the reluctant leader

Preaching Tips & Brain Rule #4

Another day, another flight. Nashville to Minneapolis to Calgary. I'm now in Minn, waiting.

Sat next to the Marlboro Man on my flight from Nash to Minn. Since all USA flights are non smoking, this guy had a cup of coffee instead of a cigarette.

He kept on sipping his coffee, but for some reason the coffee  never ran out. Strange. It seemed that very time he put his mouth to the plastic spout on the coffee cup lid, there was MORE coffee in the cup, not less.

Then i figured it out - he was spitting, not sipping.  The Marlboro Man was chewing tobacco. Nashville.

While dodging liquid tobacco, i read an article in the NWA World Traveler magazine called "Our Brains at Work." Interesting. The article summarized a book by molecular biologist, John Medina, about putting our brains to max use at work.

Medina's "Brain Rule #4" is pertinent to preachers and speakers. It says, "We don't pay attention to boring things." I think we all know that. But his next 4 sub points could help our preaching. Here they are with my comments in bold italics:

1. The brain's "attention spotlight" can focus on only one thing at a time: no multitasking.
More evidence for the 1 point mssg.

2. We are better at seeing patterns and abstracting the meaning of an event than we are at recording detail.
Since they can get details from a book or online and no one remembers anyway, we need to focus primarily on ministering to the heart not the head.

3. Emotional arousal helps the brain learn.
Preach mssgs and tell stories that evoke emotion and people will pay attention and remember.

4. Audiences check out after 10 minutes, but you can keep grabbing them back by telling narratives or creating events rich in emotion.
This really made me re-think my outlines. I need to re-start every 10 minutes. That explains a lot.

Gotta to find gate C-12...

Criticizing the Preacher

Sitting in the Jacksonville airport answering emails while I wait on my delayed flight back to Nashville.

Got an email from one of our Filipino preachers, a guy who has recently joined our weekend preaching rotation. (Our church has 64 weekend worship services in 14 Metro Mania locations with around 75 different preachers each month.)

The guy who emailed me is one of our better preachers. He was a bit discouraged because of a professional and persistent sermon critic who seems to analyze and complain about everything he says.

Here’s my 7 point response to my preacher friend:

1.  Welcome to the pulpit!  Too many Christians are called and gifted to complain and criticize preachers.

2. In my opinion your preaching is excellent, anointed, clear, focused, understandable, practical, biblical and Christ-honoring.

3. My wife agrees with point #2.

4. More importantly, your wife agrees with point #2.

5. Remember, you minister to hundreds of people every Sunday. Most love and respect you, and most appreciate your leadership and your preaching.

6. Do not let this affect your preaching. Preach the Word.  Feed the sheep. Don’t respond to your critics from the pulpit. Don’t attempt to pull up the tares, b/c you might uproot some wheat.

7. Forgive and forget.

Here are some more of my thoughts on preaching for preachers.

Simple Preaching Tips III: Multi-Site Via Video or Discipleship?

Got some questions and comments about my last blog that I want to comment on, so here’s another follow up...

Q: With so many venues and so many services, why does your church only use live preachers rather than video?

A: While I have no problem with multi-site churches that do vid feeds or DVD sermons, I just can’t do multi-site church that way.

Q: Why not?

A: Three reasons:
One - there aren’t many people who would show up to hear me preach on vid.
Two - I'm just not the TV ministry type.
Three - because of my calling to equip and empower next generation leaders, and for every vid site I could set up, one leader is benched.

I know everyone is not called to do church the way I do, so please don’t copy us. Figure out how God wants you to do church and do it, even if no one else does it that way.

When commenting on the current multi-site rage that finally hit America, my friend Jim Laffoon said: “we will all either reproduce ourselves digitally, or in real people. And it’s a lot harder to reproduce ourselves in real people than on video.”

I think Jim’s right - making disciples and training leaders is harder than buying and setting up high-tech vid equipment.

Here's why: People have opinions and feelings; video equipment is not easily offended. Plus, I’ve never been betrayed or disrespected by a video or a DVD.

But I know I’m called to equip and empower next generation leaders, even if they sometimes have rotten attitudes, and even if some of them do and say things that make my job harder.

What about you - reproduce through a video or a disciple? Why?

 

*** Latest accidental missionary post: "38 Days in Jail and Counting"

Simple Preaching Tips - Preparation Part II

Yesterday I posted a preaching tips blog about sermon prep, and the response from both my regular readers was so underwhelming, that i decided to stick with the same topic another day...

When I talk about preparation, I'm talking about 2 things:

1. Preparing Myself.
It is not enough to prepare a great sermon to preach, and not prepare the preacher. We prepare ourselves to preach by walking with God. It is not enough to have a good sermon, but not be a good Christian. Self preparation is about heart, attitude and relationship with God. This is the hardest and most painful part of sermon prep. Now for the easy part...

2. Preparing My Sermon.
A little info about our church - Victory Metro Manila - might help you understand my preparation context: 
- 25 year old church in huge metro area (14 million)
- multi-site with 14 Metro Manila venues
- multi-service with 64 weekend services on Fri, Sat and Sun
- multi-generational - equal number of kids, teens, 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's...
- multi-language with weekly sermons in English, Tagalog and Taglish (English-Tagalog blend)
- discipleship-based church with 3500 small group leaders scattered all over the metro
- over 50 different live preachers per month (no video preachers)
- multi-generational preachers with preachers in their 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's
- all 64 services feature the same sermon
- our kid's church preachers preach a kid-friendly version of the same sermon with the same big idea
- our sermon prep team meets quarterly to write and edit sermons
- every preacher has the freedom and responsibility to develop and communicate the big idea any way that makes sense to his/her particular congregation
- while all 64 venues present the same big idea, all 64 will are different - depending on the audience, the preacher's gifting, style and personality
- all this requires massive preparation and coordination
- this is constantly in a state of evolution

Some of my really spiritual (mystic, charismatic, "spirit-led") friends are bothered that we plan in advance. They say that it will not be "fresh" or that it will not be the timely word of the Lord.

But doesn't the Holy Spirit know what the church will need to hear a year in advance, or does He only figure it out Saturday night? If the Holy Spirit actually does know what is needed in advance, can't He let us know in advance, or does He have to wait until the last minute?

Why do we equate lack of planning and last minute with being led by the Spirit?

 

Simple Preaching Tips

While at the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Ark yesterday, i watched a clip of Dr Martin Luther King's famous "I Have A Dream" speech. Clinton referenced it several times in his library intro vid.

Watching MLK, jr made me think about preaching - about what makes a good message. 

Here are 3 simple essentials for good preaching:

1. The Preparation.
My preparation includes my personal daily Bible reading, study, research, plus group sermon series planning and group discussion. I used to think that great sermons came directly from heaven to the private prayer closet. While heaven and prayer are important, i can't prep sermons in private any more. I need input from others.
My final prep time is Saturday morning at Gloria Jean's Coffee Shop in FtB with the usual suspects - some really great communicators: Paolo, Ferdie, LA, Dennis, Carlos, Robert and others. In this meeting we talk about how we will make the point. Paolo and LA provide visual creativity and help me not be boring. Dennis and Robert provide the humor that helps people pay attention. Ferdie provides the focus and the passion. All these people help me have a bigger perspective. Since all are younger than me, they help me connect with the whole congregation, not just people in their 40's with teens. That's huge since i'm older than most of the people i preach to.   

2. The People. (Future post.)

3. The Point. (Future post.)

NOTICE TO BOTH MY RL READERS:
You may have noticed the cosmetic changes on this site - just trying to focus, simplify and de-clutter.
Also, i made some changes to my blogrolls - i deleted all inactive blogs and decided to only feature blogs that fit in the following categories:
    -leadership/discipleship
    -church planting
    -campus ministry
So, if your fav blog got cut, while i'm sure it was a great blog, it was either inactive or did not fit one of these categories.

The Ministry of Reconciliation

Too busy to blog lately. But, I fly back to Manila tomorrow and will have about 20 hours on the plane to catch up on my "What is an Every Nation Church?" blog series.

I'll get to that tomorrow. But today I want to review Bethel's 11:45 Sunday service with special guest, Bishop Wellington Boone. Great message from a great man.

Wellington is a pastor, church-planter, husband, father, author, long-time (former) ECFA board member, a minister of reconciliation and a Promise Keeper.   

Here are my notes & quotes of Wellington's sermon, Living this Life with the End in View.

- "Too many Christians serve God for His hands not for His feet. His hands represent what He does for us. His feet represent our walk with Him."

- "The weight of carrying the Ark of the Covenant caused the carriers to leave footprints in the sand that could be followed. Much of modern Christianity is so light that it leaves no footprints to follow."

- "Believe in people before performance. I'm glad someone believed in me before I performed anything worthwhile."

- "We know what it is to be a male, but not what it means to be a man. One had to do with gender, the other has to do with development. Any male can father a child, but it takes a real man to be responsibe for the child."

- "We got to get delivered from a spirit of broke."

- "The color-line was covered by the blood of Jesus."

- "You're not just a church, you're a family - all with the same Daddy."

Un-Used Christmas Sermon

Here are my unedited notes of the Christmas sermon I never got to preach on “Black Sunday” a couple of weeks ago. Since I couldn't preach it, I decided to post it.

I realize the my notes might not make sense to you, but if you think of them like some ancient secret code, maybe you can find the hidden truth. (FYI - I hand-write my notes on one of those double-sized yellow sticky pads and attach it to my Bible on the page of my text.)

SERIES: i-Witness Christmas

TITLE: (I don’t really do titles)

ME
- C’mas eve ‘89 story – hoped for “real arrows” & disappointed b/c gave up too early

WE
- all have hopes, dreams, expectations that are not yet reality...
- So did Simeon, he waited his whole life...

WORD
-    I-witness series = 4 witnesses of 1st C’mas
-    Simeon had long-time hope that finally happened when he found Christ
-    WHEN YOU FIND CHRIST, YOU FIND YOUR PURPOSE AND GOD’S PROMISE
-    Luke 2:25-32
-    V25 just b/c you are still waiting on your dream, does not mean something is wrong with you
-    V26 the HS has the final say about your future
-    V27 many look for God in the wrong places
-    V28,29 no matter how long you wait, God always keeps His promise
-    V30-32 are YOU an i-witness of C’mas? Do you know Him?   

END - John 3:16 - You can be an i-witness today.

(You may notice I used a modified-Stanley-outline on this one.)

The Power of Preaching, for Good and for Evil

I'm back in Manila and back online, after a 2 week trip.

While reading The One Year Book of Christian History this morning, I was struck by the power of preaching, for better and sometimes for worse.

The book had a long quote from "the most effective sermon of all time" preached by Pope Urban II more than 900 years ago, but still remembered and acted on today. Perhaps no sermon ever preached has done so much to shape modern history, except for sermons preached by Jesus himself.

Imagine a sermon that was not even available on a podcast, still having an impact 900 years later. Most sermons today don't have an impact 90 minutes later.

In the sermon, Pope U2 (that's Urban the 2nd, not the Irish rockers or country singing cousin Keith) used a brilliantly evil combination of racism, pride, greed, exaggeration, heresy, hatred and fear to rally the "Christians" to take up arms and to go battle against the accursed Turks to...

...avenge these wrongs...if you would save your souls, then come forward to the defense of Christ. Labor for everlasting reward...you will earn the right to absolution from all your sins, and heaven is assured to any who may fall in this worthy undertaking...the wealth of your enemies is  yours...

This sermon started what was probably the lowest point in church history - The First Crusade.

Those Crusaders were doers of the word. Problem was the "word" they responded to was twisted and distorted by the preacher.

I wish modern believers would be doers of the word like those Crusaders who were willing to sacrifice all to obey what they thought was God's will.

But first I wish they would be like the Bereans of Acts 17:11 who, ...were more of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

May God make us all the kind of believers who eagerly receive and act on the Word, but also who study and examine the word daily.

How do you know if the pastor or TV preacher is preaching truth? By examining the Scriptures yourself daily. You have the Holy Spirit living inside of you, and He will lead and guide you into all truth as you study and obey God's word.

Sin, Separation and the Grace of God

Because I use one of those paper clip sized iPods with no screen, I have no idea which podcast I was listening to this morning, but the mystery speaker made a good point about sin, grace and the Gospel.

He said something like this...

If you came to my house and saw a stack of bills on my desk, then picked one up and paid it - I would not know how to respond to you, unless I knew which bill and how much you paid.

If you paid my Blockbuster bill, then I would thank you for covering my $10 late fee, but I would forget about it by the end of the day, and go on with life as usual.

If you paid off the rest of my 30 year mortgage, then my response would be drastically different. I would not forget about it. I would remember what you did for me every time I walked in my house, and I would want to do something to express my gratefulness.

In the same way, if we suppose that the depth of our sin and separation from God is small, and thus the priced required was moderate, then our response to the Gospel will be lukewarm at best. We will "respond" to the Gospel one day, and live as if nothing significant happened the next.

But on the other hand, if we even begin to see the magnitude of our sin and the great priced paid to redeem us, then our response will be to live the rest of our lives as thanksgiving offerings to the One who paid our debt.

We will only understand and appreciate the grace of God to the degree that we understand the seriousness of our sin and our separation from God.

--------------
I will be preaching this weekend at all 3 Sunday morning services (8:15, 10:00, 11:45) at the Brentwood campus of Bethel World Outreach Center. My topic will be the grace of God. I hope my message will help people understand and appreciate what Jesus did for us on the cross. Probably won't mention the above, but it got me thinking about the grace sermon I am preparing.

Pastors are Supposed to Know Stuff

Since I'm always trying to improve my diplomatic skills, I was listening to Jim Rome’s radio show yesterday, while driving my truck to meet my wife for lunch at Blue Coast (best burritos in Nashville).

I have no idea what it was, but something Bro Romy said prompted me to grab a pen & a scrap of paper and write the following list:

“The Pastor’s Job Description”

1. Know Stuff.
Pastors are supposed to know stuff – Bible, theology, history, leadership, management, etc. Therefore, we have to constantly learn. Best way I know to learn is to read. Pastors who don’t read end up either repeating things over and over or making stuff up.

2. Live Right.
People may or may not listen to our sermons, but they definitely watch how we live. That’s why, in the long run, being a good Christian is way more important than being a good preacher.

3. Preach the Bible.
Seems redundant to say, “Preach the Bible.” What else would a preacher preach? You’d be surprised. I was. I’ve heard “sermons” that hardly mention Jesus or the Bible. Too many sermons have slick power-points but little power and no point. If your pastor does not study and preach the Bible, find another church. And Pastor, if you don’t want to study and preach the Bible, find another job.

4. Be Spiritual.
Pastors do not have to be cool larger-than-life “really really good looking” type A personalities with toothpaste commercial smiles, but they do have to be spiritual. Not weird, scary, spooky, religious, mystical – spiritual. By spiritual I mean things like loving God, forgiving people, reading and applying the Bible, being a witness to neighbors and baristas.

5. Lead.
Leaders come in all shapes, sizes, volume levels, ages, ethnicities and accents. If God has called you to be a pastor, then He has also gifted you to lead. If you are not comfortable leading, find a mentor and learn.

Of course, that’s not all a pastor does – throw in some weddings, funerals, baptisms and county fair appearances - but that’s a good start.

Gotta go read another book, so I will know more stuff, so I can be a better preacher and leader.

***Not sure if this is an apology or an announcement, but... new short blog on my accidental missionary site called "Pastor on the Dance Floor" with rare vid footage of Ferdie C and Nuel N doing their thing during a training event for small group leaders. Scary.