Generous Living, Generous Hearts, Generous God

One of the key indicators of our followership of Christ and spiritual maturity is the generosity of our lives. A desire to generously step into other peoples situations and help them, a joyful heart in sharing with others what God has given us, the love of meeting others needs and generously giving back to God and His work what He has so lavishly given to us.

This way of life and generous heart is at complete odds with our consumer oriented culture which is about meeting my needs, my happiness, and my resources. Ironically, it is in giving away that we fully enjoy what God has given to us. It is also how we join Him in following His example of giving up everything for us (Philippians 2:5-11).  The most joyful and satisfied among us are those who choose the rare path of living generously rather than living selfishly.

I love Paul’s words to Timothy on a life of generosity. “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life (1 Timothy 6:17-19).”

This is not simply about money. Rather it is about generous hearts that love to “do good,” that are “rich in good deeds” and that are “generous and willing to share.” Generous hearts love to help others. They make generous time in their lives to be Jesus to those who need an encouraging word, a warm meal, a personal visit or a hand of help. That lifestyle and heart spills over to our possessions and resources – loving to share what we have and being generous in our giving. Not because we have to – we don’t – but because we want to mirror the generous heart of God and in doing so find freedom from selfish living. Generous living brings freedom while selfish living brings all manner of concerns because our focus is on ourselves and our stuff.

Read carefully these word on generosity from Paul to the Corinthians – who did not understand the concept very well. “Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God (2 Corinthians 9:10-11).”

Generosity on our part results a generous response from God which gives us the ability to be even more generous with others – financially and otherwise. “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work (2 Corinthians 9:8).”

Many television preachers would want us to give so that we become rich. God invites us to lives of generosity because it reflects His heart.  In fact, if wealth is the goal, one does not understand the gospel which places its confidence in God rather than in stuff. And, which is magnificently generous and trusts God to meet our needs. The result of Christ’s life was not wealth – in fact it was the opposite. It was a life of generosity to those who did not deserve it that transforms our lives until we become like Him with generous hearts and lives.

I want His heart. It will only come with following His example of a generous heart and life.The more generous I live, the more my heart becomes like His. It is a lifelong pursuit of learning to live like Him and overcoming the selfishness with which my lower nature pulls me. But it is a journey toward freedom and His character in me.

Western vs. Indigenous Missionaries

There is a quiet but very important debate taking place regarding the place of western missionaries in today’s expensive world. There are some who argue that the day of long term missionaries from the west is over and that we should simply support indigenous missionaries across the globe at a much lesser cost. The implications of how we answer that question are significant.

Let me say up front that I lead ReachGlobal, an international missions organization of the EFCA. Let me also say that I believe that the vision for reaching the world does not lie with organizations but with the local church. The best missions, in my view, are those who exist to serve the missions vision of the local church and provide structure, long term strategic help and best practices.

Let’s talk about money for a moment. It costs around $100,000 per mission family to be on the field in our and similar organizations. That sounds like a lot – but it is not that much different than the cost of pastoral staff for a local church – if you add in the hidden costs above salary such as health insurance, retirement, staff administrative help and perhaps the most expensive cost of all – the expensive church facilities that staff work in. The difference between missionaries and local church staff is very small when you consider the hidden costs that churches must cover in order to staff their ministry.

It is true that missionaries who are not productive do not belong on the field. It is equally true that this applies to church staff in the United States as well. The fact that some ministries don't deal with unproductive staff in both arenas does not negate the need for staff. It makes the case for the right staff who are engaged in the right work.

The question of value for that money is an important one. If missionaries are simply doing what local believers could do one may have an argument for funding locals rather than western missionaries. However, that misses a massive shift that is taking place within the mission world today where missionaries are increasingly not the hands on doers but the mentors, equippers and releasers of indigenous workers. In fact, in ReachGlobal (RG), the central job of our staff is to develop, empower and release. This is something that local believers are not as capable of doing: they need and ask for help in raising up equipped workers for the harvest and increasingly that is the role of personnel from the west.

In addition, simply sending money rather than personnel raises another very important question: dependencies on western money that fosters dependence rather than independence and control (through our dollars) rather than the development of equal ministry partners. A book every church in the west should read is “When Helping Hurts: Alleviating Poverty Without Hurting the Poor...and Yourself.” Indiscriminate financial help is often a terrible gift with unintended consequences that the west does not understand. One of my colleagues at the Lausanne Conference in South Africa is a leader from Liberia. His observation is that money has done more to ruin ministry in countries like his than almost anything else.

In years past the west often had a paternalistic attitude toward missions. We had the money, we had the education and we were the experts. Too often we carried that attitude with us rather than developing, empowering and releasing indigenous personnel. Now, some would compound that error with an equal error. Western missionaries are not needed so we will just fund local ministries globally. Neither of these answers is Biblical and it is not an either or dichotomy but a both and. The missions mandate Christ left the church will only be met when all believers, those from the majority world and those from the minority world join hands to share the gospel with over five billion people who don’t know Christ.

From the inception of the church, it has been a mission sending church. Paul and Barnabas were simply the first in the hundreds of thousands of missionaries who have gone from one culture to another with the good news of Jesus. My parental family was in that line of faithful missionaries. The day we stop sending people and simply send our dollars is the day that we have abandoned the call of the church to “go and make disciples of all nations” and the inevitable result will be a quick decline even in giving for missions. What we tell our partners internationally applies to us: No church group is mature until they are intentionally reaching across ethnic, economic, political and culture lines to share the gospel.

The question of whether western missionaries are needed is really the wrong question because the New Testament does not give us the option of sending missionaries. The real question is what should long term missionaries in today’s world be doing? One thing we know they should be doing is raising up workers for the harvest in all parts of the world, doing formal and informal theological training, training church planters and pastors and doing everything we can to see multiplication take place where the gospel is not well known. In many places this means the hard work of evangelism and the making of disciples because there are none present. There are still vast tracts of our globe where the church is small, struggling or non-existent.

Ironically, just as some in the west believe that long term workers are no longer needed, believers in other parts of the world are increasingly sending their own missionaries. Missions has become all people reaching all people and many of our own teams are made up of personnel from different parts of the world. The question will be whether the western church loses out on the blessing of being a player in the world wide missions efforts in the years to come.

Missions does not win when missionaries do not partner with indigenous believers. Missions does not win when western missionaries are left on the sidelines. Missions wins when there is a synergistic relationship between missionaries from wherever they come and local believers wherever they are.

Mature Congregations

Local congregations go through predictable stages of development from birth, adolescence, and maturity. In the birth phase they are often doing those things necessary for survival. In adolescence, they are finding their way, dealing with internal issues and clarifying their identity. All of us hope that our congregation will get to the place of maturity but what are the marks that we have reached maturity? I would suggest that there are at least five. As you read these, think about your congregation as it relates to these five areas.

First: We understand that it is not about programs but about life change – true spiritual transformation.  While programs can serve the purposes of spiritual transformation, the emphasis is on what gets us to our goal, rather than running great programming for the kids and family. Mature congregations have thought through the reasons for their programming and evaluate whether that programming is actually contributing to life change and the mission of the church. Where it does not they retool or kill the program.  Mature congregations are after transformation of hearts (where grace is understood and lived out), transformation of our thinking so that it aligns with God’s, our priorities so they reflect a new way of thinking and finally relationships that reflect the grace and truth of Christ.

Second, mature ministries understand that it is not about our brand but about His Brand. They see themselves as part of a larger whole in their community and region – of Christ centered churches that have different names and different denominational affiliations but which are all part of the Bride and they value those relationships, pray for those other ministries, and promote an attitude of togetherness rather than independence. Immature ministries are still focused on themselves while mature ministries are focused on building the Church of Christ in their community and region.

Third, mature ministries are committed to working alongside other believers in the area to reach their area with the gospel. They are willing to set aside their petty differences, theological distinctive that are important to them but not to the gospel itself in order to see transformation come to a whole region. This is what happened in Acts 19 where the Church in Ephesus had such an outward vision that it saw a whole region come to knowledge of the gospel with amazing results in the lives of people who experienced genuine spiritual transformation. This could not have happened without the church in Ephesus both spawning other fellowships of believers but then working with those other fellowships for the proclamation of the Gospel. It was an outward looking church that was committed to His brand rather than its brand.

Here is a visual. When we are concerned only with our own ministries, we are like a dot on a map so in a large metro area with many churches we may be one of 100 dots. When we start to work with other congregations for the cause of the gospel we move from being a dot on the map to a concentric circle that intersects with several other circles. Would you rather have one hundred dots on the map or be one of 100 concentric circles intersecting one another so that there are synergies between churches rather than independent dots sitting in their own neighborhood?

Fourth, mature ministries give themselves away to others. They are involved in community transformation, helping meet needs around them. They are willing to mentor, train and give away ministry expertise to others who are not as far along as they are. They willingly share their facilities with others who can use them. They see beyond helping churches in their denomination and willingly serve those in others. In other words, they are kingdom focused rather than self focused. They are “rich in good deeds” toward their community and other believers and churches. They go out of their way to serve others.

Fifth, mature ministries are generous ministries. They help those in need both within their body and outside. They live out the command of Paul in 1 Timothy 6:17- 19 to be rich in good deeds, to be generous and to be willing to share. This is the inevitable result of living with an outward focus and open hands. Where there is a need they are found there. When they need to get their hands dirty they do. They live out the model of Christ who cared for those in need, even the least of these, and those who don’t fit our natural demographic.

There are many churches who live in adolescence for much of their existence. Has your congregation moved from adolescence to maturity? Actually it is not a matter of time as much as it is a matter of heart and commitment to a vision and lifestyle modeled by Christ himself.

Undiscerning church boards: A case study

I never cease to be amazed at how naive and undiscerning church  boards can be. Here is a case study from several years ago. 

The church has gone through a period of turbulent waters for a number of reasons and the senior pastor resigns. In the interim a staff member who loves nothing else better than to lead steps into the breach, is regular in the pulpit, and leads the staff. In addition, he puts his name in to become the next senior pastor and it is clear he desires the job. It is no secret that he wants the senior position. I will call this individual Bill.


When the search committee makes its decision, Bill is not chosen. Instead, it is Steve from outside. But when Steve comes, Bill is not asked to leave so Steve is working with the individual who wanted his job and believed should have his job on his staff.

Over the next several years, it is quickly apparent that Bill believes he is a better leader than Steve, passively resists his leadership - sometimes actively, is critical of Steve when they meet and tensions are present. Their philosophies of ministry are worlds apart, their style very different and Bill is often critical of how Steve leads. 

Yet the leadership of the church does nothing about it. They like Bill and Bill feels "called to be at the church"  and has a history at the church. Thus the board has set Steve up for an inevitable clash, for leadership pain, inability to build his own staff and a major lack of alignment on the staff. When it comes to how they would do things, Bill and Steve live on different planets.


When I met with Bill and Steve at Bill's request, I asked him who the better leader was and Bill told me in front of Steve that he was by far the better leader. I asked why he stayed at the church when he could not lead from the "first chair" and he said that the church needed his "prophetic voice" and would never leave. In other words, the church would not succeed without him and it was his prophetic voice that the church needed. I strongly suggested as an outside consultant that this arrangement would not work and that it was in fact doomed to fail. Bill came off as overly impressed with his own importance and the need of the church for his presence.


Over a period of months, as Steve pressed into this impossible situation, Bill decided that he should resign - reluctantly. He sent a letter of resignation to the elders and to my astonishment, several of the elders recommended that they should not accept the letter of resignation and that Steve should figure out how to work with Bill.

Never mind the lack of alignment, insubordination and the fact that Bill really wanted Steve's job. For some, Steve himself was the bad guy here who could not humble himself to work with Bill. In the meeting, he took a number of amazing shots for not making it work.


I was frankly stunned, sitting as an outsider listening to this conversation. Here was a group that had chosen Steve as their pastor over Bill and had then allowed Bill to stay so you had two competing leaders! Then when the inevitable tensions arose, Steve was the bad guy and should just "get along." If even Paul and Barnabas could not figure that out, how do we expect others to figure that out? I suggested that if they were that committed to Bill, they should have made him pastor rather than calling Steve, that they had set Steve up for this by keeping Bill on staff and that I had told Steve he should leave if the board did not support him on this.


Then, even more astonishing to me, they made it clear that Bill could stay in the church and some think he should be allowed to lead a ministry there as a lay leader - in spite of the fact that Steve now has a volunteer leader who wanted his job, does not respect him as a leader and who I predict will undermine Steve in subtle or not so subtle ways. In my world, Bill would be thanked for his service and asked to find another church. But, no, preservation of the unity of the body means that he should stay and even be eligible to serve in a lay leadership role.


Jesus told us to be innocent as doves and wise as serpents. Too many church boards lack basic wisdom in the name of "grace," and frankly violate other Scriptures by letting the fox into the hen house in the name of unity and grace. If these leaders are not careful they will lose a staff member but it will not be Bill. It will be Steve who they called but chose not to support and whose decisions in matters like these actually made it difficult for him to lead! And if Steve does eventually leave, they will get what their leadership deserved. They were not wise, did not support their pastor, did not make good decisions early on and did not think through the consequences of their decisions.


Wisdom is lacking in far too many board rooms of churches. In this case the word "foolish" from the book of Proverbs is far more applicable than the word "wisdom." Time will tell whether this board gets its act together. I pray they do.

Intentionality - not resolutions

It is the beginning of the new year and many of us think about the things we ought to do differently this year than we did last year. Get out of debt, lose weight, exercise more, spend more quality time with our spouse. Actually the list can get pretty long pretty fast given the realities of life and they also get left behind pretty quickly. Not because we don't think them important but usually because we have too many and apart from good intentions, do not have a plan.

One of the lessons I have learned in organizational and personal leadership is that less is more. Understanding the most critical issues one should be focused on and then having a plan for how one can address those few and specific issues over the course of a year actually brings greater progress in our personal and professional lives compared to trying to tweak many issues.

As I face this coming year, I actually am focusing on two personal issues and two professional issues. In both cases the issues are game changers that will have significant positive repercussions personally and for the organization I lead. I have also had to clear blocks of time in my calendar to ensure that what I set out to do this year can be accomplished.

My question for you is this: What are the one or two things in your personal life that if you gave attention to would make you a healthier person, closer to God or to others and are there things you need to pay attention too because they are hindering your personal life in some way? Make your list and then choose one or two that you want to tackle this year. 

On the professional side, what are the one or two issues that really need your specific attention and which tackled would be game changers for you or our organization? You cannot tackle a bunch but you can tackle one or two.

Having identified the personal and professional issues, look at your calendar so you can connect the compass (the issues you want to pay attention to) with the clock (your calendar) in order to achieve success in these areas. Remember: less is more; and it always takes a plan. Without a plan you have a resolution but not the intentionality  that can make it happen. Finally take time once a month to review your progress in each of these areas and realign as needed.

Those individuals who are most successful don't try to do everything. Rather they ask God for wisdom on the few things they need to concentrate on and then they go after those game changers with intentionality and discipline.

Hearts full of Thanks

It is ironic that in our affluence in many parts of the world that the one thing we often forget to do is to reflect on the many gifts that God has granted us and the amazing faithfulness He has shown us. There is no better time to chronicle our reasons for thanks than at the end of the year and as we look forward to a new year.

Think about the gifts He has given us this past year: provision for our daily bread - and beyond. Friends without whom our lives would be so empty! Family that loves us and whom we can encourage and build into. Protection from the many hazards of life - who knows how many times His angels protected us this past year without our even knowing it. Direction and wisdom in decisions that we have made. Presence and peace in the hardships we walked through. A rising sun each morning and a setting sun each night to remind us of His ongoing presence in this universe. 

Many of us walked through hardships in the past year. Have we thanked God for those moments which drew us closer to Him, caused our faith to grow and gave Him a chance to demonstrate His goodness in the midst of pain?

Some of us are living with severe illness and the uncertainty it brings. Have we thanked Him for the gift of life as we wake up each day knowing that it is a day of undeserved grace - indeed for each one of us?

Some of us face uncertainty as we look toward a new year. Have we thanked Him that we do not walk into this new chapter alone? That the Lord of the Universe walks with us, before us and knows the end from the beginning?

Thanksgiving is the very foundation of life in Christ who has ransomed us, redeemed us, given us His Spirit, infused us with His presence, provided us with His hope, stamped us for an eternal destiny and given us purpose every day of our lives. In a life of thanksgiving we truly live with appreciation for who our Lord and Savior is which feeds and grows our faith. A life devoid of regular thanksgiving is a diminished life of selfishness, want and sadness.

Many of us will watch the celebrations tonight as the new year is rung in around the world. As we celebrate, lets not forget the true reason for celebration - an amazing, generous, magnanimous Savior who showers all of His blessings on us and loves us with a pure, unrelenting love. Don't end this year without chronicling His goodness to you and thanking Him for that goodness.

A Story Stranger than Fiction

No story is better known. No story better captures the heart of a child - small or grown - than the one we celebrate today. No matter how many times we hear the story it never grows old, it never disappoints, never ceases to evoke deep emotions of wonder, awe and comfort. An angel’s proclamation to illiterate shepherds, a teenage unwed mother, a loyal carpenter fiancee, the evil king Herod, a cold, clear, Bethlehem night without a place to stay. A messy birth in an animal’s stall, alongside a dirty alley in the dark of night. Confused cows watching unknowing as the Son of the universe stares back unknowing at the very animals He had created eons before. A mother, a child, a carpenter, a few agitated animals and the pungent smell of manure.



This is a story so absurd that it could only have been scripted by a Divine hand. No other writer would have attempted such a script. If they had they would not have claimed it to be true: fiction maybe, but not reality. This is not how the One whose voice had echoed off of a billion galaxies would make His entrance. Without CNN and Fox News, into a hovel known affectionately today as Bethlehem but then nothing more than a tiny village on the path to Jerusalem.

His entrance was marked not by a proclamation to kings but to astonished herdsmen sleeping with sheep. The heavens opened with ten thousand voices – not over Jerusalem the ancient capital – but over a tiny grazing field for a handful of insignificant shepherds. They would be the only witnesses of the grand entrance of a King. No other writer would have written such a script.

No other author would have taken such a chance. For behind this story there are echoes of another story - equally incredulous. Centuries before in the vastness of eternity past – when infinity kissed infinity, The Master of Infinity spoke into being the universe in which we live - 3,000 of whose stars are visible to the careful eye, 30 billion visible from a large telescope, - the other 90% of the universe still hidden from our eyes. Its splendor an eternal testimony to the Author of the story.

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise.


Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight;
All praise we would render: O help us to see
Tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee.
(Walter Chalmers Smith)


The Author’s heart was restless still, lonely in His perfection. A heart full of love is not easily satisfied. Transcendent goodness longed to give away infinite love. Again the Author spoke: A planet was expertly crafted. One among billions. A people wonderfully created – in the image of the Author. Free to love, free to experience the infinite goodness of the Author. Free to revel in His infinite Love. But above all free. Love cannot be forced and remain love.


We are not the sole owners of broken hearts. No heart suffered such sorrow as Infinite Love rejected. Image bearers rejected the Image Maker. The story’s characters fired the Author to write their own script. Unmatched, searing pain pierced the Author’s heart as the loved jilted the Lover.


Chaos infiltrated beauty. A planet was hijacked and spun out of control. Poverty of spirit supplanted endless joy. Unfulfilled hearts realized the pain of lost love. Without the Author, individual story lines faltered – and failed. Sadness reigned. Darkness descended in seeming endless gloom.

Truth can be stranger than fiction. For in the pained heavens the grieving Author plotted love’s revenge. An awesome revenge that only Divinity could contrive – that only Divinity would contrive. Having lost His loved, the Lover would send His most loved to reclaim His heart’s desire. The rejected Creator would kiss the unfaithful created. Tender mercy in place of deserved destruction. An astonished heaven broke into unbelieving applause. Image bearers would be reclaimed by the Image Maker. Light would once again prevail over darkness. Brokenness would be made whole. Peace would triumph over chaos.

All was silent in the heavens on the chosen night. Angels held their corporate breath. For nine months the Son had been absent, resident in a young girls womb, coming to us not as a king but incognito, just one of thousands of children that would be born on a lonely planet that night – into the darkness that our word had become. Placenta covered the Son of the universe arriving to claim back His beloved: this time, one by one, heart by heart. Tender mercy arriving in disguise: one of us, one like us. On that night, the Author personally entered our story.

Such humility our world has never known. A stunning reversal for a world gone astray. A Heart full of love is not easily satisfied. Transcendent goodness longing to give away infinite love, arriving under cover of night in order to “shine on those living in darkness…to guide our feet into the path of peace.” (Luke 1:27).

When an author writes, each character is unique; each has his or her own storyline. We, each have a story – unique, unrepeated, singular. Each story has its own joy, its own pain, its own pathos and unmatched quality. But each shares one singular, astonishing feature. We are made in the Author’s image, and He will not rest until we have invited Him to join in our story.

More astonishing than the script He has authored, the story we celebrate today is that He also wants to enter into your story. This is the most ancient of stories but it is also the most contemporary of stories. The Christmas story is but one chapter in the Author’s divine script. The Author is still writing. And every person who invites Him into their story becomes a separate and unique chapter in His unfinished book. And into each story He brings His light and peace.

“For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” (John 3:16-17.)


Have you invited Him into your story?

Difficult but Necessary Decisions

Perhaps the most difficult decisions that leaders make are those of personnel, both hiring and letting staff go. While some leaders are way too quick to pull the plug on situations that are not working, most of us wait way too long to take action when we need too, prolonging our pain, the pain of others and compromising the mission of the organization.

Our reasons for not addressing situations where the fit is not right, where there is not missional and philosophical alignment or where the job has outgrown the staff member are many. It can be conflict avoidance, hoping against hope that things will "work out," grace, or just fear of facing the pain of letting someone go. Usually, however, our "gut" has already told us that it will not work and since prior performance is the best predictor of future behavior, we have the knowledge we need - just not the resolve to solve the problem. I have been there like many of you.

There are three issues that we must consider when we face this kind of situation. First, if the fit is not right with the rest of the team, that lack of fit or alignment is like an anchor around the whole team, pulling it down and keeping it from moving forward. In other words, lack of fit hurts the team or organization as a whole and compromises its ability to move forward in health and vitality.

Second, where the issue is competence, the lack of competence of an individual to play at the level they need to play at hurts the reputation and perception of the organization. In one ministry that I consulted with, a program was started that had promise and made promises. Unfortunately, the individual running that program could never deliver on the promise and nearly everyone who used the program came away disillusioned. The program is still running in spite of the fact that every disillusioned customer hurts the reputation of the ministry as a whole. They would have been better off to cut their losses either by moving the staff member on, or shutting down a program which over promised and under delivered for more than a decade. I have made this mistake at times as well.

Thirdly, and this may be the hardest for us to accept is that when there is a lack of fit or the needs of the job have outgrown the competence of someone to fulfill it, we actually do a disservice to those who are involved by keeping them in that slot. Even when they do not understand that they are in the wrong spot (many who are don't), whenever someone is not in the right "lane" they will not be fulfilled and fruitful - two things we should want for every staff member.

How should we handle such situations? The one thing we should not do is to ignore the obvious or what we know in our "gut." Facing reality that the fit is not right or the competency is not present is one of the jobs of leaders - not a pleasant one but an important one. Not dealing with what they know to be true has a negative impact on the mission and organization they lead.

We all know that letting someone go must be done wisely, at the right time and in a defensible way. When a staff member does not have much of a constituency it is far easier. When they do, even though the fit is not right or competency not present it is more complicated and plan that takes into account unintended consequences becomes critical. What we cannot do as leaders is to do nothing because in that scenario we have neglected one of our key duties as a leader which is to ensure that the organization stays healthy and that barriers to our mission fulfillment are removed. At that point the issue is not if but how!

Building Cultures of Expectation

Good leaders are people of hope and optimism: they are evangelists of hope to those they lead. In addition, they are always intentional in helping develop cultures of expectation within their team or organization for what God desires to do in and through them. 


Many in ministry have little expectation for what God is going to do in and through them. All you need to do is to listen to them pray: small prayers for small things - without passion and without belief that God will actually show up. Contrast that with those who pray for big things, expect big things and plan for big things.


Jesus himself told us to expect big things: "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples (John 15:7-8). Even more stunning is the statement to His disciples, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it" (John 14:12-14).


Not once in any of his Epistles was Paul pessimistic about what God was up to. His words are those of amazing expectation of what God was up to. "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen (Ephesians 3:20-21)." I cannot read that without shivers going down my spine!


Because we live in a world full of problems and challenges, most people focus not on what God is up to but all the issues they face. Leaders are those who lift the eyes of others to our powerful Lord and remind them that God is always at work in amazing ways and that He wants to work through us.


Leaders encourage their people to be in the Scriptures regularly because focusing on Him and His word helps us to think like Him and to start claiming His amazing promises. Leaders encourage times of individual and corporate prayer focusing on the goodness, greatness and plans of God for our world. Prayer is time exposure to Jesus and we don't leave unchanged. Leaders also encourage their people to develop prayer teams who are together claiming God's promises for our work. I am privileged to have hundreds of people praying for me at any given time.


Finally, leaders lift up the purpose, power, passion and resolve of our Lord to reach this planet for Him on a constant business. God is always up to something wonderful. He is always providing fruit to those who seek his help. He is always working in improbable ways through improbable situations and improbable people. He is, after all the One whose glory will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea and the one before whom every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.


Leaders of ministries are the purveyors of the very hope that God lays out for us in Scripture and that Jesus demonstrated in the Gospels. They lift up the big and loving and powerful and "at work" God and call their people to join him in His amazing work. They build cultures of expectation that God is going to use our efforts in significant ways for His kingdom purposes. How are you doing as a purveyor of hope and one who is building a culture of expectation?

A tiny town, welcome homes

It was not a famous or important town in Jesus' day. In fact, it was a tiny hovel two miles from Jerusalem. Unlike Jerusalem it was a town that welcomed Jesus. Unlike Galilee it was a place that believed in Jesus. In this town, Jesus found welcome and needed rest. In this town, He was worshipped as the One who was worth a whole years wages of pure nard from India broken and poured over His head by a woman who was shunned by the rest of society.

It was in this town that a resurrection took place - before the resurrection in Christ himself - the friend of Jesus, Lazarus. In this town he invited Mary to sit at His feet where only men were supposed to be. In this town, Jesus dined at the home of Simon the Leper, something others would never have done. And while born in Nazareth and crucified in Jerusalem, it was in this town that Jesus ascended up into heaven after his resurrection.

A tiny, insignificant town. It was poor, it housed those who lived from paycheck to paycheck and more than a few disreputable types. But it had one thing that has preserved its name for all eternity - it was a town that welcomed Jesus. There were homes where He could come and spend the night and where he felt at home. There were homes where friends ministered to Him rather than He ministering to them. Here he was loved, here he could rest, here he could be ministered to, here he could be away from the crowds who only wanted something from Him. Here people like Mary just wanted to be with Him in His presence.

In Ascending from this town He paid it a great honor. He came to a family who loved him. He ascended from a town that loved Him.

Bethany: a place where Jesus was always welcome and at home. I want my home to be like the home of Mary and Martha. And I want my town to be a place where He is welcome because He has many friends in the neighborhood: who love Him, want to be with Him and honor Him with all that they are and have.

Calebs and Joshuas: The Key to Healthy Ministries

Our world is filled with naysayers: those who have little vision, small faith, high fear and frankly don't believe that God is capable of doing great things. This is true in the church, in missions, and any number of Christian organizations. The book written years ago "Your God is Too Small" applies today.

Small vision, little faith, and high fear factors to try something significant for God are responsible for much of the lack of fruit in many ministries. Board members who say "we've never done that before," pastors who are comfortable with the status quo, missionaries who don't really believe that God can break in and do something because of the "hard soil" all contribute to ministry initiatives that lack vision and faith or entrepreneurial spirit. It is life in the comfort zone of diminished and empty faith rather than life lived on faith that God can do what we cannot do!

The difference between those of small faith and those of big faith is this. The first group defines faith as that which we can accomplish by ourselves. The second group defines faith as that which only God can accomplish. The first is all about human effort and the second is all about divine power.

This was the divide between those who were sent by Moses into Canaan to explore it on behalf of the Israelites (Numbers 13-15). Ten of those who reported back reported what were probably true facts as they had seen them. Their conclusion was that the Israelites would never be successful in taking the land. They saw through human eyes and from that standpoint were probably quite accurate.

Caleb and Joshua, however, saw through divine eyes and they simply said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it" (Numbers 13:30).

Their confidence was in the power of God rather than the strength of their army. "The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them" (Numbers 14:7-9).

The negative ten focused on fear and human efforts. Caleb and Joshua focused on faith and God's provision. And it made all the difference in their perspective.

The church in the affluent west often bases their faith on what they can accomplish (or not) with their gifts, resources and plans. The missing factor is faith in Christ's ability and power to do far more than we could ever humanly do. After all, "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not (and cannot see)" Hebrews 12:1. If our plans and strategies and expectations of fruit only goes to what we ourselves can do we have shortchanged ourselves and underestimated God. God is not interested in what we can do by ourselves. He wants us to reach for things that only He can make possible so that He is the One who gets the glory - not us.

The church today is full of people like the ten who said, we cannot take the land. The church desperately needs the two - Caleb and Joshua who declare that we can - but only because it is God who goes before us. The mission world has many like the ten who really don't believe that God will actually break through in amazing ways. It too needs Calebs and Joshuas who live in the realm of deep abiding faith in the power and purpose of God to do far beyond what we could ask or imagine - in his strength, not ours.

Are you a Caleb or Joshua or more like the other ten? God calls us to "abundant and copious fruit (John 15) for the Kingdom based on his presence and power and Kingdom authority (Matthew 28:18-20). That takes vision, faith, belief and reliance on a power far greater than our own. Small faith leads to wandering in the wilderness like the Israelites. Courageous faith leads to the taking of the land. Which world do you live in today?

Three Kinds of Work for Leaders

Because leaders are by nature "busy" and always have a boatload of things that need to get done it is easy to fall into the trap of activity that does not actually drive the ministry or team forward. One of the ways to avoid this common tendency is to think of leadership work in three categories - and to pay attention to how much time we spend in each of these categories.

The first and easiest category is "routine work." Routine work includes those things that we pay attention to all the time. The hundred plus emails I receive every day requires my attention - it is routine. This applies to many of the meetings we have, reports we may fill out, and those activities that are a part of one's normal work.

The second and more challenging category is "management work." This is the work required to manage staff and processes including check in meetings, walking around and actually seeing what is happening, paying attention to metrics and finances. It is work that keeps current people and processes moving in the right direction.

The third and most difficult work leaders do is "directional work." It is the thinking, brain storming and evaluation of where we are and where we ought to be going as well as developing ideas as to how to get there. Directional work is actually the most important work a leader does although all three categories of work are necessary.

Here is the challenge for every leader. It is very easy to default toward routine work because it is ever present, blinks at us on our screen in the form of email and is natural for us to do. We all tend to default toward the easy and the immediate. While more challenging, management is a given for us and requires our attention. Management ensures that the status quo is healthy. What often gets lost, however, because our schedules are full with the routine and management is charting a course for the future which requires uninterrupted time, thinking, study, evaluation and prayer. We know it is important but the immediate often takes us from thinking about the future.

An helpful exercise is to color code one's calendar for a month or two according to the kind of work each obligation represents - routine, management and directional. Often one finds that the routine and day to day management leaves little time for the directional. Yet it is the directional that helps the organization move forward. While the routine, management and directional are all important, what is most important is not to neglect any of the three and not to default toward the easy (routine) at the expense of the hard (directional). Ask yourself on a monthly basis whether these three kinds of work are in balance in your schedule.

A way to prevent this from happening is to block schedule time for the directional before each month starts for thinking, planning, evaluating and praying about the future. That way the most important is not driven out by the urgent!

Building High Trust Organizations

The issue of trust in organizations is a complex one. It cannot be demanded but it can be cultivated. It may not be your current culture but it can become your future culture. Cultures of trust do not happen by accident: rather, they are built over time with a series of intentional practices that if lived out by the senior staff (and others who are willing) can impact the whole organization in very positive ways. Because trust is one of the key requirements for healthy interactions, collaboration and common mission, this is one aspect of culture that cannot be ignored.

One of the givens in building cultures of trust is that mistrust is often the bias that people have toward leaders. Our very political system was deliberately created to prevent leaders from having too much power with a system of checks and balances. Unless one reflects on the difference in ethics and commitments of Kingdom living (in the church) from what we experience in the world we forget that relationships that have been transformed by the Holy Spirit and which exhibit the fruit of the Spirit (however imperfectly) are fundamentally different than relationships where the Spirit is not present. We need to remind people that the qualities of love and unity are the very qualities that set us apart as God's people and that means a high regard for one another and a bias toward trust and love rather than mistrust and distrust.

When I am called into troubled churches to help them identify areas of dishealth, address them and chart a plan to move toward greater health there are often significant areas of mistrust that have their genesis in bad decisions, poor communication, fractured relationships and poor behavior. All of these will breed mistrust like a virus and must be identified, repented of, talked about, and new behaviors agreed to. This must always start with leaders owning up to ways in which they have contributed to the current mistrust, asking forgiveness where necessary and committing to new behaviors that will build trust. The rest of the congregation will rarely rise above the practices of its leaders so they set the stage for what will be.

One of the fundamental lessons I have learned over many years of leadership is that the fostering of an open, candid, atmosphere where any issue can be put on the table (as long as it is not a personal attack or with a hidden agenda) goes a long ways toward fostering trust. Mistrust grows where issues cannot be discussed because everyone knows they are off limits. On the teams I lead we have a "no elephants" policy. An elephant is something that cannot be discussed but everyone knows the issue is there. Once the issue is put on the table it is no longer an elephant, simply an issue to be negotiated through. The more elephants you have the less trust you will have. The fewer, the more trust you will have.

And that goes for me as a leader. I recently had a senior leadership meeting where some of my team felt free to criticize how I handled part of the meeting. Whether I agree with them or not is immaterial - the fact that they felt free to share their views is. I had to remind myself that I have nothing to prove and nothing to lose so as long as we can dialogue without defensiveness (on my part) we come to a better understanding. If I were to go defensive, the discussion would most likely start to shut down which would be a trust buster rather than a trust builder.

The degree that a team or group can express itself candidly (without personal attacks or hidden agendas) is a barometer of the trust level within the group. Robust discussion requires a high level of trust which is why many groups never get to that level of team. Leaders set the stage for this because directly or indirectly they either encourage and allow such robust discussion or shut it down. Thus the senior leader of an organization or team has a huge impact on the level of trust that is developed in an organization. Threatened leaders will never be able to build high trust organizations.

It is a helpful exercise for leaders and groups to discuss together what practices are trust builders and what are trust busters - agree that you will work toward eliminating trust busters and toward making trust builders a part of your organization.

For instance, trust busters include:

• Not keeping one's word
• Not being honest and open
• Refusing to admit mistakes when wrong
• Taking credit for the work of others

Trust builders include:

• Keeping our promises
• Being open, honest and candid (and diplomatic)
• Keeping short accounts in relationships
• Giving credit where credit is due

It is an instructive exercise to white board "trust busters" and "trust builders" and identify areas where your team could minimize the busters and maximize the builders. It gives you a common vocabulary for developing a culture of trust and eliminating practices that do the opposite. It may feel a bit scary but a nothing to prove, nothing to lose attitude is at the heart of a culture of trust.

Trust is build one promise, one conversation, one dialogue, one relationship at a time. No matter where you are today, your church or organization can become a high trust organization with intentional attention and some changes in behavior.

Compliance driven organizations

One can tell much about corporate and ministry culture by simply reading their policies. Up front, I want to be clear that policies  are a positive and necessary set of parameters for any healthy organization as they spell out what is acceptable or unacceptable behavior. Well written policies are boundaries that are not to be violated. Organizations without clear policies on HR, finance, relationships with vendors, conflict of interest for example, leave themselves open to behaviors and practices that can harm and bring disrepute.

Beyond the basic, clear policies, organizations either have a culture of trust or mistrust. Compliance driven organizations - those who often are mistrustful seek to write a policy for any possible infraction - or as the result of an infraction. Thus everyone gets punished for the sins of a few. Someone misuses their time card so additional layers of policy and compliance are put in place to ensure that no one does that again. The end result is often the opposite of what is desired - cynicism because everyone knows that instead of dealing with the offender, another policy has been put in place to keep everyone in place - not a place most people want to be.

Healthy organizations develop policies that specify the expected behavior of its employees, keep them to a minimum rather than trying to anticipate all possible issues, hire good people, trust them and if the boundaries are broken, deal with that individual.

The same is true in terms of church bylaws which are often written to prevent past sins (in someones mind) from occurring again. Never mind that in doing so, the congregation is communicating mistrust toward some group (by the way they hem them in) or person (senior pastors or chairperson) that hamper the organization in the present. Far better to deal with the problem person(s) than to write unnecessary boundaries into bylaws that are hard to change in the present or the future.

Writing a policy to keep behavior within bounds rather than dealing with the behavior is usually the easy way out whether expressed in personnel or bylaws. It can also be the cowards way out since it avoids dealing with the behavior of an offending individual(s) and instead tries to solve the issue through a policy - which seldom solves the underlying problem which is personal behavior.

Compliance driven organizations - who believe that there needs to be a policy or procedure for everyone and everything are operating from a culture of mistrust rather than trust, foster a legalistic rather than grace filled culture and mistakenly believe that compliance to their rigid procedures will keep them healthy. Actually, healthy people working in a culture of trust and grace will make for a healthy organization - not the other way around.

Write policies where you must. Keep them to a minimum - same with bylaws, and deal with problematic people where that is necessary. Before you write a new policy to solve a problem, ask yourself if it is necessary and how it will be perceived by those who were not a part of the problem. Compliance driven organizations may solve some perceived problems but they also can create cultures of mistrust and cynicism.

Resolution or Revelation?

Think about the issues you face in your life that you wish were resolved. For some it is health, others, financial or family, relationships or jobs. We regularly walk through seasons where we wish for, pray for, and long for resolution of painful issues.

What we want is resolution. But what if the answer is not resolution – primarily – but revelation? In resolution the problem goes away, but in revelation we learn something about ourselves or about God that is far more important than the issue we face.

The Apostle Paul learned this: “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassing great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness…For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).”

Think of the power of Paul’s revelation. “For my power is made perfect in weakness…for when I am weak, then I am strong.” Had he simply been given his prayer for resolution, neither he nor us would have that lesson or learned that truth.

This does not mean that we don’t pray for resolution in the middle of hard times. It does mean that we also seek to understand if and what God might want to impress on us in a revelation from him that we would only learn in and through the process of difficulty and pain. At one and the same time, we pray for resolution and pray for revelation – in the sense that God may have something far more important for us than resolution. He might have a lesson or truth about Him and our lives that we would receive no other way.

Disciplemaking or Church Planting

A close friend asked me recently whether I thought that the mandate of Christ was to “make disciples” or to plant churches. His question came out of observing the often poor efforts to plant churches around the world. This is not a new question as many ministries focus on evangelism and discipleship while others focus on church planting. For those of us involved in missions it is a fundamental and crucial question.

Jesus commanded us to make disciples – people who would wholeheartedly follow Him. This is the heart of the Great Commission. What is interesting is how the apostles took that mandate. Their response to the Great Commission was not simply to do evangelism and to disciple new believers (which they did) but it was focused on church planting as their fundamental strategy for fulfilling the Great Commission. Indeed, they came out of a Jewish background where the worship of God was never simply an individual affair but was focused around the synagogue where they gathered for worship, prayer and teaching.

In the New Testament, the church is called “bride of Christ” and Paul writes that Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy and blameless (Ephesians 5:25-30). One could argue that this was simply the “church universal” but the New Testament is clear that each local church is a manifestation of the global church. Paul not only planted churches but several of his letters were addressed to individual churches (Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians Philippians, and Thessalonians). 

Jesus himself addresses letters to seven individual churches in Revelation two and three. The history of Christianity is a history of church planting wherever and whenever the church has penetrated populations where the Gospel was not present. Christianity has never spread without the spread of local churches.

What is clear is that the local church is God’s chosen method to reach the world for Him. At least that was the understanding of Christ’s disciples and their response to His command to make disciples was to plant churches where believers could gather for teaching, prayer, worship and the celebration of communion – and it was this gathered body of believers that made such an impression on both Jews and Gentiles in the years following Christ’s ascension.

Studies of conversions around the world show that a large percentage (often over 50%) of those who make a profession of faith are not following Christ three years later when they are not connected to a local church. Indeed, many campus ministries in Russia have seen disappointing results because while their efforts at evangelism were fruitful, a high percentage of those who made those professions are no longer following Christ because of the lack of healthy churches around those campuses.

Indeed, it is through the church that disciples are truly made – if the church is healthy. Now to my friends point: often our conception of the church is seriously flawed. We think of church as being defined by real estate, buildings and full time staff who have degrees. In a poor world where half of its population lives on three dollars a day or less, that definition of “church” does not work. 

Nor is it the story of the early church. If we define a church as a group of believers (small or large) who gather together regularly for worship, teaching and prayer and the celebration of communion under some sort of leadership we have a Biblical definition. In our organization we simply call these kingdom communities. It may be five former Muslims gathering in a home in secret, or a hundred believers worshiping under a large tree in Congo or a large congregation in the West in a fancy facility.

Often the reason for lack of success in “church planting” is that we are trying to plant a western version of a church rather than a Kingdom community of believers who gather together regularly for worship, prayer, teaching, the sacraments and to spread the gospel in their community. Multiply Kingdom communities and you multiply the church and one multiplies disciples. 

Flawed as it is, Jesus chose the church as His method of reaching a lost world and each of those kingdom communities, large or small are a part of His bride that shines His light in their community. Disciple making is the job of the local church. Evangelism is the job of every believer and every local church. But everything revolves around healthy churches – kingdom communities – whether a congregation of three or a congregation of 300.  

The mandate of Christ was to make disciples. The Apostles understood that the means of making disciples was to multiply local congregations where in Christian community believers grow together and together carry out the mandates of evangelism and disciple making. Those kingdom communities are His bride – for which He died and by which He intends to reach a lost world.

American Evangelicals, Israel and the rest of the Middle East

For a number of years now I have had the privilege of travelling in the Middle East and working with believers and ministries in that region of the world. When I ask Arab Christian leaders how we can help them, one of the consistent answers relates to Israel. When American evangelicals give cart blanch support to Israel at the exclusion of caring about and serving our Christian Arab brothers and sisters - we send a message that God cares more about those in Israel than he does in the surrounding states of the Middle East.

Indeed, in our desire to support Israel’s right to exist (which many of us would have theological reasons for) we often overlook inequities, injustices and practices by Israel that negatively impact other people whom God loves. Israel’s government is not God’s government. In fact, much of it is highly secular with a strong bias against Christianity and Christians. There have been and continue to be injustices imposed by Israel on members of the Palestinian community whose rights (like for many Jews) have been violated, whose homes were taken without recompense and who long for a homeland as the Jews did.

Without getting into politics there are several convictions that ought to inform our attitude toward the Middle East, Arabs and Jews.

God loves all people equally. For God so loved the World that he sent His one and only Son ….. Politically, America faces a real threat from radical Islam. And, there are nations in the Middle East who would like to eradicate Israel (some not all). However, none of this changes God’s love for men and women from every tribe, every nation, and every language that will one day make up the crowd in heaven.

Whatever our political convictions, as Christians, we ought to be equally concerned for the salvation of Jews and Arabs. And our Arab brothers and sisters need to know that we love, value, cherish them as much as we do others. God is doing remarkable things in almost every country of the Middle East and there are many Christ followers who live under tremendous pressure and need the prayers and support of believers in the west.

It is fascinating how God describes the nations around Israel in Isaiah 19 – looking forward to the day when He returns. He uses the same language for them that He uses so often for Israel. “In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. In that day, Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, ‘Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance’ (Isaiah 19:23-25).”

If that is God’s heart for both Israel and its neighbors, we ought to have the same heart. And the same concern for the populations that make up Israel and its Arab neighbors.  For all of the challenges for believers in these nations, God is up to something significant and many more Muslims are coming to Christ than we often hear of. In addition, believers in these countries are sharing their faith sometimes at the cost of their lives since they know that Jesus is the only way to the father.

My understanding of prophecy leads me to believe that God brought the Jews back to Israel. At the same time, I believe we must be even handed when responding to actions of the Israeli state or any state (including our own). If we expect justice and fairness from her Arab neighbors, we should expect them from her as well – and from our own government.

Most importantly, I want my fellow Christians in Arab nations to know that I value them, pray for the difficulties they face, want to support them in the spread of the gospel (as with believers in Israel) and that I will show no favoritism for God does not play favorites in salvation history and God has a heart for all people. Nor will I allow the politics of either Israel or her neighbors take away from my desire for all people to hear the good news of Jesus and for many to come to a saving knowledge of Him.

On that note, God needs some courageous churches, men and women who will get involved in the Arab world. Plenty of evangelicals are involved with Israel. My question is who will come alongside believers in the rest of the Middle East for the cause of the gospel? Those who are willing to take a trip to the Middle East quickly discover that God is up to something – and that they have much less to fear than they think they do. I invite you to pray for believers in the Middle East, and to consider engaging in some way there.

Debt and Tithing

One of the encouraging signs among believers today is that many are working to get their financial house in order. After years of living beyond their means, and through the encouragement of a number of helpful financial ministries, budgets are being built, debt is being paid down and many are trying to eliminate all debt – including their mortgages.



This has, however, raised a critical question because in their effort to become debt free many believers are choosing not to tithe until they are debt free – saying, “I will give to God when my own financial house is in order!” How does one respond to that trend? Does one have an obligation to tithe if they are in debt and is it “OK” to take a vacation on tithing until that debt is paid off? It is a good and important question.


On this face of it this may seem a reasonable position but if one probes beneath the surface we are quickly faced with some Biblical realities that challenge our rationale.


The truth of the matter is that getting my financial house in order always starts with choosing to put God first, not last with my finances because our first financial priority according to scripture is that of giving God the first of our income. Saying that I will tithe when all my debts are paid is exactly the opposite of what Scripture teaches about making God the beneficiary of the “first” of my income – which is a gift from Him in the first place. In fact, His portion should be the very first thing that goes on our budgets when we start getting our financial house in order rather than the last. It is ironic that our rationale on this issue is exactly the opposite of God’s teaching.


Paying my bills before I honor Him with the “firstfruits” of my wealth is putting my convenience above my obedience. It is elevating my needs and desires above God’s commands. Scripture actually has a name for that – sin: Choosing my way over His way.


In fact, this is nothing more than a rationalization for disobedience. Consider the case of how many white collar criminals get into trouble. They are short on cash and start to “borrow” money from their employer with the conviction that they will one day pay it back when they are able. It sounds reasonable to them but not to their employer and it always comes at a price (getting caught or living with a guilty conscience). Ironically, there is a direct parallel to our own lives when we choose to “put off” our giving until (like the embezzler) we have enough to pay it.


The prophet Malachi in the last book of the Old Testament calls this “stealing from God.” And it is. He challenges the people who were doing the same thing many of us are (putting our interests above God’s) to bring our treasures to His temple. Consider the following conversation between God and His people where He actually tells His people that in withholding their tithe they are robbing Him.


“I the LORD do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty.


“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’


“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.


“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’


“In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 0 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 1 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the LORD Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty (Malachi 3:6-12).


These are strong words and unfortunately words that need to be heard by many of us today who are regularly robbing God by not putting Him first in our financial lives. I don’t know about you but I don’t want to be guilty of robbing God!


Ironically, the text above points out that if we choose to put God first in our finances, He will actually help us meet our other needs. “Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” Here is the principle. When we withhold from Him he withholds from us. When we put Him in His rightful place, He promises to meet our needs. This is the only place in Scripture where we are invited to "test" God and see if He does not come through!


In the ultimate irony, God says that if we want to get our financial house in order, He will actually help us do that – if – we put Him first in our finances. Many believers are trying to get their financial house in order without God’s help because they are “robbing from Him” in the process. Those who put Him first financially find out that He provides for the very needs they are worried about meeting.


Let’s be intellectually honest on this issue. Choosing not to tithe for any reason, debt or otherwise, is disobedience, selective obedience and contrary to what Scripture clearly tells us is our obligation. Obedience is often not convenient. But following Christ is the journey of bringing our lives into alignment with Him and His teaching whether it is convenient or not. If we truly want God’s blessing on our lives, we choose to follow Him even in the hard things and there are hard things because our sinful nature always want us to put our convenience, our pleasure, our needs and our desires above those of God’s.


One final word. Some believers in their quest to be financially independent have made a God out of being “debt free.” Certainly it is better to have no debt than to have debt. But to pour all our energies and money into becoming debt free at the expense of God and obedience in the matter of our tithe is to focus on the wrong thing. First we choose obedience and in our obedience He will help us meet our needs.

This is really a matter of our hearts and whether we want to please God and make Him first, or please ourselves and make ourselves first. We all have the choice.

Lectio Divina

I have been mulling on the lack of spiritual transformation in the lives of so many Christ followers in spite of our best efforts to provide the best preaching, small groups, programming and experiences in our churches today. While there are no simple solutions, I do have a simple question: Could it be that the lack of transformation mirrors the lost practice of personal Bible reading and meditation? We have a whole generation of believers whose practice of even the most basic of spiritual disciplines is lacking - and yet one cannot be a disciple without discipline: indeed the word disciple and discipline come from the same root word.


Henry Nouwen writes these words about this discipline. "The term lectio divina comes from the Benedictine tradition and refers primarily to the sacred or devotional reading of the Bible. My growing suspicion is that our competitive, productive, skeptical, and sophisticated society inhibits our reading the Bible with the reverence and openness to what the Spirit is saying to us in the present moment. When we approach the Word of God as a word spoken to me, God's presence and will can be made known. The regular practice of lectio divina presents occasions when my story and God's story meet, and in that moment something surprising can happen. To read the Bible in this way means therefore to read "on my knees" - reverently, attentively and with the deep faith that God has a word for me in my own unique situation" (Spiritual Formation: The Way of the Heart, p. XXIII).


Could it be that a renewed emphasis on Bible reading with some simple instruction on how to approach God's word could have a profound effect on those in our congregations? Just as many countries fight the problem of illiteracy, the church must fight the problem of Biblical illiteracy if there is going to be any hope of a deeper transformation.


True transformation always has four parts: Transformation of hearts, of thinking, of priorities and of relationships. Only God's word can help us transform our thinking so that we "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but (are) transformed by the renewing of our mind. Then (we) will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will" (Romans 12:1-2). Until our minds are being constantly renewed and we understand his good, pleasing and perfect will we cannot bring our our priorities into alignment with him. And that transformation of our thinking comes through an intimacy with His truth, His way, His teaching, His path which is found in His word.

In Jeremiah 6:16 the Lord says to His people, "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls." Where are those ancient paths that show us the good way and provide rest for our souls? They are found in His Word. 


But ancient paths require us to follow the ancient disciplines of the church - including the regular (daily) devotional reading of His Word. 


We have many priorities in the church. Is this one of the primary priorities that would have a significant influence on our walk with God and therefore the transformation of hearts, thinking priorities and relationships? It is simple - but then ancient paths are pretty simple as well.

Dialing down the Noise

Our lives are full of noise! Distractions, diversions, hectic schedules, ubiquitous emails and text messages that chase us across the city or the globe, twenty four hour news, and beckoning computer screens that allow us to have dozens of multiple pages open, clicks to click and options to explore as the news scrolls across the bottom and music plays in the background. Our lives are full of noise.

Think of noise as everything that distracts from quiet contemplation, deep thinking, and quiet time with God. If your life is like mine, the cacophony of distractions often drives out what our soul often craves. The simplicity of quiet solitude with God where away from the distractions, we can think, pray, meditate and just "be" with Him.

Our distractions - schedules and technology - are often our greatest challenges. I confess to loving technology but I recognize that I can often be a slave to its noise and constant 24 hour ability to find and distract me anywhere I am on the globe. I also confess to running very hard, cramming all that I can into my days leaving too little margin at times. Noise!

I am learning to unplug and disengage more often for the sake of my soul knowing that the distractions also distract my attention from the One whom I serve and always need to spend time with. Theophan the Recluse wrote: "When remembrance of God lives in the heart and there maintains the fear of Him, then all goes well; but when this remembrance grows weak or is kept only in the head, then all goes astray." Distractions cause remembrance to grow weak. We are only as connected to Christ as the last time we spent time with Him.

As a youngster I knew my father rose at about 4:30 to spend time with God before going to work early as a physician and surgeon. I could not understand that early morning ritual. Today I do for it is in the quiet of the early morning that I find quietness, solitude, and time to reflect on my life in light of God's word. In the monastic tradition - one passed down to the Catholic, Anglican and Episcopalian church, this is often called "The Daily Office." Regular times of prayer, Scripture reading and contemplation. It is the discipline of taking time away from noise and distractions that will often chase us the rest of the day to be with Jesus.

As one who embraces technology easily I am experimenting with weekends and other periods where it is turned off. I am finding more joy in times of solitude, extended reading and technology free hours. When I do, my mind slows down, allowing it to wander down winding alleyways of thought that distracted thinking does not allow. One wonders if the Psalms would have been written if David had a cell phone and computer. The reflections of the sages we read, ancient and modern on following Christ were born out of deep thinking and long times with God and His word.

By wiring I love the challenge of what I do in life and leadership. I also realize that the drive that often thrives on noise and the adrenalin it produces causes my soul to grow weary and shallow when not nurtured by the solitude and silence of undistracted time with God. When one first dials the noise down it feels unnatural because we are so used to jumping on every text, every email and distraction. Indeed we have become the distracted generation. But practiced regularly, a daily office, if you will, away from the distractions and  noise nourishes the soul in ways nothing else can. And in the end, feeding our soul is far more important than answering the beckoning email.

Truth and Love: Conversations that Matter

Those who lead often face situations where direct feedback to a member of their team is necessary. Or, you may be a pastor with someone sitting in your office who needs to be lovingly confronted for choices they have made that are hurting them or others and you will need to be direct. Or, a friend who you care enough to talk to about an issue in their life but it will mean a difficult conversation.

All of us have encountered folks who do this badly, coming across as judgmental, blunt or harsh. More often in our desire to avoid conflict we also tend to avoid direct conversations. But in doing so we actually do a disservice to those who need to hear something that will help them in their job, in their walk with God or some other area of life.

Jesus was a master of direct conversation that went to the heart of things in a true, loving, non-judgemental way. He combined truth (what needed to be said) with love (wanting the best for those he spoke to) and did so in a way that invited conversation (the woman at the well). Because of the loving way in which He communicated, his directness did not provoke anger - with the exception of the Pharisees who wanted nothing to do with truth. He did not speak in anger to seekers or followers, he did not beat around the bush and avoid the real issues and He did not avoid the hard topics. He cared about people too much to do anything but speak in truth and love.

My wife was for many years a nurse at a suburban high school. Her favorite kids were the "bad" kids who often called her their second mom. She would keep food for kids that came to school hungry, talk to kids about their sexual acting out or drug use or choices that were hurting them. Rarely did they take offence because they knew that she was in their court, loved them unconditionally and wanted the best for them. She was direct (truth) in a spirit of love (grace). This was a combination that the kids were not used to but loved.

Pastors who speak truth in love to those not living in alignment with Jesus are being a faithful shepherd. Friends who speak truth in love to one another are faithful friends. Supervisors who speak truth in love to those they lead are faithful and wise leaders. In each case, our willingness to be honest and direct has the opportunity to help another in a significant way.

Direct conversation is not playing the role of the Holy Spirit. What people do with the truth we speak into their lives is between them and God. It is being honest in a clear way. Avoiding necessary conversations is often dishonesty because it pretends that an issue we need to address is not there. Nor is avoidance loving when direct conversation is in the best interests of a friend, a congregant or a staff member.

Direct feedback is most often received well when it is delivered in an honest but non-judgemental way, when people know we have their best interests in mind, when it does not judge motives and when it invites conversation so that it is not perceived as an attack or delivered in anger.

For those who lead others, honest and direct conversation is critical so that their staff know what their leader believes and thinks. It invites honest dialogue and robust discussion. Avoidance does the opposite.

We could learn much from carefully thinking through how Jesus interacted with people as He had the wonderful balance between truth and love that we all desire. None of us doe this perfectly but all of us can learn to do it better. With the humility that we too need others to speak with honesty and directness into our lives.