the reluctant leader

How Not to Engage Your Community

No idea where I got this, but it has been sitting in my “blogs to finish” file forever. I think it makes a good point about our attitude toward those who are not yet serving God fully.

According to a traditional Hebrew story, Abraham was sitting outside his tent one evening when he saw an old man, weary from age and journey, coming toward him. Abraham rushed out, greeted him, and then invited him into his tent. There he washed the old man's feet and gave him food and drink.

The old man immediately began eating without saying any prayer or blessing. So Abraham asked him, "Don't you worship God?"

The old traveler replied, "I worship fire only and reverence no other god."

When he heard this, Abraham became incensed, grabbed the old man by the shoulders, and threw him out his his tent into the cold night air.

When the old man had departed, God called to his friend Abraham and asked where the stranger was. Abraham replied, "I forced him out because he did not worship you."

God answered, "I have suffered him these eighty years although he dishonors me. Could you not endure him one night?"

I hope we learn to engage our culture and community better than Abe in this story. But unfortunately, this is how most church people relate to non-church people when they mispronounce Shibboleth. (Judges 12:6)

***For more on this topic, read my "Friend of Sinners" article i wrote for Evangelicals Today mag.

***New "father's day gift" pix now posted on my accidental missionary site.

Rewards of Fasting

Here’s what Jesus said about fasting:

When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Jesus said that our heavenly Father rewards fasting. Following are seven rewards of fasting:

1. Fasting turns back God’s wrath and judgment.
Moses recorded that God was angry enough to destroy Aaron and the children of Israel because of their gold cow idol (Dt 9:18-20). But, as we know, God’s wrath was turned back after Moses fasted and prayed. There has been much said and written the past few years about God’s wrath and judgment on different nations. I’m convinced that Christians can turn back God’s judgment through fasting and prayer. Of course that will never happen unless God’s people get more concerned about the next generation than their next meal

2. Fasting releases prophetic strategies for victory.
The Moabites, Amonites, and several other hostile nations were arrayed against Israel. (See 2 Chr 20:1-30.) King Jehoshaphat called for a fast. You know you are in a desperate situation when a guy nicknamed J-PHAT calls for a fast. During the fast, a prophetic word was given that laid out God’s strategy for their battle. “No swords. No shields. No spears. Get your tambourines ready, we’re going to war!” I’m sure there were some battle-hardened warriors who thought that word was way off. After all, “We’ve never fought a battle like that before.” As always, God knew best. If we are willing to skip a few meals, we may receive prophetic strategies to influence our cities for God’s glory. They may be new and untried strategies, but if they are from God, we can be confident they will work.

3. Fasting activates people and provision for God’s work.
Nehemiah’s building project was preceded by corporate fasting. Would it have been as successful without the fasting? I don’t think so. In 1984, God opened the door for our fledgling Manila church to have its own (rented) building in Manila’s crowded University-Belt as we fasted and prayed.  Each time our church has expanded to a new building to own or rent, a vital part of our fund-raising strategy has been prayer and fasting.

4. Fasting releases wisdom and favor.
Daniel and his friends went on a partial fast (vegetables and water only). At the end of the fast, they were compared with the rest of the young men of Babylon. The results are recorded in Daniel 1:20. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom. Would you like to be ten times better than your competitors? Just lay off the pizza for a few days and seek God wholeheartedly.

5. Fasting clarifies and redirects callings and ministries.
Paul, Barnabas, and a few other Antioch church leaders were me eting together, and while they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said: set apart for me Barnabas . . . (Acts 13:1-3). While they were fasting, the Holy Spirit spoke. Would He have spoken this new direction even if they had not fasted? Probably. The real question is: Would they have been sensitive enough to hear the Holy Spirit speak if they had not fasted? Maybe. Maybe not. Are you seeking God for a new direction in your life or ministry? Good time to fast.

6. Fasting breaks demonic strongholds.
On one occasion, the disciples unsuccessfully attempted to cast out a demon. When they asked Jesus why they had failed, He responded:  this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting (Matt 17:21). This seems to indicate that there are certain demonic situations that, for one reason or another, can only be defeated through fasting. Isaiah said that true fasting will loose chains . . . untie the cords of yoke . . . set the oppressed free and break every yoke (Is 58:6). Have you ever encountered a stubborn demonic situation? Maybe it’s the kind that only goes out by prayer and fasting.

7. Fasting increases spiritual power.
Luke records that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit and that He was led by the Spirit.  After His forty day fast, He returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit (Lk 4:1,14). How many Christians do you know who are full of the Spirit and led by the Spirit, but do not walk in the power of the Spirit? Need more power? Spiritual power is one of the rewards of fasting.

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This blog was originally an article called "Freedom From the Stomach God" written for Evangelicals Today magazine. I edited it, made it much shorter and posted it here. Hope it helps those who are starting 2008 with a season of fasting and prayer.

Also, I recently wrote several fasting blogs on my "accidental missionary" site. The first was called "I Hate Fasting."

(Note: We encourage only healthy adults to fast. If you are pregnant or nursing, you should not fast. If you have any medical condition, you should check with your doctor before fasting.)

Tips From My Mentor

I was an idealistic clueless young missionary/church-planter in 1989 when the ministry that sent me overseas decentralized/dissolved/self-destructed, and I was suddenly spiritually homeless. I was fortunate to be “adopted” by a man and his wife who became friends and mentors.

Last week while in Northern California, I got to visit my friend and mentor – Emanuele Cannistraci, or “Pastor C” as I call him.

This guy’s been in ministry over 60 years and he seems to love his wife, his Lord and preaching more today than when I first met him.

As always, his energy was explosive, his laugh contagious and his wisdom profound.

I told him we were about to plant a new church in San Francisco and asked him for some advice. Here’s what he said – not exact quotes, but its the best my memory can come up with:

To be successful in ministry you just need to do four things:

1. Pray. You gotta depend on God. Too many churches don’t know how to pray any more.

2. Reach the lost. Don’t just minister to Christians. It doesn’t matter if you are an evangelist, you have to reach the lost.

3. Develop leaders. You can’t do it all yourself. You have to train others to lead. And, you have to pay your staff good salaries. So many pastors can’t figure out why their youth pastor or worship leader leaves and takes a job at another church. It’s usually because they are not paid enough. Train leaders and be generous to them.

4. Make it fun. Too many preachers condemn and beat the people. There’s no joy, no fun. There has to be joy. Serving God should be fun, not boring. You have to make it fun!

Thx, Pastor C. Not just for the church planting tips, but for the man you are and the life you live. I hope to be like you when I grow up.

***More on my Calif trip on my accidental missionary blog***   

More Thoughts on Living Life as a Long-Term Project

Inspired by my Stupid Statement #1 blog and your responses, I’ve been thinking a lot about time and the future. Maybe that “live every day as if it were your last day” statement was not so stupid after all, since it inspired deep thought and meaningful discussion.

Question. Should we live in the past, for the moment, or for the future? Should we live as if today is our last day, or as if we have a thousand more today’s?   

My eclectic religious experience supplied me with the foundation to be either very balanced or very confused, because it enables me to do all three.

1.    My liturgical Episcopal experience taught me to appreciate the past. Gothic architecture. Gregorian Chants. Ancient rituals. Organ music. Ornate robes. Incense. Candles. Priests. Everything seemed to be about looking back and learning from the past.

2.    My spontaneous Charismatic experience taught me to savor the moment. Much of my varied experience in the Charismatic movement had little connection to the past or the future – it was about the moment, the divine touch that would knock you to the ground and change you forever, or at least until the next meeting.

3.    My Reformed Presbyterian experience taught me to prepare for the future… the eternal future and the temporal future. Thankfully, I am reformed enough to see the future through the filter of the sovereignty of God and the promises of Scripture. Therefore, I see time as my ally not my enemy. Real spirituality takes time.

I guess when it comes to time, I lean not to the inexplicable mystery of traditional liturgy, not to the instant cure-all of the charismatic zap, but to the slow and sometimes painful process of sanctification and discipleship.

From the Reformed perspective, time really is on our side, because God really is in charge.

Don't Leave Home Without Him

Here's part 3 of my 2007 Every Nation World Conference reflections.

A few blogs ago, I summarized our EN.07 conf with these 5 statements:

    1. We are called to the ends of the earth.
    2. We need the power & presence of the Holy Spirit.
    3. We must remember the poor.
    4. We must empower the next generation.
    5. "All we need is love."

Here are my thoughts on point #2...

We need the power & presence of the Holy Spirit

The Christian life is more than difficult, it is impossible. That's why we need supernatural power.

We need the power and presence of the Holy Spirit everyday for everything - not just so we can speak in tongues and have hair-raising religious experiences on Sunday - but so we can live the kind of life that will be a genuine witness for Christ in a lost and confused world Monday through Saturday.

There is no way a fallen, finite, fallible human can live a life that honors God - without the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. There is no way to say no to sin - without the help of the Holy Spirit. There is no way we can pray, worship, minister effectively - without the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit. There is no way we can forgive those who offend and hurt us - without the comfort and conviction of the Holy Spirit.

Will power is not enough. Hard work won't cut it. Self discipline fails.

Nothing short of being empowered by the Holy Spirit will enable us to live godly lives.

I remember an American Express ad campaign with the unforgettable tag line: "Don't leave home without it."  I hope everyone who participated in EN.07 will live by a similar code: "Don't leave home without Him."
 

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Note: Daniel Stephen's message Go For His Face, Not His Hand and Mark Conner's message, The Holy Spirit, are both posted on the Every Nation conference recap site along with a short highlight vid and some EN.07 pix links.

Also, new "accidental missionary" blog about next VCF mall congregations HERE.

A Bible & A Passport

I said I would take the next few days and blog about each point in my summary of the Every Nation world conference, or EN.07. Here it goes...

We are called to the ends of the earth.

Sometimes I wish I could lead a big-city mega-church or a small-town community church. In either case, my only concern would be my city or my community - then my life, my ministry and my mission would be simple.

As valid as that may be for some pastors, it is not what I am called to do. I am called to lead an international church, a global church, a mission church. We are called, not only to our immediate community, but also to the ends of the earth.

It doesn't seem fair. Why do some of my pastor friends get to led single-city mega-churches, with seemingly no global responsibility, and I have a church that has to mobilize, send and fund mission teams, missionaries and compassion projects all over the world?

Ends of the earth. Every nation. Great commission. World missions. Unreached people. Sounds exciting...and expensive.

Every nation - that's a lot of plane tickets.

I don't know how I knew it, but somehow I knew from day one that our church, Victory Christian Fellowship, was called to be a missionary-sending church. As soon as I met our first University-Belt disciples, I suspected that Filipinos would make great missionaries. And I was right.

We started in the heart of Manila's U-Belt, but our calling went way beyond reaching Filipino students. (Click HERE for a brief history of how our church started in Manila's U-Belt in 1984.)

From the very beginning we told new believers that they would need a "Bible and a passport" if they were serious about being Matthew 28 disciples. They would need the Bible in order to know God, and they would need the passport in order to go into all the world and make disciples.

We have always been a praying church, a house of prayer for all nation.  In the early days, we constantly  prayed that God would send workers into His ripe and not-so-ripe harvest fields. And, we prayed that we would have the privilege of being some of those workers.

Even though I think it would be less stressful and less expensive to only focus on one city and one community, I am honored and thankful that God has called our ministry to the nations.

Next reluctant leader EN.07 summary blog: "We need the power & presence of the Holy Spirit."

Check out my EN.07 pix HERE.

Plank in the Eye Syndrome

Why is it so easy to read a book or hear a sermon and apply it to someone else? Why can’t we apply truth to ourselves and not worry about others? Why can’t we let the Holy Spirit convict and change others, just as He does us? Why do we act as if He needs our help dealing with His people?

Jesus had something to say about those who apply truth to others while ignoring their own issues:

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother,  ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
                                                                                                                        (Matthew 7:3-5)

Jesus called these spiritual inspectors hypocrites. Ouch. That would be me at times – the times I read or hear something and apply it to others rather than to myself - the times I focus on the dust in other's eyes while ignoring the log in mine.

A couple of the blogs I occasionally read both mentioned this idea recently. Check out what  Steven Furtick and Perry Noble think about picking splinters out of the eyes of others.   

Q&A: Why Do So Many Fall Away?

I received the following comment/question in response to my "Discipleship is Friendship" blog.

Why do 80-90% of those making a decision for Christ fall away from the faith?

I am not sure how my blog produced that question, but here is my quick answer.

First of all I am not so sure about the accuracy of the 80-90% fall away stat - at least not here in our church in the Philippines - but whatever the percentage, something is wrong.

So, why do so many fall away from the faith?

1. The Message is Sometimes Incomplete.
When people only hear part of the gospel, it seems like they quickly fall away from the faith, while in reality they may not have actually had real faith in the first place. Too often what is passed off as the gospel is little more than religious self-help. If we want our message to be life-changing, then it must be Christ-centered, not man-centered. It must be powered by grace, not by human effort. It must produce repentance, not reform. It must led people to Christ, not to religious organizations.

2. Discipleship is Often Missing.
It sometimes seems like every month Manila is the staging ground for a massive "Salvation Miracle Crusade" featuring some suit-wearing international TV evangelist with a toothy smile and an honorary doctorate. If the point is to gather a crowd to preach to, then mission accomplished. If the point is to make disciples, then something is sadly lacking in most of the crusades I have witnessed in this part of the world. So, why do so many fall away? Because of a strange separation of evangelism and discipleship, where the gospel is preached but disciples are not made.

3. The Local Church is Largely Ignored.
Corporate worship and prayer, preaching and teaching of the Word, friendship and fellowship - God used all these aspects of the local church to strengthen my new faith. I don't think I would have survived very long as a new Christian without the help of the local church. I believe many fall away today, because they try to do Christianity alone , without the help of a community of believers - the church.

I don't think we will ever get to the point where 100% of those who profess faith in Christ endure until the end, but I am sure that if we preach the right message, if we make disciples, if we establish new believers in local churches, then most of those who profess Christ will follow Him for life.

Discipleship is Friendship

When we are in the Philippines, Monday is my day off. But not today, because I was the opening speaker at our Leader Summit '07, this morning.

As soon as I stepped into the room and saw hundreds of Filipino students wholeheartedly worshiping God, my mind raced back to 1984 when we first came to Manila to start a church that would reach Manila's University-Belt. God sure had bigger plans than I did. I am glad I stayed out of His way enough to get our church where it is today.

The 800 student leaders in that room this morning will all be facilitating discipleship groups on their campuses when school starts in 2 weeks. Our ENCM-Philippines staff is doing a great job of equipping and empowering students to make disciples.

As I was driving to the meeting this morning, I though back to my college days - a long time ago! Most of what I had then, I no longer have. My white Toyota Celica. My black Yamaha motorcycle. My Guild guitar. My hair. All gone. Never to be seen again.

About the only thing I still have from those days are my friends.

I reminded the 800 student leaders what Joey Bonifacio has preached and blogged a million times - that discipleship is relationship.

Joey is right about that. The best discipleship flows out of and produces the best relationships. Discipleship is not a class to take. It is not a program to make a church bigger. It is not a doctrine to learn.

Discipleship is relationship.

But, what kind of relationship? Some relationships are life-giving, others are life-draining. Some are healthy, others are dysfunctional. I think a healthy discipleship relationship should be a Christ-centered friendship.  

Friendship discipleship may sound good, but is that how Jesus did discipleship? I think so.

Consider the following verses.

- In John 15:13-15, Jesus referred to his disciples as friends.
- In John 21:5, he called some struggling  disciples (back-slidders?) his friends.
- In Luke 7:34, the religious leaders described him as a "friend of sinners".

Solid disciples. Struggling disciples. Sinners. Jesus treated them like friends.

In fact, it seems like the only people who weren't his friends were the self-righteous, judgmental hypocrites. The Pharisees and Sadducees. The religious critics who were professionals at tearing people down rather than building them up.

If Jesus treated his disciples - the ones who were following him and the ones who were running from him - like friends, then don't you think we should do the same?

Discipleship should be Christ-centered friendship.

And, if we do friendship-based discipleship like Jesus did, 30 years later we may not have our college car, waste-line or hairline, but we will still have our friends.   

 

Leadership & the Fear of God

Last week our church, Victory Christian Fellowship (Fort Boni congregation), hosted a political Q & A forum to allow a church member who is running for the Philippine Senate to answer some questions about her political past, about her spiritual experience and about her vision for the future.

My friend, Cito Beltran - nationally known radio, TV and print journalist - did his "straight talk" thing, asking some tough questions.

Here's a little background for my non-Filipino readers before I get to the point.

Senator Tessie Aquino-Oreta is the youngest sister of martyred Philippine hero, Ninoy Aquino. The Manila airport and about a million schools and streets are named after Ninoy. Tessie, the mother of 5, served in congress 11 years before being elected to the Senate. She decided not to seek re-election after the infamous 2001 "dancing queen" scandal during the impeachment proceedings of former President Estrada. This humiliating political free-fall caused her to cry out to God in desperation. After a year of attending a small group Bible study led by some Victory people, she turned her life over to Christ and started on a new journey of faith. As her faith grew, she felt that the Lord wanted her to get back in the political arena.

That brings us to the Q & A forum at the Every Nation building in the Fort with Cito B asking the questions. Here's the question that prompted this blog:

CITO: "You served in the Senate before you gave your life to Jesus. Now that you are a Believer, you are seeking re-election. How does being a Christian make one a better senator?"

SENATOR TESSIE: "Being a Christian makes me fear God. Before, I often thought of me first. Now I just want to please God - to put a smile of His face."

Whether we are running for a political office, working in an office, or addicted to watching "The Office" - we all need a healthy dose of the fear of the Lord.

As long as we think "me first", we will constantly make dumb decisions. But as soon as we embrace the fear of the Lord, we will start making wise decisions because the "fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."

Lord, please give us leaders - political, church, family leaders - who walk in the fear of God, who live to put a smile on your face.

(Since I am heading to the beach with my family tomorrow, there will be no new posts here until next week.)

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Other blogs about Philippine politics:

Click HERE for Joey B's blog, "Who Danced on National TV and Embarrassed Herself"'.

Click HERE for my blog, "7 Seconds Destroyed my Political Career".

Click HERE for my blog, "Warning: Politics!"