Changelicious (Part Two)

· Godly leaders are not people pleasers. Galatians 1:10 is very clear about the exclusive nature of two goals. Pleasing people and serving Christ are mutually exclusive. You can not do both. You must choose which one you will do. Leaders must choose to serve Christ over pleasing people. This is much easier said than done. Often those you choose not to please for the sake of serving Christ will take it personal. Lead them personally as best you can. Love them, but do not compromise what God has told you to do to please them. The people you lead need a leader not a people pleaser – whether they realize it or not. This is often offensive to those you lead because they truly want to please Christ, too. The difference is not always about heart, it is about role and responsibility. So do not wear you non-people pleasing call as a badge of honor. Wear it as a humble mark of a humble leader. The goal of great leadership is not to displease people, it is to serve Christ. Leaders can often take great pride in the displeasure of people. That is not leadership; that is selfishness. What you have to say as a leader is often offensive (or at best hard to hear), but you don’t have to be offensive. Allow people to be displeased by your serving of Christ, but don’t make your goal in serving Christ the displeasure of people.

So in the end leading is difficult. Leading will often cause people to have a bad taste in their mouth and they will see that bad taste as you. Those who are with you will stick around long enough to acquire the taste. Many of them will learn that they love it. Others will leave and find a new flavor. Often they will stay there until there is a bad taste again and they will quickly move on to find another flavor.

The problem about leadership is that is most often it is not delicious it is changelicious. It has a bitter taste but it will grow on those you lead. Your goal is to make sure that you are flavored with Christ and not with self. The taste of a prideful leader will not just leave people with a bad taste in their mouth, it will leave people sick with leadership poisoning. We must remember that we are the “salt of the earth.” Leaders, we can not lose our saltiness or we will be useless and left to be trampled under the foot of men. If you want to be changelicious then make sure the flavor in you is not you.

Changelicous (Part One)

I would love to be able to come up with a recipe for “changelicious.” It would be my dish to serve people when I lead change that would make change delicious. But change is not delicious. Most people believe change is bitter and sour. The interesting thing about change is that it grows on you. Change is an acquired taste. Something that tasted sour the first time you tasted it often becomes one of your favorites in the future.

I want to share a few thoughts on leadership and change. I hope there are some leaders out there that will be encouraged by these thought and challenged by these thoughts. Leadership is not easy. It is actually very hard work. You have been entrusted with much, much is required of you.

· Leading carefully does not mean leading cautiously. In Matthew 10:5-24 Jesus sent his disciples out into the world. It was a change for them. They had never been sent; they had just followed to that point. They were put in harms way. They were told there would be those that would persecute them. Jesus gave careful instruction and invested in them, but he still sent them. Be careful but don’t be cautious. Leaders have to be willing to see those they lead take a risk.

· Leading change is lonely. Even when people say they are with you, and they are behind you, they are still behind you. Leading change means getting out in front and being in front is a lonely place. When Moses went to the mountain and spent time with God he came down to find the people had chosen to follow a new god and Aaron had done it with them. Moses had to stand in front and stand alone, but God was with him.

· Lead people not programs. I am still learning this one. People are who you lead. I am a shepherd not a business manager. Leading people is personal. After Peter denied Christ, Jesus led him personally. When Thomas doubted, Jesus response was personal. When Paul wrote corporate letters to the churches he often named leaders specifically. Why? Leading people is personal. You lead corporately better when you lead personally, too. It takes time.

· The goal of leadership is not martyrdom. Leading is often lonely but it does not have to be all lonely. Moses had some lonely moments but he also organized the entire nation into groups that were led by leaders and he entrusted the daily interactions with them. A great leader does not try to walk alone for the sake of personal glory, he just must be willing to get out in front and experience lonely moments for the benefit of those he leads and then allows the leaders he leads to lead with him. When you praise your place of loneliness it is pride, not passion. Jesus stepped out in front and led but he had a group of leaders that went with him everywhere he went.

· Leadership is a gift from God. When leaders think they are the gift from God they’re done. Your leadership is not because of you, it is because of God. Paul understood this as he told others to imitate him. He was not saying be like me because I am the greatest. He was willing to say be like me because God has done a great work in me. He said that because he believed things like he was a new creation, he was the chief of sinners, he was God’s workmanship…etc…

Expect another delicious helping of changelicious tomorrow!

The Theological Challenge of Children

We had a great time at supper the other day. Wendy and I laughed and taught and laughed some more. Kids ask the greatest questions and give the best answers. I love to hear their wisdom. So I want to share it with you.

Daniel: Dad, who is your favorite super-hero?
Me: Well…… (Cause honestly I don’t have one.)
Daniel: Mine is Jesus…………….and God. (We are still working on how those 2 tie together)
Me: Well, me too I guess. Jesus is indeed my hero because he is my Savior.(I thought this would be the end of the conversation, but we have not even gotten started)

Daniel: Dad, What does God look like? And Jesus?
Me: Well….(How do I explain the human form of Jesus and the Spirit presence of God to a 7 year old?)
Daniel: Do they look alike?
Melanie: Yes they look alike. They just wear different colored shirts. (I assume like twins. Wendy and I are laughing pretty hard at that one. Then….)
Daniel: No they are not wearing shirts its different colored robe like things.
(NOW we are laughing.)

So I turn this one over to Wendy. She is much better at this than I am.

She does a really good job describing how they look different. I jump in with that it says that God is the light of Heaven, that there is no need for the sun. In trying to explain all this we have to get past that God did not make Jesus – he has always existed – but he did send him to Earth in form of man. So we make it through and have a good conversation about the depth of who God is. (I whisper to Wendy to go ahead and handle up on the Holy Spirit real quick. She declined.)

Then to end the conversation….
Daniel: Jesus and God are my favorite super-hero. What about you, Dad?
Me: Yeah, mine too.

All this to say. We sure can get worried about stuff about who God is and what he does. We worry about what he wants us to do and how he wants us to do it. We worry about what music he likes (or at least we pretend that it is about Him when we go off on other people’s worship music.) We worry about what church is the right church. We get consumed with when and where Bible study is or when, where, and how our leaders lead. We can fret over everything under the Sun…

When sometimes we need to just stop and answer this question.

Is Jesus your super-hero?

He’s mine!

Déjà vu

Well it was not exactly déjà vu but I had an experience last night that reminded me clearly of another time in my life and ministry. Last night I had the great privilege of setting forth a bold vision before the people of Fellowship Church to reach our city for Christ.

Last night I was awake in the middle of the night. The doubts that tend to eat at us anytime we stand up for the cause of Christ began to hit my mind. The biggest fear is to speak what the Lord has given you and for it to not work. It is difficult to be a person that casts God’s vision because all you can tell others is what God shows you – you can’t make it happen.

As I lay awake God reminded me of the words he told me to teach our people last night. Lift high My Name and I will bring people to myself. I honestly rolled over and slept in peace. I slept in peace until a racket awakened me.

My family has the flu. My sweet Kare Bear was upstairs hacking and having a hard time breathing. She was completely unable to sleep because of the congestion. I tried to get her to sleep for a while, but I could not.

Eventually I ended up rocking her in our rocking chair holding her where she could breathe. As I laid there with her in my arms I was reminded of the night before our first worship service at Fellowship Church. I stayed up all that night holding Daniel so he could breathe while sick with RSV. I thought the 2 nights to be strangely connected.

One reason is that the vision God has now given is as new and exciting and challenging as it was that night on January 5, 2002. The déjà vu had not quite happened yet, though. It came next as I realized that I sat their just as excited about what God had called me to do as I was the night before we started. I sat there with the same expectation of God doing unbelievable things. I sat there with a complete faith that God who begins good works finishes them too.

Honestly, I sat their and thanked the Lord that I have a great privilege and calling in my life. I thanked him that he always has been faithful. I also thanked him that I have no idea what he will do next. In 2002 I honestly had no idea what it would mean to start a church – I thought I did – but I did not.

On March 6, 2009 I sat their knowing that I have no idea how to reach a city for Christ either – but God does. All I have is the vision and the direction God gave to get there and the knowledge that He is all I need.

Vision is often scary because it leads to change and challenge. There is no person greater changed or challenged by it than the man God gives it to. So I sat there and thanked God for something else. I thanked him for not changing the passion and vision but for changing the man he had given it to. I sat there in déjà vu yet it was totally different. The difference was not in who God is, what the vision is, or the cost it will take to get there. The change is what God has done in me.

Thank you Lord for finishing what you start. O Sovereign Lord, YOU ARE GOD!

Forward from the Verge

It is a true honor in life to be the pastor of Fellowship Church in Prairieville. In 1999 God began to work in my heart and spirit a calling to plant a church. During the next two years I learned and trained and prayed about what church planting would be. June 1, 2001 my wife and I moved to a town we had visited 2 times to settle there and start a church. Little did I know that church planting was nothing like the textbooks, the classes, nor the popular books written by mega church pastors.

Fellowship Church has become the work of my life. I was a 26 year old man that had the audacity to believe that God could use me to start a church that would reach people for Christ. And he has. He has put people around me that I believe are absolutely some of the most amazing and wonderful people in world. The only problem I have really faced is discouragement. I have often struggled with my desire for success over God's work. I have lived many days here in Prairieville defeated and discouraged because the church was not what I had intended, desired, or envisioned. Not that discouragement has been my daily life. It has just been a lingering problem from time to time. Overall life is great, but my goals (my goals) were not being met.

This year some people from within Fellowship shared with me that they could see the burden in my life and spoke boldly and truthfully to it. I was honest about my struggle with them and they committed to pray for me and to help me. This was the confession I had to make. "I do not consider myself successful. Too often all I see is what we have not done instead of seeing what God has done." For some reason I felt real shame in admitting that to those people I pastor. There sat in that room lives changed by the ministry of Fellowship and I struggle to see it as such.

Over the last month or two God has really done some great things in my life. I shared with you a prayer time I experienced recently but did not tell you what it was all about. It was about this. One Thursday morning in my office, I was praying. I was praying as Kirk usually does. I was bringing God my laundry list of things to get done for his glory and asking him to make me ready. I was not asking him to talk to me about me - maybe about you - but not about me. So that morning he told me to shut up and sit still.

And he spoke. And honestly his words set me free. God simply told me "Thank you. And I am proud of you." Hear me when I say that Jesus Christ owes me no gratitude. God knows all that there is to be ashamed of in Kirk Jones. What God also knows is that I might not be a man that gets it all right, but I have a heart for him. He also knew I needed to hear it. He knew I needed to put down my definition of success before the altar of Christ before I would ever be ready to experience it.

There has been a great freedom in my life since that day. Literally God has rejuvenated my spirit and my soul. My hunger for him is growing. My prayer life is increasing. I am becoming a better husband and father. I believe I am also becoming a better pastor. The passion I have is renewed and so is my vision.

God took me through a valley so he could bring me to a Verge. I truly believe that Fellowship is on the Verge of a great movement of God. The people of Fellowship are telling others about Jesus and sharing his love like they never have before. The church is excited about Christ and their Pastor is ready to lead. No wrong motives. No hidden agendas. No personal success stories desired. Just ready.

This Friday I ask for your prayers as our church has A Night of Vision with Pastor Kirk. We are coming together to hear where we are going and why we are going there. I am so humbled that God would allow me to be the man with such a vision. I will tell you this though. I truly believe that if the people of Fellowship will follow me down the path God is laying ahead of us, that down that road is the salvation of our city.

I do not deserve the place nor the position, but I appreciate the grace that has given it to me. Pray that God will continue his work in our midst and that our lives will be laid open before him for his work. Pray that I will not speak any personal preferences, opinion, or agendas, but simply the will of God. Pray for Prairieville. And as I pray I praise because he who began a good work in me also began a good work in Fellowship and HE will complete it!

I praise God that he has renewed the audacity within me. He has given me the audacity to believe that not only will he use me to start a church but he will use that church to reach a city for Christ! Are you ready to get audacious?