"Character is that which can do what it must without concern for success." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

At the risk of sounding like an egomaniac (sadly, I am a recovering one, with plenty of regular opportunities to either 'get drunk' or 'stay sober'), I recently got a couple of phone calls from a couple of churches looking for preachers who honored me by asking me to join them in prayer concerning whether or not I should "put my name in the hat" with them concerning a move. (No, I'm not going anywhere...I've learned that I'm a hard guy to move in that regard).

 

While this is a fairly common phenomenon, some of the calls make me wonder what it is these churches think they want out of a preacher...

 

Do they want someone who will help their church grow numerically? 

Do they want someone who will keep their attention on Sunday's during the speeching time?

Do they want someone who will help cause evangelism to happen?

Do they want someone who will challenge them to grow in Christ?

 

On growing numerically  - I have a preaching peer who, while philosophically agreeing that what we do as Christ-followers "is about the transformation of people," he takes a knee to the idea that since numbers are the only objective data with which we can measure success, it is what we must use to measure it.

 

I agree that numbers are objective, but that the numbers of people showing up at your Sunday morning worship gatherings is an objective measurement of success concerning the transformation of people I totally disagree with.

 

Look, if transformation is subjective, then we must simply come up with subjective ways of measuring subjective things...and deal with it. But to use something objective that cannot measure the success you are after, simply because it is objective, is futile and a glorious waste of energy. Since I've come to the Southwest church in Amarillo to be their preacher, we have grown from an average attendance on Sunday mornings of 850 to 750 in attendance on Sunday mornings. That's the objective truth, but what does it measure? I don't believe that this indicates failure in transforming people any more than attendance growing up to 950 would indicate success in doing so.

 

The numbers that I need to see and hear are stories of transformation.

 

- Are the (spiritually) poor full of hope about good news?

- Have prisoners (of the heart) been experiencing and talking about their freedom? 

- Do the blind smile as they enjoy newly-found (in)sight? 

- Are hugs and smiles and comforts and servants and lovers and intimacy and peace-fullness and healing and righteousness increasing in the oppressed (which is all of us)?

 

If these things are happening, then we are on the mission of Christ "successfully". And honestly, folks, all you have to do is go to your own heart and see if it is happening there, and if it is, then you are living the life regardless of who is your preacher and how many people go to your church. And if it is not, then you have a much larger issue...one that a new preacher may or may not be able to help you with...directly proportional with his capacity to usher you into a genuine focus, fixation, and relationship with Jesus Christ as your minister, pastor, preacher, savior and friend.   

 

On keeping people's attention with a speech - This is a new insight for me, one that is still forming, thanks to a timely reflective phone call from my buddy Tquan Moore (who has a new cd about, by the way...go to www.tquanmoore.com and buy it). I've been torn, since becoming a preacher, between two different opportunities for growth. Two different methods of advancing the Kingdom, if you will.

 

Our church's vision is to "make disciples of Jesus through real relationships". So, as the preacher, do I fulfill this vision by investing in becoming a better speech maker to motivate people to do this? Or do I become better at and invest more in real relationships directly? I know, I know...do both, Brian! And I have (and am) trying, but it is just not that simple here on the ground.

 

I think speeching and preaching can really contribute powerfully to a person's growing up in Christ. I've seen it happen (through stories) in my ministry. But ultimately, I don't think someone gets preached to maturity. Nor programmed to it. Preaching and programs can help, but I think people get loved into Christ. Period. So for this preacher, I spend much more time loving people towards maturity in Christ through relationships than preparing my speeches on Sunday morning in a way that might improve how well, how long, and how many different kinds of people I can keep attentive. I'm not saying that this is the ideal perspective for a preacher...I'm wondering just the opposite. But I'm not saying that it isn't either. Humility demands that I remain a constant experiment as I labor for Christ.

 

On the last two - I was going to write on each of the above 4 questions, but I have a line of people waiting for me to call. People who need Christ (evangelism) and are volunteering to be challenged towards Christ.

 

I love talking about what I get to do and be in my life, but how much time should I spend talking about making disciples and actually making them? As it is, I end this piece sitting right in the middle of that dilemma...do I finish this post about making disciples? Or do I go and be with a few of the people who are becoming disciples of Christ with me relationally?

 

My choice for today...send this email half done, for what it is worth, and go be with and love these people, for what it is worth.

 

Praise God, in Jesus Christ, that this is such a grace thing. He who has untold worth takes my humble, half-done offerings and advances the Kingdom in unbelievable ways in my heart. I could never plan, control, or orchestrate this stuff if I tried.

 

So I will just follow, as I must...with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength....without concern for success.

 

May God bless us all. 

On living too much from your mind, emotions and heart...

On living too much from your mind:

 

The mind is an amazing thing. The capacity to rationalize, to think, to make sense of things, to order, to categorize, theorize, prioritize, and organize can really make things efficient. But the mind does not know how to love. The "mind gone mad" is when it decides that efficiency or order are the highest priority of life. When the mind decides to organize things from the idea that the mind is the highest authority available to a human being, watch out...that person will run over people and "think" they are loving people and "helping them" by doing so. There is such a thing as living with too little mind...but that is not the subject of this note. People who live too much from their mind, however, quickly and conveniently judge anything that disagrees with them as doing so...keeping their own little efficient, boxed-in, orderly perspective safe and secure from the wild and chaotic world where real life is lived. Ironically, the person who lives too much from the mind usually condemns emotions while using the emotion of anger to sustain it's own perspective and existence in the face of anything outside of their comfort zone. Again, the mind is not the source of love, and living this way is much less than the abundant life available.

 

On living too much from emotions:

 

Our emotions are amazing things. Their capacity to activate, to move, to propel, to change the course of things, to shut down or wake up people, to take over, to energize, empathize, sympathize, and mobilize can really make things exciting. But the emotions do not know how to love. Emotions alone are as selfish and self-centered as the mind. They think they rule and should be catered to. When the emotions are submitted to without the application of wisdom in a human being, watch out. That person will run over people and "feel" that they are loving people and "being real" with them by doing so. There is such a thing as living with too little emotion...but that is not the subject of this note. People who live too much from their emotion, however, quickly and conveniently judge anything that disagrees with them as doing so...keeping their own indulgent extreme behaviors safe and unchallenged from a world with natural laws and order where real life is lived. Again, the emotions are not the source of love. Ironically, the person who lives too much from the emotions usually use their minds to condemn "unemotional people" to sustain it's own existence in the face of anything that would challenge them to use their emotions effectively. Again, the emotions are not the source of love, and living this way is much less than the abundant life available.

 

On living too much from your heart:

 

You can't live too much from your heart. This is the goal of God for every human being. The heart is where Christ takes up residence. This is the area where an all or nothing attitude is actually healthy. Since we are all creatures of habit and have addictive natures, this is the habit we should develop and the addiction we should get hooked by. King Solomon, considered by the Bible to have wisdom matched by no other mortal man, said that the highest priority of every person should be his heart (Proverbs 4:23). King David, described by Scripture as man after God's own heart (would being a man after God's own head ever a compliment He used?), says that his important ideas and guiding thoughts come from within the heart (Psalm 27:8).

 

The Hebrew word for heart is "leb," (pronounced "labe") and it is used holistically as a description of the very essence of the entire human being, encompassing the feelings, the will, and the intellect. The heart is the source of love. I'll say it again, the heart is the source of love. Living from the heart can not be overdone.

 

A survey of the book of Matthew reveals that the Son of David agreed with King David's idea that the heart is the very "wellspring of life" (Proverbs 4:23). Jesus said that if you want to see God, you can't unless you have a pure heart (Mt 5:8). He said that it is the focus of the heart that is of consequence (Mt 5:28; 6:21). He told the hurting that the solution to their problems was to "take heart" (9:2 & 22). And when convincing people that following him was the best, most productive, most restful and life-giving way to live, he totally disarmed them by exposing the contents of his heart (Mt 11:29). He says that our mouths (that is, our word choice, conversation topics, tones of voice, and speaking truth or lies) are merely a reflection of what resides in our hearts (Mt 12:34).

 

Need I go on?

 

If you, dear reader, are reorienting your "thinking" and "feelings" to become humble, obedient and loyal servants of your heart, then you need not read on. There is an actual sensation reported by those who have learned this majestic truth...they call it "thinking from the chest" (rather than from the head). Likewise, there is another called "feeling from the heart" (rather than from the gut). If these are not sensations you are familiar with, or agree with, or believe possible, or are operating out of right now in this moment as you read, then I think I might need to go on (if for no one else, for me)...because this is doggone important.

 

Your life, the quality and abundance of it, and of those all around you depend on you spending your life learning this. It's worth the "mental" or "emotional" energy required of you.

 

So, continuing, Jesus said that when the heart is being under-utilized it causes people to hear things wrong, see things wrong, and walk around not understanding people (how many times have you heard someone shake their heads and say, "I just do not understand them"? This is not because they are not capable, it is because they are not willing...people of the mind think it's too inefficient, and people of the emotions would have to accept responsibility, and neither want to be bothered). He then goes on to say that these calloused hearts are the reason they are not healed (Mt 13:15). When our hearts aren't right, he says, our lives aren't right (Mt 15:18-19).

 

When Jesus himself gets planted in a human being, according to him, that event is occurring in the heart, whether he remains there, in the heart, determines whether that life has any Kingdom worth (in terms of effectiveness) at all (Mt 13:18-23).

 

And finally, the most-coveted gift of forgiveness isn't forgiveness unless it is done from the penetrating, comprehensive depths of the heart, Jesus says, and he adds that God will treat you in the exact way you deserve (rather than with grace) if you don't forgive from the heart (Mt 18:23-35). Figuring out this heart thing, without question, is the mandatory and much neglected business of the human race. 

 

Because love, my friends, is a heart thing. And God is love (1 John 4:8). So THE thing that you possess that has the capacity to be like Christ, like God, is your heart. The mind is God-given, but it is only useful as a tool of your heart. Your emotions are powerful gifts of God, too, but are only useful when they are utilized by the heart.

 

No one...no one...no one can be great, and be more head than heart. And no one...no one...no one...can be great and be more emotions than heart.

 

For you mind people who want to argue with Jesus, explaining each of his teachings away with with logic and reason, instead, put all that mind power into going and learning what this means (we need you! We need smart minds that can explain this). For you emotional people who just feel hurt or beaten up by this piece, instead, look for the value in this (We need you! We need powerful "feelers" that can fuel us to wise action). We need minds and emotions, and it is time for them to ally themselves within us, and among us, rather than compete with each other for supremacy on any subject.

 

And you will see them co-exist powerfully and humanly, but only in the people who will "live too much from their hearts.