Disappointment in Missions

We often hear spectacular stories of large numbers of people coming to faith around the world. Yet, many missionaries literally labor for a lifetime seeing only a few people come to Christ. How do we deal with our disappointment when we have given years, perhaps decades to the spread of the gospel and so few have responded in our context?

One response that I have observed is that we simply quit expecting God to do anything significant. We literally give up hope, downsize our expectations and in live with quiet sadness. In some cases I have seen workers become cynical of God who promised that we would see much fruit (John 15). It is easy to ask in these contexts whether it is worth the effort we have made.


I believe that Paul would give us another answer. He would tell us that God can do far beyond anything we could expect or imagine (Ephesians 3:20 ) but would then remind us that some water and others reap (1 Corinthians 3:5-9). I also think he would remind us that God's timetable is not always our timetable. When we are promised fruit we are not given a timetable for the fruit.

The early missionaries to China labored for decades without seeing much fruit. What they did not know was that even as missionaries were forced to leave China in 1949 that the church would explode. They watered and went to their graves without seeing much happen but in God's timetable their labor and the seeds they watered came to amazing fruition.

I remember the many times I visited the grave of Robert Morrison as a child in the cemetery in Macao (1782 - 1834). Morrison was the first protestant missionary in China and in his first 25 years he translated the Bible into Chinese and baptized only a handful of believers. Having lost a wife and a child, he worked in circumstances we cannot easily imagine today, and he never saw this side of glory the result. But in eternity he did. How many millions of Chinese will be in heaven whose true spiritual father is Robert Morrison because of his tenacity in cracking hard soil for the gospel?


"In June, 1834, he prepared his last sermon on the text, 'In my Father's house are many mansions.' It was to show how much of the joy of the eternal Home would 'consist in the society formed there ; the family of God, from all ages and out of all nations.'"(Wikipedia).
The same stories could be told about countless places where the gospel took long to gain a foothold but once it did, it flourished - long after those faithful workers had left the scene. 


Morrison took comfort and encouragement from Revelation 7:9 which talks about those from every nation, tribe, people and language who will inhabit heaven. That includes those places where the soil is hard today but where one day there will be a wonderful harvest. We don't control the timing but we can trust God's promise that there will be a harvest and often when it comes it is far greater than we could ever ask or imagine because we labored in the hard years.

Here is the lesson that can be learned from mission history: We will see a harvest, perhaps here, perhaps in heaven but the harvest will come. We are optimistic about what God will do, even if He does not do it on our watch. Those who harvest later stand on the shoulders of those who worked so hard in the lean times. They will have a great reward for persevering when the soil was hard, planting seeds that later sprouted in large numbers.

To those who labor today among the Islamic peoples, often deeply resistant to the gospel I would say, hang in there. Their harvest will come as well and we are seeing perhaps the first trickle of what God intends to do among a billion Muslims prior to His return.


Our disappointment can be mitigated by believing God's word that the gospel will prevail, that there are those who sow, and water and those who reap and that His power working through us is the same power that raised Christ from the dead! If we believe Him, the harvest will come whether in our day or in a future day. Our human disappointment is not divine disappointment because nothing can stop the spread of the Good News and the power of the Gospel.


Morrison was buried in the Old Protestant Cemetery in Macau. The inscription on his marker reads:

Sacred to the memory of Robert Morrison DD., The first protestant missionary to China,
Where after a service of twenty-seven years,
cheerfully spent in extending the kingdom of the blessed Redeemer
during which period he compiled and published
a dictionary of the Chinese language,
founded the Anglo Chinese College at Malacca
and for several years laboured alone on a Chinese version of The Holy Scriptures,
which he was spared to see complete and widely circulated
among those for whom it was destined,
he sweetly slept in Jesus.
He was born at Morpeth in Northumberland
January 5th 1782
Was sent to China by the London Missionary Society in 1807
Was for twenty five years Chinese translator in the employ of The East India Company
and died in Canton August 1st 1834.
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth
Yea saith the Spirit
that they may rest from their labours,
and their works do follow them

God is still looking for the Robert Morrison's of this world who will go to hard places where the Gospel has not been shared and who will persevere knowing that the harvest will indeed come. 

Every congregation is one leadership board away from trouble and decline

I am grieving for another pastor who is leaving his church because of pain inflicted by some members of the congregation and an unhealthy board.

Like so many church boards there is deep dysfunction on this one. It is a passive board that does not lead but simply reacts.  Members feel free to come and air their complaints and criticisms against the pastor leaving him bruised and beaten up - often without even knowing the facts. Meetings that should be confidential are not always confidential. It has no ability to hold board members accountable. Staff feel free to go around their senior pastor directly to board members and some board members have developed alliances with members of the staff that are counterproductive. All of this with a church that has already been in serious decline and trouble for some years.


Pastors can take a lot of hits if they know their board is behind them. But when they don't have a unified and healthy board, they are left vulnerable and unprotected. I have been in that situation and many other pastors have as well.

This is not a renegade pastor. He is well trained, a good expositor and wise (despite his young age) but he has been sabotaged  by a board that does not have its act together, is divided, and cannot chart a common course either for the church or for its support of the pastor that they called just a few years ago.

Divided boards create a divided congregation and that is just what has happened in this situation. Time after time, this board has been tepid in its support of the one they called and were then surprised when he resigned. The ineptness of the board has damaged an already damaged congregation by its actions. In fact, I predict that this congregation that has already suffered deep pain will go even deeper into decline by the actions of its board. Further, any wise candidate in the future will read the writing on the wall and decline to come leaving them with an undiscerning candidate who wants a job. Thus the cycle is likely to repeat itself.

When confronted with their actions, some members of this board refused counsel. The prediction of that counsel has now come to pass. Another pastor is gone, the congregation is divided and further losses are inevitable. They live with an attitude that things are well and healthy. Unfortunately because of their past actions, many of the healthy leaders have have already migrated out of the church, unwilling to live with the dishealth they observed.


Here is the principle. Every congregation is one leadership board away from trouble and decline. This congregation is paying the price of poor, unhealthy and dysfunctional leadership. And, the end result will most likely be a long period before the congregation is healthy if it every regains health - which is an open question. When the leaders don't understand their lack of health, there is little chance for congregations to become healthy.


My concern is both for the congregation that suffers from the poor leadership of its board and for another pastor who is temporarily or permanently out of ministry. The pain of the congregation is high, and for the pastor - exceedingly deep. And in the end, it is the board that is responsible for both. 


Board members are under shepherds of the Lord of the Church. They will one day answer for their their actions, their decisions, their decisions and their wisdom. Many will receive a reward from Christ as "good and faithful servants." Others will receive hard questions as to their lack of faithfulness, wisdom and ultimately poor care for their flock. I bless the former and fear for the latter. 

Too many boards and board members of local churches take their mandate too carelessly. They often do not understand good leadership, lack wisdom and in the end hurt rather than help the people they lead. Such is the case in the church I am watching at the moment. It makes me sad and I am certain it makes the Lord of the church sad as well. It is also why over eighty percent of the congregations in the United States are either plateaued or in decline. Guard the gate of your leadership. Hold your board accountable for healthy practices and pray for wisdom on their part.

Life as we know it and life as we planned it

I can already see the smile on your face if you are in your forties or later! For many of us, perhaps most of us, life as we know it today is very different than life as we planned it. That is certainly true for me. The question is, have we adjusted and embraced life as we know it rather than living in sadness or bitterness over life as we planned it.

Life as we planned it is a product of our youth, largely devoid of the realities of living in a sinful, fallen world which causes life to come undone (see my new book) and change in ways we never could have imagined. More than that, life as we planned it cannot take into account the sovereign work of God in our lives who wants to use us in ways that we could not have imagined. His divine preparation for our use takes us to places we could have never imagined. 

Think of Moses. From a life of privilege and nobility, could he have possibly imagined forty years as a shepherd in the wilderness? Yet that was the path God took him on so that when he met Him in the burning bush he was prepared for the task ahead of him.

Think of David. He is anointed by Samuel as the next king and then finds himself running for his life for years as Saul tries to kill him. Yet, it was in those years that many of the Psalms were written which show how God was shaping his heart in the process of his wilderness experience. He would become the greatest king Israel would ever have. 

The reality is that God has a way of taking our dreams and molding us for impact that is far beyond what we could have imagined but the path to that greater impact is a path of hardship and even the wilderness that forces us to trust Him more, push into Him more, develop authentic faith and hard won character. His diversions for our lives are not aberrations but are His contribution to life as we planned it. Even when that means taking great heartache and redeeming it for His purposes.

One of the conclusions I have is that life as I planned it does not have the color, opportunities, growth, faith filled moments and trust learned the hard way as life as I know it. And that is because my Sovereign Father took my dreams - and willingness to follow - infused it with His purposes and  His preparation and gave me opportunities and impact that I could not have ever had without His participation in my life.


I think of Abraham. What would life have been for Him if he had not walked the life of faith that he did. It was certainly not life as he planned it. But because of his obedience and God's work in his life, He impacted every person who every followed God after him as he became the model of faith and followership.


Seen through God's eyes, life as we planned it is a mere shadow of life as we know it when we have wholeheartedly followed Him in the adventure of life. Without His sovereignty over the course of our lives we would be far less than we are today. For that, in spite of the road that got me here, I rejoice.

Sometime take a sheet of paper and make three columns: Life as I planned it; Life as it is today and lessons God taught me in the process. Then ask, "how am I different because of the path God took me on - including the painful and hard times?"

For my many readers in the UK

My book, Live Like You Mean It: The 10 Crucial Questions That Will Help You Clarify Your Purpose; Live Intentionally and Make the Most of the Rest of Your Life is currently being offered as a free Kindle download (UK only). 

Take advantage of this offer and help spread the word in the UK!

Reputation management

Everyone who leads, whether full time, or in volunteer settings accumulates wounds from that leadership. Sadly, the most painful wounds are not from those outside the Kingdom but from those inside. The deepest wounds for many of us are attacks on our character. I once had the joy, years ago of listening to six pages of accusations against my character read in public. Nothing is more painful. One cannot lead without being attacked and the most painful attacks are to what matters the most to us - our reputations.

When our character is attacked, what we want to do at the least is to respond and defend what is so precious to us. Or, even to strike back in righteous anger. Both are human reactions but neither are helpful. Those who attack our character will not be moved, and in the end only God can vindicate our actions and character. 

David, agonized over those who attacked his character. He also gave us great advice when evil men speak ill of us - and attacks on our character are often the work of either "evil men" or those who the evil one is using to discourage and hurt us, whether believers or not. David tells us when attacked:


"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him"
"Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret"
"Wait for the Lord and keep his way"
Psalm 37


Time and God have a way of sorting out our character in the minds of others. We play not to the crowd but to an audience of One. His opinion is the one that matters, not the opinions of our detractors. The best thing we can do when attacked is to refuse to fight back, give our pain to God, guard our own hearts, attitudes and words and focus on being the people God wants us to be.

This is neither easy nor natural. In fact, responding in grace to personal attacks can only be done when we are staying close to God, have His perspective and are walking in the power of the Holy Spirit. In the end, we cannot manage our reputation, that is God's responsibility. What we can do is live in a way that pleases him rather than worrying about what others think.

When Life Comes Undone: Walking by Faith when Life is Hard and Hope is Scarce

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The new book is out. Copies can be ordered from Next Step Resources.

The book is written:

• For those going through hard times
• For small group discussion around suffering and pain in our lives
• As a resource that churches can provide for those whose lives have come undone.

Life comes undone for all of us and when it does, we live with the pain, uncertainty and questions that come with it. Using a biblical perspective When Life Comes Undone can help you navigate those times when life is hard and hope is scarce.  The book is written out of deep, personal experiences with catastrophic illnesses, and speaks to the question of suffering with the candor and honesty that comes from grappling with pain firsthand.

Table of Contents

1.   Life Undone (When Life Changes Forever)

2.   The Unlikely Gift (Learning to Walk in Faith)

3.   Divine Scars (The Fellowship of His Sufferings)

4.   Creation Interrupted (Why Bad Things Happen)

5.   God's Amazing Heart (Understanding God's Love for Us)

6.   High Ropes and Waterfalls (Where Faith and Grace Collide)

7.   Storming Heaven's Gates (Bold Prayer)

8.   Offensive Plays (Taking Life Back)

9.   Life Redone (New Perspectives Forged in Fire)

10. Freedom (Reshaped Hearts)

The book will help you understand how you can turn your human scars into divine scars

• Understand why bad things happen to God's people
• Develop bold faith and understand God's grace and love
• Pray boldly
• Take life back
• Experience the freedom that pain can bring
• See how God takes the pain in our lives and turns it into something good and meaningful.

Distraction management

Our lives are full of them. They include the many ways we can spend our time, great ideas that will take us nowhere, other peoples agendas for our lives. They are all the distractions that pull at us for our time and attention and if we are not careful can pull us away from those things that are most core and central to our lives and our calling.

Some of the most spectacular and tragic air crashes have been a result of distractions in the cockpit where pilots fiddled with some unimportant issue, ignoring the fact that the plane itself was going to crash. One of the most notorious was a crew fiddling with a broken light (a minor issue) as the plane proceeded to crash in a swamp (a major issue).

That is the irony of distractions. They are often little things, innocuous things that steal our attention from the most important priorities of our lives: relationships; ministry calling; using our God given gifts; investment in others; and the big rocks of our lives. It is the good robbing us of the best. 

This is why it is so important to take time periodically to take stock of our activities, priorities, focus and relationships and determine whether they are in sync with what we believe God has for our lives. It is also where the power of NO comes in. The only way to deal with distractions is to say no to them and to those who offer them to us - graciously of course.

Here are three questions that it is worth asking on a regular basis. I do so monthly: What is core to my life and calling?; What distractions are getting in the way of my life and calling?; and What am I going to do about it?

All wise people practice "distraction management."

Your church board is unhealthy but you are not on it and don't know what to do about it

It is not unusual that I receive emails or calls from individuals who want to know what to do about an unhealthy church board - in their church. They see that the board does not have its act together, they see the results of that dysfunction (including pastors whom they love leaving) but they feel impotent to affect real change. I have found myself in that situation at times and I am sure many others have as well.

In some cases, it is even worse for the fact that they know that the board has sought help but has rejected the advice they received and they muddle on in their dysfunction and that dysfunction is negatively impacting the church body as it always does. The consequence of sick boards is inevitably a sick church - but what do you do about it if you are in the church watching? 


Before I suggest a course of action, we need to recognize that there is a deeper problem to a sick board and that is that the congregation does not have a good way to vet potential leaders. Good leaders don't allow their board to get sick. Poor choices of church leaders and poor board leadership result in sick boards.


That being said, what does one do? The first thing we need to do is to make this a matter of prayer. This is a deeply spiritual issue for a congregation and for us as well. Unless our own attitude is right, we will add to the already problematic situation with our own anger which adds fuel to the fire. The evil one love sick boards and church fights. Don't give him that joy.


Second, commit to yourself that you will never intentionally "hurt the bride of Christ." Your local congregation is a local representation of Christ's bride, no matter how dysfunctional. Your board, through their lack of healthy leadership may already be hurting the church. You don't want to contribute to that hurt. I would rather quietly leave a church (and I have) rather than to contribute to church conflict.


Third, be honest with what you see with board members you can speak to.Give them your observations about what you see happening and how it is impacting the church. Ask questions, speak for yourself (not others) and clearly state your concerns.


If matters continue, I would consider doing the same thing in a congregational meeting if I believed it might make a difference - carefully. I would state my personal concerns, making it clear again that I speak for myself and not others doing so without a personal attack or hidden agenda. If I thought that saying something would not make a difference I would refrain and keep my own counsel.


Some will disagree with this and that is fine. If I thought that there was little chance that the dysfunction could be solved, I would leave the church and look for a healthy one. Unhealthy churches produce unhealthy disciples, muddle along without direction and are a magnet for people who like conflict. Do you want to be a part of that and do you want to bring your friends to a place with that ethos? It can be painful to leave a church but fortunately most of us have other expressions of the bride that are available to us. Obviously we need God's direction in such issues but we are often naive in believing that things will change.


Congregations, like families often have dysfunctional "family systems" which support that dysfunction. They make it hard to voice differing opinions or even to leave. In other words, the very church culture prevents the dysfunction from being dealt with. It is  a closed circle that does not allow outside views (taken to an extreme one has a cult). Sometimes you don't realize how unhealthy the culture is until you are out of that culture and experience the freedom of a healthy church. Closed systems rarely change and trying to affect change to a closed system will generally end up with you on the outside for trying. Even pastors have limited ability to impact a closed system which is why they often end up resigning when they find themselves in one (unless they are a part of it).


I often say that churches get what they deserve. Elect poor leadership and you get dysfunctional boards and congregations. Often such churches manage to repeat their same dysfunctions over and over again. I have met boards that did not want advice, did not want to own up to their own issues and proudly continued in their awful leadership. I feel for those in their church! I don't want to be a part of such a church. 

Church board best practices

There are certain practices which reflect a healthy church board. If you are on a board, I would encourage you to measure your board against these practices.

1. Define clearly how the board operates through a board covenant or policy governance. You can only hold people accountable to what they have agreed to. Define your rules of engagement and then hold every board member accountable for those healthy practices.

2. Deal only with the big rocks of ministry and delegate to staff or others the small rocks and pebbles. You should be able to do your normal board work in two hours per month, leaving a second two hour meeting for discussion, prayer, learning and dialogue.

3. Never ignore spiritual issues in the church including gossip, critical spirits, division, ongoing egregious sin or heresy. Hoping they will go away will not make them go away.

4. Always keep the main thing the main thing: evangelism and disciplemaking. Churches don't drift into missionality, they drift into diffusion of purpose and unsafe waters. 

5. Have a well defined mission, set of guiding principles and the culture you want to build. Lack of clarity around what is important will keep you from being missional. 

6. Guard the gate of the board. Choose board members with great care. Every board is one board member away from disunity and one board away from church trouble and decline.

7. Do the work of elders together: pray, study God's purposes for the church, pray for your congregation. Don't allow administration and business to crowd out the most important.

8. Do honest evaluation against the clarity you have defined. Don't allow "church nice" to keep you from honest discussion regarding your effectiveness.

9. Focus on the Gospel and not on programs. Every church board should study the implications of the gospel for believers and congregations. It is very easy to focus on numbers and programs rather than the transformation of lives, communities and institutions that the gospel brings.

10. Ensure that you are developing robust followers of Jesus, not simply "nice churchgoing Christians." That starts with board members as congregations are unlikely to rise above the spiritual commitments of its leaders.

11. Love and care for your congregation like Jesus does. You are undershepherds of the Good Shepherd. The gospel is about people and churches are about people.

12. Release people into active ministry to use their gifts in the marketplace, the neighborhood, among the poor and disadvantaged and in the church. Make that an expectation, not optional.

Spirits of criticism and negativity

If there is an attitude akin to cancer in a congregation it is a spirit of criticism and negativity. Few things are more disheartening to pastoral staff and few things are more divisive and dangerous to the life of a ministry than this. One church has just lost its pastor because of the criticism and negativity on the part of some congregants and some board members. Another church is probably going to lose their pastor. In both cases the congregation is far worse off for it. A ministry I know well has this spirit running through its entire office (not the one I work for which is a great blessing). 

Words and attitudes matter. They either build or tear down. They encourage or they discourage. I would go so far as to say that where such a spirit is pervasive it is not the spirit of the Father but of the evil one - even when wrapped in spiritual language.

This does not preclude honest dialogue. In our organization, robust dialogue is a huge value and anything can be put on the table that does not include a personal attack or a hidden agenda. The problem with critical and negative attitudes is that in many cases they are indeed personal attacks and there are personal agendas. There is a huge difference between critical and negative spirits and robust dialogue. It lies in the attitude and motivations behind it.


The truth is that we ought to treat one another as our Father treats us and as Jesus treated people in the gospels. Our attitudes and words are deeply spiritual issues for Jesus said in Matthew 7 that what comes out of us comes from what is inside us. Critical and negative people have a spiritual issue (and don't we all from time to time in this arena). It is sin and it comes from our lower nature.


In my view, church leaders ought to directly and boldly deal with pockets of critical spirits and negativity in their congregation because, like cancer they will eat away at the very core of your congregational health and it usually spreads. It is also one of the reasons I encourage churches to define the culture they want to see embedded in their church (see the book, Leading From the Sandbox). Once you have defined your culture you can hold individuals accountable for keeping the culture.

In the two churches I referenced above, I would not personally recommend that any pastor take them until the church has dealt with the insidious infection that is destroying them from within. And the pastor who left? I agreed with his decision to resign. The church and leadership were so unhealthy that it was destroying him as well. Don't ignore criticism and negativity when it pops up. It will hurt you and the cause of Jesus.

Please pray for Southern Sudan!

I received this from one of our ReachGlobal staff today. This impacts many believers in Southern Sudan.

I just received this horrific string of emails from one of our Pastors and President of the EFCS William Laku. The conflict in the Northern part of Southern Sudan continues to escalate! As we near the July 9^thindependence day and birth of the world’s newest country “Southern Sudan” the country of Northern Sudan continues to bomb and plant land mines in Southern Sudan’s Unity State, Abyei and Southern Kordofan which has been a disputed area since the South’s almost unanimous vote for secession took place in January. 

The disputed areas are wanted by Northern Sudan because of their rich oil fields. These areas were promised, by the Government of Northern Sudan, that they would also have the opportunity to vote for secession from the North or to unify with the North. After realizing that these areas were most likely going to vote for secession, the North refused to allow them to vote and decided to take the land. This is the same scenario that took place before the 25 year war that ended in 2005. 

As with many disasters there is great opportunity to share the gospel and bring much needed help to these people. 

Please join me in prayer for the people of Southern Sudan and that these attacks from the North would stop. They have waited so long for their much deserved independence and to have peace in their lives. Many lives have been lost and many families devastated by the atrocities committed by the North. 

The following accounts are from Christians on the scene.

    

 From the 17Th -18Th June 2011, I was in Khartoum to attend the Board of Trustees of the Sudan Council of Churches (SCC). During the meeting, we had two people who managed to escape from Kadugli. The lady who gave us her testimony painted an extremely bad picture of the killings of the Nuba people by forces of the SAF in Kadugli. She saw 360 dead bodies as she and her tree children were trying to escape killings. Hers was a rela miracle as women, children and men were being slaughtered.

Nuba youth have been targeted apart from  the aerial bombardments. After listening to their disturbing and lengthy testimonies, the meeting issued two statements to the International community and the other statement was directed to our ecumenical partners in form of an appeal, if they could begin to mobilise relief items; food, water, clothing, shelter and medicines as a matter of urgency to the 73,000 displaced of Southern Kordofan. Kindly share the info with as many people as you can.

At moment I am in Nuba Mountains. I am writing this email from Kauda . I want to tell you it is really Genocide. We are bombed daily by Northern government, even just few minutes before writing this email we were frighten by one of them and we runned away before writing this email. What I want you do is to pass this information on behalf of me and my people. Here is a link to the latest news if you are interested.     http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43535068

Can you legislate morality?

In a recent address, the president of Trinity Law School in California made the point that most evangelicals would answer no, you cannot legislate morality since morality is a matter of the heart. However, morality is being legislated every day.

When the state of New York made gay marriage legal yesterday, putting it on par with the marriage of a man and a woman they were in effect legislating morality.  A generation from now few will question that this is as life should be (I have gay friends whom I love dearly but I cannot find justification for the redefinition of marriage). When the Netherlands made it legal to euthanize infants with serious abnormalities it is legislating morality – just as Germany did in the days of Hitler. Countries that have made abortion legal – and even promote it as a means of birth control,  have made immorality legal and largely accepted. 

When people try to take Christianity out of any and all public discourse, they are legislating morality – their morality. Indeed, little by little, chip by chip, the underpinnings of Judeo-Christian ethics are being intentionally legislated out of the law both in the United States and elsewhere.

It was William Wilberforce who through his undaunting opposition to the slave trade and the institution of slaver who led the passage of the abolition of both in England leading to its eventual abolition in the United Sates. Wilberforce was a politician who rightly brought his biblical convictions to bear on one of the most insidious institutions in modern history. Through law, a grossly immoral practice was outlawed. When Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, congress through law, outlawed racist practices embedded in American society.

Certainly one cannot legislate the condition of the human heart. But, the laws that we pass and the court decisions that are made impact the morality or lack of morality of whole nations by their consequences. In effect, the law can move a nation either toward or away from biblical morality: issues of justice and poverty included.

I thank God for men and women in the public arena who are willing to bring their biblical convictions to bear in bold ways from all parties.  The liberal elite, after all have been bringing their version of morality to the public square for a long time. They have an agenda for our society that is in large part antithetical to morality as defined by Scripture. While the law and courts are not the answer to all evils, their laws and decisions impact the moral behavior of entire nations. Both morality immorality can be legislated.

Leadership in Missions

Let me make an observation. Many mission organizations do not value leadership on their teams or fields. It is a holdover from the past where missionaries viewed themselves as independent contractors rather than a part of an organization or team. In that culture, when there needs to be leadership, one elects someone who will basically leave you alone and the criterion is often that they have been on the field a long time (paid their dues) or it is their turn (among those who have paid their dues) with little evaluation as to whether they are truly leaders or not.

Let me make a second observation. Not valuing leadership in missions means that those missions are not truly concerned about good strategy, seeing significant fruit or missional effectiveness. The long term result will be the decline and eventual death of those missions because while they don't value strategy and missional effectiveness, the individuals and churches who pay the bills do - a lot. And they will not continue to pay for ineffective missionaries or strategies.

Furthermore, long experience on the field does not equal leadership skill. All it equals is long experience on the field. Veteran missionaries often resist leadership from individuals who don't have that long experience but they miss the point. Good leaders release others into focused, missional, strategic leadership. They don't need to know what a veteran missionary knows because they use the expertise of the team an determine where they go and then they align all team members in a direction that is likely to be fruitful. 

Leadership should be seen as a skill in itself. Good leaders don't know everything, in fact they may not know a lot. But they do know how to position people for success, build a team that is pulling in the same direction, solve problems and ensure there is a healthy strategy. That is true in business and industry, just as it is in missions. The job of leaders is not to know everything. It is to take the corporate wisdom of those involved and help craft direction and strategy and alignment.

In industry when business is in trouble, the board often will bring in a leader who has no prior experience in that field. What they do have is leadership skill and the ability to access, get the right people in the right seat on the right bus, determine what needs to be done in concert with the corporate wisdom of good people and turn the business around. 

Missions that will thrive and survive in the years to come will do so because they have courageous leaders who help lead missional teams toward fruitful ministry. Ignore leadership and your mission is destined to fail. Value it and you will move forward.


One final observation. All Christian movements globally require good leadership. That is why Paul spent so much time developing leaders. Missions who don't understand good leadership will never be able to develop indigineous leaders. And if you don't do that, you will not leave behind fruit that will last.

Red, Green, Yellow

Visual management is a tool long used in industry but has wonderful application to ministry as well. For instance, we evaluate our adherence to our core commitments in ReachGlobal with a series of defined metrics along with a color for each. Green means that we are doing well, yellow that we could be doing better and red that we need to pay attention to it. Behind each color is a comment indicating why we evaluated the metric the way we did. 

In the same way, as we define processes that we follow for various key functions we rate each process with one of the colors along with comments. This is easily done using Microsoft Excel. 


The colors are not about whether someone has done well or badly, in fact, yellow and red are not negative. Instead they represent "opportunity" to do something better. Red is an indicator that we have something that we really need to pay attention to.


Ministries are not good at evaluation, generally. Giving our metrics or processes a color along with comments is an easy way to start to evaluate what we say is important to us. If in fact, we don't honestly evaluate it is not really important to us!


Further, the colors give you a quick indicator of where you are doing well and where you can improve. Knowing that you cannot improve everything at once or solve all problems concurrently you have a choice from your visual management tool as to which you want to pay attention to now. 

The first time a team does this, everyone wants all the colors to be green. They never really are. Furthermore, if they were all green it would mean that you have nothing to improve which we know is never true. In fact, using colors honestly gives you a continuous management tool which is what we all really want. 

It takes a little bit of work but it is a highly effective tool! It is even more effective if you put them on a wall for all to see. People start to pay attention to areas where improvement is possible and they all get in the game.

Books on Kindle

I am pleased that all three of my current books are now available on Kindle. Each are $7.99. Just click on the book to be linked to Amazon.

Words that bring life and words that bring pain. Our daily choice.

We live in a world that is often hard and harsh. Circumstances disappoint, life often throws us curves we don't expect or appreciate and people can be less than supportive. That is why we gravitate toward those people in our lives who are encouraging, who speak words of life to us and are literally Jesus in our lives.

Think of the difference between the words of Jesus and the words of the Pharisees. Jesus' interactions were life giving and the Pharisees' interactions were life taking. Jesus was full of grace while the Pharisees were full of legalism. I know believers who reflect the attitude of Christ and those that reflect the attitude of the Pharisees, those who bring grace and those who bring guilt.

Recently someone made a comment to me that was like a knife in the stomach. Words that hurt deeply. It reminded me of how powerful words are, either to be life giving or life taking. As I shared the pain I was feeling with another friend he brought words of encouragement, perspective and life. He was Jesus to me in my pain. 

Paul encourages us to "not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs...Be kind and compassionate to one another...Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs...(Ephesians 4-5)." 

Here is what I know. My words today can be life giving, encouraging and reflect the love and grace of Jesus. Or, they can be critical, hurtful and life taking and reflect the attitude of the Pharisees. I have this choice in every interaction I have. When I speak like the Pharisees I do so from pride and judgement. When I speak like Jesus I do so from humility and grace. 

Could this generation be the last?

I am not a predictor as to when Christ is going to return. However, I do read Scripture and am a student of both history and current events and what I am watching in the Middle East and elsewhere sure looks like it could lead to the apocalypse predicted in the Old and New Testaments. Think about oil, radical Islam, atomic weapons, terrorism, natural disasters, wars, the global financial crisis, the growth of unrighteousness and you have the descriptors of what will be at the end of time as we know it.

In the past, prophecy was a regular topic of preaching - perhaps too much so. In the present, it seems to be largely ignored. Yet, Jesus told us to be aware of the times and Paul lived in light of the return of Christ. 

It matters because when we focus our attention exclusively on this world we forget that there is a future for us in a recreated world that is better and more wonderful than anything we could ever imagine. And, that when the end comes, there is no second chance for those who don't know Jesus. Their future is one without Jesus - forever.

The truth is that any one of us could meet Jesus at any time. Apart from His divine intervention, I should have met him three and a half years ago when I was in an induced coma. None of us know when our days will be up - we all live on borrowed time.

As one who is deeply involved in missions I have an urgency for the billions of people who if Jesus were to return today would face a Christless eternity. It is estimated that half the people who have ever lived in human history are alive today so the spiritual stakes are high.

It is easy to be satisfied with our lives and our possessions and ignore our own mortality, or the coming return of Christ. The time we have is precious so we need to use it wisely. Jesus and Paul would ask the question, "If we knew that Christ were going to return in our generation how would we live differently?" I want to know that I have invested my own life in ways that build His kingdom and introduce people to their savior. In the end, not much else will matter. 

As you read the news of our world, remember that there is a day coming when the nations of the world will cause a huge conflagration that is unimaginable to anything we have ever seen. And, that Jesus will return in glory and power. Are our lives aligned  and lived in light of His (soon) return?

Develop, Empower and Release

As ministry leaders we love to release people into ministry and we should – that is the heart of Ephesians 4:12. The question comes as to how and when we do this in ways that are helpful to others and not harmful. I believe that the answer can be found in the concept of Develop, Empower and Release.

But first, There are some common mistakes made by those who lead others in terms of their training and releasing. Let me suggest three:

• Just releasing people to do their thing in the name of empowerment. While empowerment is wonderful, empowerment without training, development and coaching is to set up people to fail – and to hurt the church or organization they serve with.

• Never releasing people under the guise of “they are not ready.” In this scenario, we never really release because they don’t have the same training as we do or would not be as effective as we think we are.

• Development in the form of academic training only. Here we think of training of more theology (not bad), leadership theory (not bad) but short on hands on ministry experience.

All three of these errors contribute to disappointing results with those we are raising up and releasing in ministry. I believe there is another way: that of developing, empowering and releasing others. This was the pattern of Christ and of Paul and it is one that we could learn again from today.

Development is about helping others understand how they are wired and gifted, spending quality time with them in ministry, dialoguing and sharing our lives in a serious way. It includes modeling ministry, modeling the life of a disciple, training and mentoring in the things of God and the life of a believer. This is best done in relationship or in community where discussion and dialogue are possible (think of Christ with his disciples) and where they are challenged to follow God seriously and invest their lives in ministry. Even in this stage we are inviting people to use their gifts but in an informal way in their homes, neighborhoods and circles of influence. 

Empowerment only comes after development has been part of the picture. Empowerment is inviting people into ministry under our direction or coaching in ways that are appropriate to their readiness and gifting. It comes when we believe someone is ready to put some of their training into practice. This was Paul when he asked Timothy to take on certain assignments. It was Jesus when he sent out his disciples to heal and proclaim the good news and come back and report. It is ministry opportunity with a leash of coaching and accountability.

Empowerment is not just throwing people out on their own: it is inviting them into ministry in line with their level of maturity, under the coaching or authority of others. It is on the job training with feedback, coaching and ongoing development. Development and empowerment are not two separate phases as the development continues as we empower people to try their wings in ministry.

While developing is the first step, developing and empowering are tandem activities where increasing ministry responsibility is given as our mentee grows and develops. This was Paul’s strategy with Timothy. First Timothy traveled with him, then he started to give Timothy ministry assignments under his authority and as Timothy grew so did those assignments. If one short changes this dance of development and empowerment we run a significant risk of a ministry crash once on their own.  

Releasing is acknowledging at some point that people no longer need us in a direct way and are ready to be released out on their own. Paul developed and empowered Timothy for a number of years but the time came when he released Timothy to pastor and stood in the background to encourage him. Jesus released the disciples on his resurrection and ascension. Paul spent several years at Ephesus planting a church and training leaders and then released them to fly on their own. 

It can be hard to release because we are so vested in the development of others but at the right time it is time to let go, stand in the background, pray and encourage. It is like a parent who lets their eighteen year old fly on his or her own. They will make mistakes (as we did), they will pay dumb tax (as we did), they will face huge discouragements (as we did) and they will grow in their ministry (as we did). If we have developed and empowered, they will be ready to move forward. All the while, like Paul with Timothy or Christ through His Holy Spirit with the disciples we stand behind them cheering them on, encouraging them and providing counsel or insight as needed.

In our developing of people we will fail if we don’t pay attention to all three of these pieces of the development of individuals to the place where they can fly on their own – with a high probability of success.

One last note: For those who want to leave a legacy, the developing, empowering and releasing of people into ministry is the key. It is the 2 Timothy 2:2 principle.

Ministries don't drift toward success!

We wish we could but it does not work. Drifting toward success simply does not work. It takes a clear direction, intentional strategy, courageous resolve and long term thinking to get us to where we need to go. Think about those four descriptors. Do they represent the ministry you are a part of?

Clear direction. If you had to describe in one minute or less what your ministry was about and where it was headed, could you do that? Clarity of direction is not complex (forget the multi page position papers that no one remembers). Rather it is clear, concise, and easily understandable. If you were to ask each of the members of your team to do the same thing would there be significant alignment about what they all said? If not, some dialogue might be helpful!

What is your intentional strategy to accomplish your clarity of direction? Is it understood, easily communicated and make sense? Is that strategy a shared strategy by all members of your team and are they actually living it out rather than using it as a slogan? More to the point, do you have a strategy at the macro level to accomplish your goals or do you just hope that your activity gets you to where you desire to go? Remember there is a significant difference between activity and results.

Direction and strategy don't mean a lot without courageous resolve. There are many impediments to actually accomplishing the mission you have starting with people who may not want to cooperate, obstacles that get in the way, competing agendas or simply difficult circumstances. One of the reasons that ministries often do end up drifting is that they don't want do to the hard work of tackling these obstacles, courageously resolved to move in the right direction regardless of the costs incurred. It is much easier to simply let people do their own thing for a scattered result than to ensure that everyone is one the same page for a significant result. But that takes courage, conviction and resolve. Without those, ministries drift.


Long term thinking is the fourth key to helping move toward success rather than simply drift. Long term thinking is the result of leaders and teams thinking deeply about the desired future and what it will take to get there. They are not interested in the flavor of the month, the newest leadership guru or doing what everyone else is doing. They are thinking long term for long term results which is why courage to get there is so important. Can you articulate the long term results of what you do? One of the ways to do this is to ask what your five or ten year broad goals look like. They ought to paint a picture of the long term impact your ministry desires to have.

Drifting is easy, requires not real work, does not require discipline or accountability. It is also poor stewardship and won't get one to success.

Give us this day our daily bread

For those of us in ministry - and many of us in our own families one of the greatest burdens is that of finances. It is easy to worry, lay awake at night, deal with angst and on the ministry side send out crisis letters about the need for funds. 

In all of this perhaps we miss the most important thing we could be doing and are invited to do by Jesus in the Lord's prayer. Simply ask in faith that He would provide for our daily bread, what we need today in our lives and ministries. We are invited to pray for the basic needs for life and ministry. So simple and yet so profound. 


Behind this invitation is the simple fact that God chooses and wants to provide for the needs of His children. "So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear? For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly father know that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matthew 6:31-33).


Did you catch what Jesus said here? He is saying, don't worry about these things like the pagans (non-Christ followers) do. Don't run after these things like the pagans do. As children of God, ask and trust that He will provide because he knows what we need. In fact, concentrate on knowing Him and living a life worthy of one in the kingdom and He will take care of your needs.


Simply trusting without anxiety or worry, is the lifestyle that Jesus is advocating - knowing that He knows our needs and will provide us with what we need. While those around us pursue what they need, we can trust God for what we need. While others live in worry and fear we can live in freedom and trust.


Our simple daily prayer. Give us this day our daily bread!

People in the Shadows

There is a famous painting by Rembrandt of the Prodigal Son scene from scripture. One can study it for hours at the Hermitage in St. Petersberg and still not take it all in. When I saw it in person, however, I noticed that there was a figure deep in the shadows that can hardly be seen on pictures or reproductions of the photo. You have the father and the two sons but lost in the shadows is another individual watching the scene.

That painting is a reminder to me that we are surrounded by "people in the shadows" who are not recognized, are often not noticed, do not get the attention others get and who look on at those around them from a distance. They are the forgotten, those who don't fit into our socio economic group perhaps, maybe disabled or different or elderly, or just don't fit into the mainstream. They are people in the shadows, often lost and forgotten by others. In Jesus' day, they were the leper, the prostitute, the woman who suffered from years of discharge, the paralytic and those shunned by proper society.

To the prophets in the Old Testament, the people in the shadows were the orphans, widows, sick, poor and hungry (Isaiah 58). They were those who could not (from a human perspective) add value to the lives of others so they were ignored and forgotten. In other places it was the "alien in your midst."

From the world's point of view, people in the shadows are marginalized, unimportant and even "throwaways." To God they are men and women and young people made in His image, precious, and potential sons and daughters of a king. If Jesus saw them as valuable and important, so should we.


Who is standing in the shadows in your congregation, your workplace, your neighborhood - like the almost invisible individual in Rembrandt's painting? Almost unseen because they are marginalized and left alone. The truth is that we ought to go out of our way, like Jesus, to recognize those in the shadows. Most of us get the attention, love and recognition that we need. Those in the shadows do not. Watch for them and love on them and show them that they too are special in God's sight.

Complainers and thankers, optimists and pessimists

If there are two attitudes that ought to be banished from a believers life they are those of complaining and pessimism. In their place the attitudes of thankfulness and optimism ought to become what characterizes our lives.

Think about this: When we live with complaints and pessimism we deny the amazing gifts and promises of God whose power, love, mercy and concern is far greater than any possible negative issue we could face. Effectively we say to God - "You are not sufficient for my situation." Paul makes that case in Romans 8 where he makes the case that there is no situation in life that can separate us from the "love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:39).

No matter what our situation, how dark our medical prognosis, how seemingly unfair the blows that life has dealt us we live with an amazing reality in Christ. "I pray also that your eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead" (Ephesians 1:18-20). 


If all that is mine through Jesus, what do I have to complain about? How can I live with pessimism for the future? In fact, there is no future I face that is not overwhelmed by my ultimate destiny with Christ which will make everything we face today look small and insignificant: overwhelmed by Him, His presence, and the joy of eternity with Him.


The antidote to complaint and pessimism is thankfulness every day for all that God has done for us along with faith that His power is greater than any challenge we face. This is why the New Testament continually talks about being people of thanksgiving to God. The more we focus on thanksgiving the less we can live with our pessimism and complaints. 


Pessimism and complaining are nothing less than the residual of our lower nature whose focus is on me. Thanksgiving and optimism are indicators of the transforming power of God and a focus on Him. When I focus on me I have plenty to be unhappy about. When I focus on Him, I am overwhelmed by His goodness to me. It really comes down to the focus of our lives.

Leaders in the raw

As an organizational leader I am constantly on the lookout for other potential leaders because I know that good leadership is the key to releasing a great staff. Poor leaders disempower staff while good leaders release them and make their work a joy. Sometimes, these potential leaders are young and raw (we all were at one time) but there are still some powerful markers that indicate they have the stuff to make a good leader if mentored and coached.

The challenge is that "leaders in the raw," are just that - raw! They can look arrogant to others, impetuous at times, don't finesse their language or analysis, challenge the status quo, ask a lot of questions and can be somewhat obnoxious. That is when I perk up and think, "Maybe I have a young raw leader here." Here are some of the things I look for.

• Self starters who figure out where they need to go and simply do it. 
• Those who go and find resources and people who can help them get a task done. 
• Individuals who don't complain about barriers but simply find a way to go around, over or under those barriers to achieve their goal. Rather than ask permission, they will often ask forgiveness if they run into trouble. 
• Individuals who others seem to listen to and instinctively follow. 
• Those who ask good and probing questions and display a high level of inquisitiveness. 
• Individuals who regularly challenge the status quo and ask the irritating why questions.

Young, raw, inexperienced individuals who have leadership potential or wiring can often be brash, irritating and come off as arrogant. Rather than write them off as such, realize that what you may well have is a leader in the raw who is not content with the status quo. The very things that irritate you about them may well be that leadership wiring stirring in them that if channeled and mentored could result in future leadership.

It is not unusual for leaders in the raw to even clash with those who lead them precipitating some necessary "come to Jesus meetings." It is, frankly, the very fact that they are flexing their leadership wiring (even if in an undisciplined way) that causes some disruption. I did that plenty of times as a young, raw leader. Rather than simply writing them off - start a dialogue to see if what you have is a leader in the raw rather than simply an obnoxious individual. They may be future leaders in your organization! If they have that potential, start meeting with them to help them hone their skills, temper their words and impatience and coach them toward productive leadership roles.

Creating dialogue through questions

Good leaders learn to ask questions of those they lead in order to solicit feedback, create meaningful dialogue and help people think through issues. This is an important part of coaching and mentoring because good questions provoke thinking and the opportunity to dialogue more deeply on the issues that surface through the answers.

Often the natural inclination of leaders is to  tell rather than dialogue. The art of asking probing questions is one that is often not natural to us but can be learned. The more we do it, the better we become. Here are the kinds of questions that can provoke meaningful discussion with those we lead or supervise.

If there were one thing you could change about your job, what would it be?

How do you think our team is doing? What would make it stronger?

Where do you want to be three years from now personally and professionally?

Is there something you wish I would do differently as your supervisor?

Are there ways that I could make your job easier?

What is your greatest challenge and your greatest joy in your role?

Do you feel you are being used to your highest capacity? If not, what would you like to add to your responsibilities?

Is there anything you need from me that you are not getting?

As you think about our mission as an organization, where do you think we are doing well and where do you think we could do better?

Where do you need to push yourself for better results?

What percentage of your time are you working in your sweet spot and what percentage in your weaknesses?

Are you doing things that someone else on your team could be doing that would allow you to focus on more important issues?

Is there something you know you really need to focus on but have not found the time to do so? If yes, how can you reconfigure your time so that you can focus on that priority?

What leadership lessons have you learned in the past year?

How are you measuring results for your ministry?

What changes have you made in the past three years in how you live and work? What prompted those changes?

Do you have a mentor who speaks into your life outside of your supervisor? Who are you mentoring?

Talk to me about how you empower your team.

If you have favorite questions that generate dialogue I would love to know what they are.