’t. Maybe He knows “there is something funny about sickness. First you hate it. Then you get used to it. Then you depend on it…” You become institutionalized by it. Psychologists have found that, ‘It’s possible to be in the same condition for so long that at once you thought of your condition as subnormal you now believe it to be normal, even comfortable.’ So the question arises, what if this lame man’s ultimate problem was not his paralyzed body, but his paralyzed will? What if his main problem was not that he could not walk but that he did not really want to walk anymore? After 55 years in Shawshank ask Brooks if he really wanted freedom. And so the cure for a paralyzed will begins with a gut check from Jesus: “Do you want to get well” (v.6)?

On Saturday Mason had his first baseball game in the Franklin Twp, South Bound Brook Little League. Each year the league kicks off opening day with a parade and each team in the league gets to walk in it. As we were walking in the parade I had a conversation with a coach. This coach played in the same league when he was a boy and had grown up in the town his whole life. In fact his wife even played in the league as a young girl. As we walked we talked about his family some. We talked about the league a little. We talked about what we both do for a living. But the best part of our conversation was toward the end of the parade because we talked about how the community has changed in one generation.

He talked about how he used to ride his bike all over town and how the parents trusted each other to look after one another’s kids. He talked about how people used to trust one another instead of fear one another. He talked about how quickly things changed in just 20-25 years. I could sense in his voice a discontentment with the way of the world today but also some uncertainty of how to change the way of the world and even doubt that it could be done.

That conversation is a conversation I could have had with 1,000 other people on Saturday and it would have gone much the same. Everybody notices the change that have occurred in just 1 generation. Everyone is discontent and frustrated with those changes, and everyone is fairly pessimistic that things will ever change for the better. In fact most people I talk to end up complaining about the way of the world instead of talking about solutions because they have no good idea what the solution really is. In fact in my estimation people have lost hope that it can ever change.

My deep concern for my generation is that we will live the way we are living for so long and eventually lose hope that things can ever change. You see when society first gets sick, people hate it. In fact at first they will do anything to change it. But if enough time passes and society only gets sicker people sort of get used to the sickness. And then as more time passes they learn to depend on it. And when we surround ourselves for 38 years with people as hopeless and pessimistic as ourselves then we never get a new vision of the future for we are never around anyone who can offer us hope for the future. And over time we begin to think that our new way of life is normal. Normalcy gets redefined as year after year we associate with people just like ourselves. And it is at this point where it is appropriate for Jesus to come to us and ask, “Do you even want to get well?”

Our Vision

A few years ago in 2010 we came up with a vision for our congregation. But it wasn’t just a vision for our congregation- it was a vision for our community. That vision was birthed out of this same discontentment that my friend and I spoke about on Saturday. It was birthed out of a holy discontent with the sickness of our society and out of a deep conviction that Jesus is the cure for it. What we said was that “We Envision A Whole Community United To Build Life Around Jesus” again. Not around money. Not around career. Not around self-advancement. Not around capitalism. Not even around family. But united around Jesus. For we believe that Jesus is the answer to the sickness of our society.

• He is the Great Physician.
• He is the One who transform
• He is the One who rebirths
• He is the One who regenerates
• He is the One who restores
• He is the One who saves and who revives the human soul.

In Jesus, folks, is found all the power and all the hope mankind needs to turn the world upside down, and it is the church of Jesus that has been forever commissioned to do it. The church is the only one on earth with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to actually do impossible things. But let me ask us: “Do we still want to get well or has the struggle to unite our community around Jesus defeated our vision of wholeness?”

It is the view of almost everyone that I run into today that a radical, societal transformation is now impossible. But I disagree! In fact I see great hope. But it will not be the politicians or the media or doctors or psychologists who will bring it; it will be the church of Jesus that brings it.

I believe the impossible is possible with Jesus. Nothing is too difficult for our Lord. Nothing! But do we still want to get well or has the struggle to unite our community around Jesus defeated our vision of wholeness?

What are you doing to build life around Jesus today?

• Are you fervent in prayer daily?
• Are you constant in the Word of God daily?
• Are you interceding for your neighbors daily?
• Are you bringing Jesus into every sector of your life- your job, your recreation, your family?
• Are you doing nothing for selfish ambition or vain conceit?
• Are you running away from the pursuit of money?
• Are you running away from the desire to climb the corporate ladder?
• Are you getting to know your neighbors?
• Are you living a holy life by denying yourself the lusts of your flesh?
• Are you sharing your possessions with your church family?
• Are you offering the people you run into the hope of Jesus or are you succumbing to societal pessimism as well?
• Are you ministering to the people who come in your path or are they simply a means for you to get ahead?

Do we still want to get well? I Do!

What They Really Need

Single, 2 children, working full-time, barely paying the bills, no family support, struggling with depression, always stressed, always on edge, never able to give her children all of her self for she always feels spent, dead end job, broken relationships, hopeless heart- what does this person need? The pat answer is "she needs Jesus" and I won't for a moment disagree with that. But how specifically does Jesus help her?

There is this flat belief in NJ today that as long as a person has food, clothing and shelter they have all they need. It's not a spoken belief but it is a practiced one. As an example, I got to visit with Violet on Friday. Violet is 87 years only, she has lived in the same house for 51 years and by the looks of things she lives a pretty comfortable life. I would venture to say that 90% of the world's population would opt to trade places with Violet if they could. She's living in America in a comfortable house in a safe neighborhood with enough money to live on. What more could a person ask for? However Violet does not have all she needs to survive. At the end of our brief visit on Friday Violet broke down and cried because she is discovering that the tangibles are not all she needs.

Violet will probably die in the next few years not because of an illness; not because she does not have everything the body needs to live on; not even because old age has set in. Violet will die because of purposelessness, loneliness and despair. Violet's tears were tears of pain. She feels useless to her family and her society. Her daughter checks in on her to make sure she is eating but that's about it. Violet is a testimony to the fact that what mankind needs is not bread alone.
Mankind needs Jesus. But how? That statement means the world, but only if we see how it connects to our experience of the world.

First of all mankind needs Jesus because there's not a single one of us that could ever stand before God, look Him in the eyes and not have our faces instantly burnt off as a result. No one has ever seen their Maker and lived and for this reason we all need a Mediator. We all need Jesus. A go-between. Someone to present us to the Father unblemished and prepared for Him. We need the blood of Jesus. We need His redemption. We need His forgiveness. In the globalest sense of the phrase we need Jesus because there is no way to the eternal Father except through Jesus (Jn.14:6).

Secondly though, we need Jesus because of what Jesus alone provides on earth. The single lady mentioned above and Violet, my 87 year old friend, need the same thing. They need a family of believers to walk with. What Violet knows better than anybody right now is that we cannot live alone. But what happens when, like the single mother above, the family breaks down? A deeper question is "Why did her family break down in the first place?" It broke down because at least one person in the family, probably the father or whoever was the leader of the family, did not have Jesus. That person lived selfishly. He aborted his family. He did not crucify his will to the Father's but followed his own evil desires. As a result his whole family broke down under his poor leadership. History is filled with examples of the long seasons of drought families and whole nations have experienced at the expense of one leader who chose his own will above his Maker's.

Let's ask the same question of Violet. Why is Violet living alone and feeling purposeless? I think we could identify three likely reasons: 1) Her children may actually believe that all their mother needs is food, clothing and shelter and have not considered the higher needs of love and purpose she is needing. 2) Violet and her husband lived without Jesus and so broke down their family over time- resulting in #1 above. Or, 3) Violet's family say they follow Christ but are not considering what "honor your mother and father" (Ex.20:12) means for their context. If Jesus were placed into any or all of the 3 scenarios above Violet's problem would be solved. People who love Jesus know there is more to life than food, shelter and clothing. People who love Jesus seek to remove all obstacles to spiritual growth for their children instead of creating obstacle by their own behavior. People who love Jesus will honor their mother and father even when their parents are grouchy, rude, obnoxious and down-right hard to live with. Jesus is the answer for them all.

The Lord Jesus designed His church in such a way as to provide for the needs of every orphan, every widow, and every handicapped person if they will but bow to Jesus and live as a functioning member of His family. Jesus has provided a place in His kingdom for every person who humbly submits to His kingdom laws. Under loving shepherds each church can effectively meet the needs of one another if they will "submit to one another out of reverence for Christ" (Eph.5:21). In His church Jesus provides every believer with a family, an economic backing (Acts 2:40ff, Acts 4:32-37), a village from which to raise children, a mission to seek and save the lost ones, and the reaffirming hope that Jesus is returning soon to take us out of this broken world.

What the world needs straight up is Jesus. Jesus is the answer. Jesus has not come to make the world Heaven, but He has come to redeem those in the world so that they can be with Him in Heaven. Jesus said, "The poor you will always have with you" (Mt.26:11). Yes, so long as there are people on earth living for themselves instead of for Jesus, we will have the poor among us. There will always be people who do not follow their Maker and therefore there will always be the poor. But Jesus did not mean by this that we should ever have destitute church members. In fact "Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever" (1 Tim.5:8).

I need regular reminders that in all the chaos and complication of the world Jesus is still the answer.

Rethinking the Lord's Supper and the Eldership

This new way of church-life (in our homes) is causing us to rethink some familiar church practices.

For example it is causing us to rethink the Lord's Supper. In the Hebrew culture the breaking of the bread was the official start of a meal together. It was the waving of the white flag to start the race. We can imagine that the father of the family, much like Jesus with His disciples on that betrayal night, held up the bread, gave thanks, broke it in view of all at the table, and dinner began. The father then passed the bread around the table as Jesus passed the bread to His disciples, but it did not stop with the bread; other foods were likely consumed as well. It was a meal. They would pass the potatoes, the squash, the pumpkin pie and the salad. And at the end of the meal the wine was passed for all to drink. The wine was like the checkered flag at the end of the meal stating, ‘our meal is now finished’. And if this were the way the majority of Hebrew families began and ended meal-time then Paul’s words in 1 Cor.11 make a lot more sense;

“In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me” (1 Cor.11:25).

The power of this regular meal was not the actual bookends themselves (bread & wine), but the communing that took place between the people and their Lord and between the people and one another. As they ate and supped with Jesus so they ate and supped with one another. At the dinner table they would share about Jesus together. They would pray spontaneously as the need arose. They would confess to one another their struggles. They would give testimony to the Holy Spirit’s working in their lives, and as they did this the children probably chimed in with, “Mommy can I have more please”. We are not at present practicing the Lord's Supper as a meal on Sundays; however in this new context of ours it is clear to see how this might have been the way of the church in the beginning.

Church in our homes is also causing us to rethink the eldership of the church. In Acts 14 we read of the Apostles appointing elders in every church in the cities of Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch (see Acts 14:21-23) and it is common to assume that the Apostles went to specific church buildings in these cities to do this; but this is not how it happened. The Apostles went house to house because each church resided in a house. To appoint elders in every church in Lystra, Iconium and Antioch was to appoint elders in every house-church. These elders were the spiritual fathers of the church family and would be responsible for identifying "faithful men who will be able to teach others also" (2 Tim.2:2).

Paul's instructions to Titus makes more sense when we consider that the church met in their homes. Titus 1:5 says,

"For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you—"

If each house-church had an elder or two as seems to be the pattern chosen in Acts 14, then to "appoint elders in ever city" simply meant to appoint elders in every house-church in the city. The modern day problem of having too many people for one pastor to care for disappears when a church is a house-church, A house-church likely consistsed of approximately 20 people and one elder can certainly care for 20 souls responsibly.

These things and many more we are rethinking as we practice now the house-church model at BCC. Please pray for the Lord's guidance as we experience many new changes which, we pray, will be advancing for the kingdom of Christ in NJ.

Church Planting 9 Years And Still Learning

9 years after starting a new church in NJ and we are still learning lessons. Here are some things we are finding ourselves reinvigorated by 9 years later;
 
The church as family
 
In our early years in NJ we were family. We lived within a mile of everyone on the original team. We borrowed each other's stuff. We hung out together regularly. We shared our goods and resources. We fought together like any good family does. We made peace again. We laughed, cried, wondered a lot about what the future might hold and did our best to keep Jesus front and center.
 
9 years later we are trying to do those very same things afresh with new people. It is a challenge with new people because living as family requires we build a healthy level of trust first. None of us are willing to offer ourselves whole-heartedly to a church family unless we trust the people. Trust, however, takes time especially if we have been hurt by people before. Most people would rather cocoon themselves from close relationships rather than experience the pain of broken trust again. Thankfully church in our homes has seemed to catapult us into closer connection with one another. We are finding this new context makes church as family seem easier to get to.
 
The need for a Jesus economy
 
Over the past 9 years we have come to rediscover the need for the church to live under the economy of Jesus again. The economies of capitalism, socialism and communism are insufficient for the church of Christ. The economy of Jesus says: 'those who have shall, out of the overflow of their hearts, give to those who have not.' Generosity is practiced in the church because it is the natural expression of having received such a generous gift in Jesus. When a congregation lives under the economy of Jesus we find that they have “no needy persons among them” (Acts 4:34) and, I believe, the Holy Spirit responds as He did in Acts 2 by working powerfully among them. Obedience always brings blessing.

The church of Christ in our present age has not been obedient to the Jesus economy. Even though we know theologically that we ought to live this way, we still treat our stuff as if it were our own and remain obnoxiously private with what the Lord has given us. This is often the case because it is preceeded by a failure to live as church family (#1 above). Many generous people exist in the church today but we are not close enough relationally to one another to know the needs of one another. Because we do not know each other we do not trust each other, and the majority of us will find it difficult to give to people if we have not yet built trust with them. On the other hand, having close relationships with one another we would readily give our shirts for each other. I believe it. I've seen it. This past Sunday a brother in Christ secretly handed me a card. I opened it later and read, “I always said when I’m blessed others will be blessed and when I’m not feeling God’s blessing, I must look to bless those around me...” Inside the card was $250 cash!

 

We are re-learning the need for the church to live under the Jesus economy. I suggest that it is our disobedience in this regard which most hinders the work of the Lord in America today.
 

Discipleship as Spiritual Parenting

This is something I have been learning in the past 3 or 4 years. Before that time I was not old enough or wise enough to spiritually parent anyone. Discipleship at its core is spiritual parenting. Protestants harp on the Catholics because they call their priests “Father”, and I think rightly so. This conviction comes from Jesus’ command in Matthew 23:9, “And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.” Jesus gave this command against those who placed others on spiritual pedestals. It was against those who liked to be seen in the marketplace with their special clothing and special titles and who took the best seats in the synagogues because they thought they were somehow more worthy than others to sit there. To these Jesus said (paraphrasing here), “don’t call them rabbi, teacher, or father for you have one Father worthy of that kind of respect." However the idea of having a spiritual father that you follow is also very Biblical.

 

Paul the Apostle said to the church at Corinth, “I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children. ¹⁵ Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. ¹⁶ Therefore I urge you to imitate me” (1 Cor.4:14-16). Paul the Apostle clearly saw himself as a spiritual father to the church at Corinth. He considered them his spiritual children. However Paul was a spiritual father in affection not authority, and I think that's the necessary distinction. He would say elsewhere, “For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, ¹² encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory” (1 Thes.2:11-12). Paul was absolutely a spiritual father to many in his affections toward them.

 

Spiritual parenting (mothering or fathering) is as simple as it sounds. It is taking responsibility for the souls of new Christians and nurturing them to spiritual adulthood. For Jesus that took 3 years with 12 men walking with them on the roads of life, teaching and modeling as He went. Spiritual parenting involves asking others to walk alongside you for a time or it can involve your choice to walk alongside others who need a spiritual parent. Many adult Christians are weak and wavering today because they never had a spiritual father or mother intentionally come alongside them and nurture them. I know we are all busy in America but if we are too busy to mandate time to raise spiritual (adult) children then we are too busy to make disciples.

 

“Do you have a pulse?” or “Do you want to follow Jesus?”

 
Our perspective on church growth in the first few years in NJ was ‘if you have a pulse, come join us!’ For a long while we thought any increase in people was a good increase in people. We thought we were progressing as long as we were seeing new faces. However if you spend enough time with people you come to discover those who truly want to follow Jesus and those who just want their spiritual fill for the week or some other easy handout. When Jesus elected 72 persons to bring the message of the kingdom of God to the surrounding region He was very selective. A pulse was not enough to get you elected. Instead Jesus rather sternly weaned out those who were divided in heart. Jesus said, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” ⁶⁰ Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” ⁶¹ Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” ⁶² Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (Lk.9:59-62).

 

It appears to me that Jesus recruited people to accomplish His mission not by begging just any adjacent soul to join in- as if He could not accomplish His plan without them. Instead Jesus said, “I’m going. Who’s coming? If you are not in then get out”. As I have been time and time again frustrated by people of low resolve I have come to the conclusion that the best way to move forward in spreading the Gospel through the planting of new churches is to say, “I’m going, who’s coming?” There are those who are not ready to follow the Lord. Fine. We will pray that the Lord convicts their heart later on down the road before they die. But there are some who are ready now. To them we say, “I’m going. You coming?”

 

Maybe something we have experienced is helpful to you on your journey.

Are We Trusted?

Trust is a hard thing to establish with people today. The more media we consume the less we trust in mankind. What filters into our sensory organs everyday is mostly the stuff which leads us to distrust our neighbor. We grow to believe that everyone has some dark secret under their sleave which only the process of time will reveal. "He seemed like such a kind man whenever we spoke", is a familiar phrase to describe the serial killer after he is caught. How do we as Christians establish trust with our neighbors when time and time again people are finding their first impressions about their neighbors so wrong? It's an important question to consider for unless we have their trust we shall not gain their following.

Here are a couple suggestions on buildling trust in our communities that I have found effective for the church today.

1. Do everything for the glory of God

As Christians we are to do all things for the glory of God (see 1 Cor.10:31). When we do all things for the glory of God then we will do all things well and with the upmost of integrity and honesty. When we begin to do things for lesser reasons (i.e. because it feels good, in order to make money, because we have to, etc.) we will inevitably do those things with less diligence and genuineness than if we did it to glorify God.

2. Do not have alterior motives

A gentleman comes into the Foodbank every so often to "get food for my neighbor". That is the pat reason he gives for coming to the Foodbank anyway. The real reason he comes is to find opportunities to use his gift of evangelism to speak to people in line about Christ. Praise God for his desire to make Christ known! However this man is distrusted by the Foodbank workers because they know he is not being truthful as to why he is really there. They believe his story about "food for my neighbor" is a crock. It's made up but they can't prove it. Since he has not made his primary reason known but is instead using the Foodbank for other reasons, he is not trusted by the Foodbank workers. Consequently he has hampered his ability to share Christ with them. They don't trust him.

3. Genuinely love people for no other reason than that Jesus loves people

If we want to build the trust of people we cannot engage in relationships with people for any lesser reason than to love them as Jesus loves them. As we genuinely love them without conversational tricks we will build their trust and create a platform for ourselves from which to say, "I hope you know that I care about you and pray for your soul often".

Here's how trust has been built in my life recently: I have been serving at the Foodbank for about 8 months now. When I am there I am very curious about the lives of the Foodbank workers. I ask them about themselves. I continue conversations about familiy members we had from last time. I tell them "I will be in prayer about that for you", and I am. I hide nothing. I say I am there to help out and help out is exactly what I do. I work hard to make them appreciate my help. I inquire about them because I genuinely care about them. They all know I am a preacher and they respect me for it. The Lord has given me their trust now and I see cool things happening as a result;

• The head lady at the Foodbank now introduces me to people who are in need of more than just food

Last Tuesday morning she pulled me aside quietly and said, "Do you know the lady that is at the desk right now?" I did not know her. She said, "I want you to go talk to her; she needs more help than just food." I helped her to her car and learned that her daughter in law had just passed away 2 weeks ago and she now had custody of her grandchildren. Her heart was greatly burdened by this sudden change in life. We talked for a bit outside and then I gave her my information. I let her know that if nothing else I had two good ears that were always available to her. I hope she will call.

• The head lady at the Foodbank also informs me about other people she knows, not affiliated with the Foodbank, who need spiritual guidance

She recently introduced me to Joe who works for the Township. One Tuesday morning she pulled me aside, told me about Joe, told me where his office was, and told me to get out of the Foodbank and go talk to him for he was really struggling. Fearing her reprimand if I did not I went! I had a great conversation with Joe in his office and we set up to have coffee together at a Dunkin Donuts to talk more. Joe came to our SuperBowl gathering recently where he and I connected and talked a lot about faith and life.

I believe these opportunities are open to me right now because the Lord has helped me establish the trust of the Foodbank workers. If I was not trusted by them people neither would they entrust to me their burdens, their souls, their experiences or the counsel of their friends.

How can you establish the trust of those you are with regularly? Once trust is established I think you will find evangelism rather natural.