ministry
When I was a wee lad, I remember going to the store with my dad. He’d give me five bucks or so, and I’d walk around all wide-eyed to see what I could buy. My dad was pretty street wise and he’s always make sure to remind me to do two things.
First, he’d tell me to keep my money in my pocket. He believed that if I held it in my hand, some unscrupulous character would notice how much money I had and decide to steal it from me. Second, he made sure I could figure out how much change I had coming to me before I went to the register. That way, that swarthy teenager ringing up my purchase couldn’t short change me.
My dad was right and unfortunately times haven’t changed.
Most of you know that I’ve spent the last year and a half of my life planting a church. I found out the hard way that, just like some lowlifes have no problem stealing money from children, many people will also gladly take a baby church’s money and actually make a living out of it.
Last year, when I was looking for some help getting our church’s legal structure set up, I came across a website called www.start-your-own-church.com. It guaranteed to put us on sure legal footing and to get our 501c3 approval. I called the number on the site and spoke with a Mr. Abe Hernandez. I was really impressed! He claimed to be an attorney with years of church legal experience. He claimed he’d be available to me for any legal questions and that together we were going to get the church set up right.
I was sold! I immediately wrote him a check for almost $1,200 with the belief that he’d get right to work for me.
A strange thing happened though. As soon as the check cleared, he became difficult to get a hold of. Eventually, Mr. Hernandez provided us with a constitution and bylaws to start with and instructions for incorporating. He also sent me step by step instructions for preparing all the materials necessary for him to complete our 501c3 application. I was to follow the instructions and mail all materials to him so that he could do so. This is where his true intentions were revealed.
I mailed all the materials to him and waited. And waited and waited and waited. I called and received no answer and no return call. I emailed him and got no response. He never filed our application. He took the money and ran.
It gets worse! Several months later I finally gave up and called another company to take care of our legal setup. When I explained our situation to this new company, they asked me, “By any chance was the man’s name Abe Hernandez?” I said, “Yes.” They said, “Unfortunately, we get several calls a year from people who have ended up in the same situation.”
He steals from several church plants a year! Wow!
Please don’t misunderstand me. This is not “airing dirty laundry”. I’m a church planter and have several church planter friends. Every dollar is precious during this season. We operate on very little. I don’t want to see any other planters taken the way I was. Be warned! Abe Hernandez gets great Google search rankings when making relevant searches such as “church legal setup” or “church 501c3”.
The moral of the story for me and other church planters is DO YOUR HOMEWORK! Check the Better Business Bureau. I found out too late that Abe Hernandez’ www.start-your-own-church.com has an F rating from the Bureau.
I recently filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau hoping to recover a portion of our payment to Mr. Hernandez. I’m not very optimistic about it, but maybe I’ll be surprised.
It was an expensive lesson, but I’ve learned to be more careful with money. I’ve learned that a web presence and a great sales pitch mean very little. And I’ve learned that local is the way to go. Abe Hernandez lives in San Antonio, Texas. I can’t exactly show up at his office demanding a refund.
So what about you? What are some expensive lessons you’ve learned? I’d especially like to hear from you church planters out there!
ministry
I get tired. It’s true!
I know I’m part of some pretty awesome stuff. I’m partnering with God to write history. But I still get tired. Sometimes I even go beyond tired and get self-centered, petty, and prideful.
How does this happen to me? Well, there’s this really leaky stuff called passion and, when I let it dwindle, I notice that serving becomes less about partnering with Jesus to fulfill a vision and more about, well…me.
Passion is so important in ministry because it fuels us to keep serving, giving, and dreaming. Passionate people seem to have the energy to keep going after others have cooled off towards the calling. Passionate people are also contagious and seem to draw others into the vision naturally. John 2:17 tells us that Jesus was passionate about God’s house and look at the crowds He drew!
So how can we stay passionate? Here are a few things I’ve learned from James 4:8-10:
Stay close to God in prayer. When we move close to God, He moves close to us. Letting our prayer life get cold is like letting the car run out of gas and hoping the whole trip is downhill. You know it’s not that easy, so pray, pray, pray.
Purify your heart. Are you letting things that aren’t so “excellent and praiseworthy (Phil 4:8) into your entertainment diet? Does it seem to take longer to move past offenses these days? It may be time for some spiritual house cleaning. Regular times of self-examination and repentance can be really refreshing as we experience God’s grace and forgiveness.
Humble yourself. Check your gut. Are you really serving in humility or is pride creeping in? Pride is touchy, thinks it knows better, and bristles when given instruction. Pride takes the joy out of serving! It’s not fun for you or anyone serving with you! Humility takes joy in simply serving the King. God lifts us up when we’re humble.
Stay astonished. Boredom, touchiness, and being put out by the commitment it takes to fulfill the mission is a good indication your passion needs a resurrection. Luke 24:32 says, “They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” That’s where I want to live, in a state of passion and astonishment to what God is saying and doing in my life and my surroundings!
So how about you? How’s your passion pulse?
My prayer for you is for passion, astonishment, intimacy, and honesty.
In Jesus’ name. Amen
Leadership
I’m pretty fortunate. Many years ago, when I was working my first full-time church staff position, my pastor made sure to invest lots of leadership training in me. We watched leadership videos together, had lengthy discussions about leadership, and he was willing to send me to any conference that would grow me as a leader. It’s an investment I’m incredibly grateful for and it fostered a desire in me to keep on growing. To this day, there’s almost always a leadership book in my reading queue, I subscribe to several leadership podcasts, and I’ll snatch up one on one time with great leaders whenever I can get it. (Side note: if I know I’m going to have an opportunity to shake a great leader’s hand, but no opportunity to really talk, I’ll ask him/her what the most important book they’ve ever read was. If it helped shape them, it will help shape me too!)
I’ve noticed, over the years, that many leaders share similar qualities: lots of vision, a strong work ethic, the ability to inspire, generosity, passion, and the continuing pursuit of leadership knowledge.
Being in ministry for so many years, I’ve had the honor of investing in many young leaders. It’s such a privilege to speak into their lives and give them opportunities to cut their leadership teeth and watch them grow.
There’s been a lot of rough, ragged, inexperienced, ragamuffin guys and girls that I’ve gotten to work with and I’ve loved working with almost every one of them. They come with lots of different issues: insecurity, lack of discipline, poor communication skills, and more. In fact, I’ve even received criticism a time or two for not having higher standards for those I’m willing to invest in.
Truth be told, there’s really only one thing that will make me hit the brakes and say, “No!” Only one thing that will make me immediately deny leadership roles, influence, promotion, or investment. It’s when the potential leader seems to feel entitled to it. When they feel they deserve that role, it’s a sure sign that they don’t. These position jockeys can be toxic to an organization leaving the leader and themselves frustrated and exhausted. Here’s why:
They won’t receive instruction. Ask them what their growth plan looks like (or even recommend a good book) and they’ll probably tell you about a program they went through a few years ago and how they’ve been too busy to read.
They won’t take direction because they think they know better. You couldn’t possibly provide relevant guidance because of your age and context. After all, they did it a particular way at their old church and it worked so it’s practically sinning to do it any other way.
They contribute very little. There’s an appearance of serving there (especially when opportunities come to be on the platform), but they’re suddenly unavailable when it comes time to do the dirty work. Don’t expect them to contribute financially either.
They love the spotlight. (See above.) They can even be very good from the platform. Their giftedness and talents are often great, but those talents can be a major contribution to their feelings of entitlement. When given the choice, choose humility and teachability over talent every time!
If you’re in a place where you’re bringing up leaders, let me encourage you to have a deliberate process in place to deal with this character trait or keep it from coming into your programs altogether. Have an application process that will identify it.
If you think that you may have a spirit of entitlement (hint: if it seems like church leadership keeps you at arms length when you’re trying to get close so you can help, you probably do) then humble yourself. God opposes the proud but favors the humble (James 4:6). NEVER STOP LEARNING. Repent of your pride and show that you’d be just as happy scrubbing toilets as you would be leading worship or teaching.
I’ve found God to be an incredible contrarian. When we really want it, He asks us to lay it down. When we’re content without it, He gives it to us. Lay it down and let God decide when your ready for service.
life
I came across this quote by Albert Einstein the other day and it really hit me…
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He who can no longer wonder or stand rapt in awe is as good as dead, a snuffed out candle.”
Wow! How much time have I spent “as good as dead”? I spend so much time maintaining my life that I hardly take time to appreciate the mysterious, to get lost in art, or simply be amazed at our awesome God.
What about you? Have you lost your wonder? How can we get it back if we lose it? Please let me know what you think in the comments below.
Christ Following
Criticism is popular in our culture. We have movie critics, food critics, business critics, and even church critics. That’s right, there are “secret shoppers” out there who visit churches for the sake of writing critical reviews.
In the church, we have those who criticize the music. “It’s too loud”, “doesn’t mention Jesus enough”, “the musicians aren’t skilled”, etc.
People who criticize Bible teachers are plentiful. Teachers are complained about for being too positive, too long winded, too boring, and not deep enough, to name a few.
The problem with criticism is that it’s so subjective. A great deal of opinion goes into criticism.
You know the old saying(s), “Opinions are like noses…” or “Opinions are like bellybuttons…” or “Opinions are like wristwatches…” You get the picture. Everybody has one.
The other problem with all this criticism is that it does a horrible job of representing a loving, forgiving Jesus. We become a culture of fault finding, rather than a people of grace. 1st Peter 4:8 tells us that “Love covers a multitude of sins.“ I believe it also covers a multitude of sermons we didn’t care for, praise songs that were botched, and church decisions we didn’t agree with.
I often wonder how the rest of the world views a church that criticizes other churches for the way they worship, preach, decorate, or perform outreach. Or, worse yet, a church that is full of gossip and division. How is that environment supposed to appeal to the lost? That’s like inviting a hurting person to come and be a part of an unhealthy, dysfunctional family! If our church signs were truthful, they’d say, “Come and be miserable with us!”
I’m not saying all criticism is bad. Honest feedback can be a welcome gift, but I have reservations about anyone who makes it their “ministry” to criticize others. There are better platforms to stand on.
If our role as Christians is to point others to Christ, then I suggest we be more like Jesus. Sure he confronted pharisees, but he also healed the sick, freed the demon possessed, fed the hungry, and demonstrated greater love than any other in history. Maybe we should hold off on the criticism until we’ve done some healing, delivering, feeding, and loving.
If we can be more like Jesus, more seekers will be drawn to Him.
We should think about that the next time we feel compelled to criticize.
“You may find hundreds of faultfinders among professed Christians; but all their criticism will not lead one solitary soul to Christ.” ~Dwight L. Moody
