My Dad's former secretary has still not been heard from in Kandahar, and her situation got me to thinking about the state of American Christianity.  It does seem to me that if your brand of Christianity is not or cannot be anything but American, then it may not be Christian.  Does the message "Your Best Life Now" work for those struggling to live?  Does that message work in Darfur?  Does the idea of "Carry your cross" work better in the underground Church in China or "Your best life now"?  In other words, what's wrong with my photo?  If your message won't work in China, Darfur or another country like that, is it legitimate?

I'm going to do a few posts on the idea of what Luther called, the Theology of Glory vs. the Theology of the Cross.  The theology of glory is the idea that we want the "stuff" now, vs. the idea that we are called to suffer for the cause of Christ!  More to come.

Gage Browning

Post Tenebras Lux

Please pray for this young lady.  She is a beautiful young Christian woman.  She was my secretary when I was at Joshua’s.  She is one of the godliest women I have ever known and wonderful Christian friend.

She was kidnapped yesterday in Kandahar .

TB

Latest Report- Read Here

1st Report-

I've been discussing a book Can we do that?  24 innovative practices that will change how you do church by Ed Young Jr. and Andy Stanley.  We come now to one of the last few topics that I want to address in the book.  We haven't looked at all 24 "innovative practices".  Rather I have picked out a top 10 if you will.  Now I want to look at ch. 24 and the topic is very interesting to me.  I am a speech communications major and somewhat of a speech communications nut.  I love to study speech patterns in preachers, and speeches given by politicians etc.  This topic may get me in trouble (a little) who knows.  I found it interesting at least.  Let's see what you think.

Personal Evaluation

Ed says, "We videotape the service and display it on side screens so that people in the balcony don't miss my goofy facial expressions and other important things happening on the platform.  I always make sure I get a copy of the tape on Saturday night, and the arts team and I watch it before we leave church.  We often make changes to the order of content of the service for the next morning.  Many times I will also watch the 9:30 or 11:15 tape before I go home Sunday afternoon."  (ch 24. pg 175)

(FYI- Ed's Church like many churches today have added a Saturday night service.)  One note of interest:  When I was a Sales Manager for a commercial printing company, I did quite a bit of printing for Fellowship.  When they decided to go to  a Saturday night service, we printed some flyers to be handed out.   I remember it well, because it created quite a stir at our office.  The flyer said something to the effect of - "Want to sleep in on Sunday?  Come to our new Saturday Night service".  Anyway back to our topic.

"Just like the NFL I do this critique myself.  There are too many areas where I could improve as a speaker to not challenge myself to become a better communicator.  My perception of my gestures and actions is oftentimes very different from what they actually look like onstage, and I have to see them on video to get the right perspective.  Professional sports teams do this all the time.  Football players spend hours with coaches going over and over the game to see what they did and how they could improve."  (ch 24. pg 175-176)

You know right off the bat, I actually love Ed's idea.  There are too many preachers in the world that don't spend enough time trying to be better communicators.  It is my opinion that this is the achilles heel of preaching in Reformed Churches.  There aren't enough Piper's in the world in my opinion.  There aren't enough James Montgomery Boice's.  Effective communication can still be calvinistic.  Effective communication can still be an art.  It is the Pastor's duty to make sure that the message of Christ and him crucified is delivered with excellence, with passion, and with clarity.  I have sat through too many sermons from PCA and reformed preachers who obviously haven't practiced their sermons, and didn't get better over time. 

Preachers should evaluate themselves.  Elders should help the preacher evaluate his sermons.  (This can be done well and it can be done bad).  Wives usually can help with evaluation.  Whenever I have spoken, my wife has helped me by pointing out areas that I wasn't clear about etc.  The reformed Church has a message that is the best message.  The historical redemptive message of the whole Bible is good enough material.  The Law and the Gospel is powerful.  We don't have to trick it up to be interesting and "non-boring".  But we must work at it.  We must work at being clear.  We must work at being passionate. 

I recently spoke at a conference for sales people.  My main idea was this:  If we don't have passion it doesn't matter what we do.  Conversly, if we have passion it doesn't matter what we do.  The idea was that if sales people don't care about what they are selling then it doesn't matter what they are doing, their customers won't care either but if the salesman is passionate about what he sells, then his customers will care.  If we are passionate about what we are doing, it doesn't matter if we doing janitorial work, if we are passionate about it, people will care.  I think the same is for preachers today.  If they are passionate many exegetical sins will be covered.  John Piper is a great example here.  I don't think John Piper is one of the best orators or expositors in the world.  I love John Piper, but his speaking skills are fairly average in my opinion.  But I can tell you this about John Piper:  His speaking skills are received much better, then most orators because no one doubts that what John Piper is talking about, John Piper cares deeply about.  He is very passionate about the text he is preaching and that comes across in spades.  But if the preacher is not passionate about what he is communicating, then how can we expect the listener to care?  So what do you think about this idea of evaluation?

Gage Browning
Post Tenebras Lux

Now we come to a model of "doing church" that is somewhat different.  I'm going to look at two sections of the book, (chapters 15 and 16 of Can we do that?  24 innovative practices that will change how you do church. I am combining them simply because of the category.  Let's look at them one at a time.  The first is:

We are a staff led Church

"We have no elders or deacons; each pastor or director is responsible for the decisions made in his or her department.  No one knows the church like the staff, so we believe they should be the ones calling the shots." (pg 103 ch15)  "To keep the staff accountable, we have developed a ministry leadership team- a self perpetuating group of both pastors and laypeople that includes experts in finance, law and ministry.  Included in the ministry team is the board of trustees.  The board works with the financial manager to oversee the day to day business side of running the church.  They keep us accountable financially, and all outgoing checks must be signed by one of them.  this group also has the power to hire and fire the senior pastor." (pg 104 ch15)  -

Let me say that to prevent the sin of greed that can cause and has caused shame in many churches is a good thing. 

Why does the Staff-Led Model work?  "We won't know something is going to work unless we try it- so we need the ability to give it a shot.  In a staff-led church, you can jump off a dead horse rather than sitting there atop it while a committee takes its temperature and argues over whether or not it has completely expired.  It is crucial to be able to make quick, on the dime decisions in our ever changing society.  The key element of the staff-led model is that the leaders have the freedom to make those quick decisions." (pg 106 ch15) 

In my opinion the Staff-led model is built on pragmatism.  How fast can we move?  How fast can we make a decision?  The speed at which a decision can be made is one of the pragmatic reasons for this model.  This idea is completely divorced from what I believe is the Biblical model.  I will say however that it does seem that all churches, even Reformed Churches are somewhat of a staff-led model.  It does seem to work out that way in some respect.  But is it okay then to go ahead and decide to be completely pragmatic in all areas of ecclesiology?

What?  No Deacons?

"I don't know who originated the idea that the church, like our society should be a democracy.  The church should be designed as a theocracy:  a God-run organization in which he uses gifted leaders to carry out his vision....The apostles appointed deacons simply to take care of the day-to-day ministry duties, such as feeding widows and orphans.  This allowed the apostles-those gifted in preaching, teaching and evangelism- to focus on and exercise their gifts.  The apostles were certainly accountable to one another, but nowhere were the apostles held accountable to a group of people who didn't understand their unique calling from God." (pg 108 ch.15) 

So the staff-led model should resemble a theocracy?  Nowhere were the apostles held accountable to a group who didn't understand their unique calling from God?  Ummm...Berea anyone?

"I think it's safe to assume that the appointment of deacons was common in the early church.  At the same time, nowhere is the appointment of deacons commanded or required.  Choosing deacons was simply something the early church did to meet a specific need."  (Stanley pg 115 ch. 16) 

While it is true that the deacons in Acts 6 were appointed for a specific need, mainly to feed widows it does seem to me that this office did become normative in the Church.  Paul wrote to the Philippians and to the bishops and to the deacons (Phil. 1:1)  It does seem that Paul assumed that Philippi had the office of deacon.  How many examples do we need to see the office of deacon as normative and apostolic?  (Acts 6, Phil 1, 1 Tim 3)

"We do not have an organized group of deacons at Fellowship Church.  We believe all servants in the church carry the responsiblity of deacon, although we do not call them by that term."  (pg 115-116 ch.16) 

This is the most dangerous part of the staff-led model.  It places the office of deacon for which there are numerous and elevated qualifications on everyone.  The Apostles got the church together in Acts 6 and said choose 7 men of good repute, filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom. (Acts 6:3)  Ed's model blatantly disreguards the Biblical qualifications of deacon.  Did the Apostles say to the Church, go do the work of deacon yourselves?  (Everyone is a minister right?)  Because the work of the deacon is to be done by men who match certain criteria put in place by Christ himself, not just a pragmatic group of Apostles.  What are some of those qualifications?  1 Timothy 3:8-13 "Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless.  Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well.  For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus."  Now if all those in the church are to be "deacons" how does one who has a church of 20,000 folks make sure that they meet all those criteria?  Answer- they don't, they can't.

"When we have a decision to make, I depend on the staff for their experience and advice.  I also have a close circle of trusted friends and experts with whom I  may consult, but for the most part, I trust our staff to help determine what's best for the church. " (pg 116 ch.16) 

You know I'm in favor of oligarchy if it is a good oligarchy.  Unfortunately oligarchy just doesn't seem Biblical.  Pragmatism seems to be the main ingredient in the staff-led model of leadership.  What say you?

Gage Browning

Post Tenebras Lux

We are examining Ed Young Jr and Andy Stanley's book- Can we do that?  24 innovative practices that will change how you do church.  I am not examining all 24 things.  I decided to look at their top 10.  We are now looking at #4: 

Be intentional and deliberate in the timing and topics of sermons

I must admit to you that my first inclination is to reject (outright) any notion of preaching that is not expositional by nature and exegetical at heart.  Any notion of building sermons by topic makes me very uncomfortable.  The Bible isn't structured that way.  The Bible is about one redemptive story.  It's not a concordance on Life's biggest issues.  One of the two books that changed my life was a book my Dad made me read- How to read the Bible as Literature by Leland Ryken and How to read the Bible for all its worth by Gordon Fee.  These two men impressed upon me that the Bible is written in words, those words form sentences, those sentences, paragraphs, those paragraphs form chapters, and those chapters books and those books were written with a purpose.  And when someone grabs a topic out of a book and uses it as a launching pad to cover a particular topic without any notion to the purpose of the book - that is not preaching.  Okay that's where I'm coming from and that is why this particular point was hard for me to swallow.  It was also the hardest for me to look at objectively.  But it is my intent to look at their points with fairness and then we can all make our own comments and conclusions.  Andy and Ed both had a good deal to say on this topic, but for this one, let me look at what Ed had to say.  Here is his general plan.  He lists them out for us.

Jan-Feb - "I miss the weekend after New Year's Day because most of our regular attendees are still on vacation.  Besides, I'm still recovering from speaking seven times on Christmas weekend.  I begin a new series the second weekend of January."  (pg 144 ch. 20)

March- "In the D/FW area three weekends are affected by Spring Break.  I usually take one or two weekends off during that span.  We also begin planning a community-wide direct-mail campaign to send out to promote Easter weekend targeting hundreds of thousands of homes within a ten-mile radius of the Church." (pge 144-145 ch. 20)

April-  "For many years I have started a new series on Easter weekend.  I try to choose a series that will have the most impact of the unchurched people because of the large numbers of seasonal churchgoers.  For example, I may begin a series on marriage with a hook to get people back the next weekend.  Of course, I always work in the gospel message of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus." (pg 145 ch. 20)  

(I'm glad he's working it in, for a minute there I thought he might leave it out.)

May- "After Mother's Day attendance begins to flatten a little.  I do a short series between Mother's Day and Memorial Day weekend.  I take off Memorial Day weekend because it is one of the lowest-attended weekends of the year." (pg 146 ch.20)

June- "June is a time when I plan special, one-time weekend events."  Ed is gone most of this month doing retreats etc... (pg 146 ch. 20)

July- "I rarely speak during this month.  I take July off and use the time as study break and family vacation time."  Ed then goes on to explain how he utilizes his staff to do teaching.  But listen to this:  "Oftentimes, if I am in town, I will show up at church and do the welcome or the announcements.  The communicates to the congregation that I'm there but I'm not speaking.  I also shoot video introductions of the other speakers ahead of time for the weekends I'm gone.  That is an effective way for people who are visiting to know who I am even when I am out of town." (pg 147-148 ch. 20) (Wow- I can't believe he said that!)

August- "August is a huge growth time for us.  For this reason, the series I begin the second weekend of August is one of the most important of the year.  We also do a massive direct-mail campaign to promote and kick off the fall." (pg 147 ch.20)

Sept- Nov- "I do one or two series during the fall.  Attendance flattens a little after Labor Day weekend.  I always miss Thanksgiving weekend because attendance is low for us." (pg 148 ch. 20)

December- "I plan a short series (three weeks or so leading up to Christmas Eve." (pg148 ch.20)

One thing for sure his idea of being deliberate and intentional in preaching is just a little different then my opinion.  So what should a preaching calendar look like?  You know one of my favorite preachers of all time is James Montgomery Boice.  He was the Sr. Pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church until his death a few years ago.  If you would have seen his preaching calendar it would have looked like this:

1990-1996- The book of Romans

Now that's a contrast to be sure.

Gage Browning

Post Tenebras Lux