The Church | Lee Bezotte

One Thing (Part 2)

One Bad Apple

Last week I asked the question “If your church only did one thing really well, what would you want that thing to be?” (You can check out that post here.) There were some great (even passionate) responses.

Today I want to flip that question on its head. If your church did everything great, except for one thing, and missing the mark on that one thing would actually cause you to leave your church, what would that one thing be? Would poor worship make you leave? Lousy hospitality? Rotten preaching?

It must be a pretty big deal to you if everything else is done really well. What is it?

OK go.

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One Thing?

ministry, The Church

I have a quick question for you.

If your church only did one thing really well, what would you want that thing to be?

Even if everything else really stunk, you’d still stay because this one thing was done superbly.

Would it be the worship? How about the speaking/ministry? What if the children’s ministry was off the hook but everything else was a turd? What if everything was lame but they did a fantastic job of making you feel welcome?

What would be that one thing for you? Let me know!

OK go.

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Why Don’t People Go to Church?

ministry, The Church

I was listening to a message recently that listed the top four reasons people give for not going to church. They are as follows:

Services are boring
The people are unfriendly
They just care about money
The questionable safety of their children

I know I’ve felt all four of those things at one time or another, but I still love church.

Do you think those reasons are valid? Can you think of any other reasons why people don’t like to go to church? Feel free to list them in the comments.

But hold on! Not so fast! It’s no good listing faults if you can’t suggest any solutions. What are some realistic things the church can do to remove these excuses? Let’s hear your best ideas!

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An Unpopular Proposal

ministry, The Church

In my last post, I made the observation that great leaders love to learn. They read, attend conferences, and keep growing as a leader.

I was talking with a friend recently. He’s a professional counselor and works hard to be able to give his best to his clients. In fact, he has to prove that he’s investing in his professional skills with something he referred to as CEUs (Continuing Education Units). He explained to me that this is a common requirement in the fields of counseling and medicine.

This makes perfect sense! Think about it. If your doctor graduated from medical school twenty years ago but hasn’t picked up a medical journal or continued to learn new and better methods since then, would you have a whole lot of confidence in him or her? I know I wouldn’t! I want to know that the guy treating me or my children is prepared with information and methods that are more effective than the ones used twenty years ago.

So if it’s so important for people who work with temporary things (our bodies) to keep educating themselves, then why shouldn’t those working with eternal things (our spirits) be required to keep learning? Honestly, I don’t understand how someone can obtain a minister’s license and never even have to pick up a book from that day forward!

So that’s my proposal to credentialing bodies and denominations: make ministers have to prove that they are investing in their growth as a minister and leader. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy or complicated. Submitting a list of books they’ve read each year would be better than the current system. Hold them accountable to grow or lose their license.

I know that proposal might make me unpopular. That’s OK with me. As a credential holder, I’d be held to the same standard. I just feel that the people we minister to are worth it. Don’t you?

Let me know what you think. Should this type of accountability be in place?

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Why I’m Grateful for the Body

Family, The Church

Last week, my six-year-old son got sick. More sick than I’ve ever seen any of my kids. For six days he would get extremely painful headaches and vomit everything he ate. I’m sure you could imagine how awful it is to watch the most energetic, fun, happy little boy become tired, dehydrated, and unable to play because of the pain he was in.

Our family physician was out of town so we took him to another doctor in the same office. She was absolutely no help what-so-ever. She ignored my wife’s concerns about the headaches and vomiting, made a crack about the fact that we home school, wrote him a prescription for an antibiotic, and sent him home without so much as a blood test.

The next day, he got so bad that we decided to take him to the emergency room. He was in extreme pain, was lethargic, and hadn’t been able to hold down any food or liquid. There he received great care from the hospital staff. They were very concerned about his condition and the looks on their faces made me realize this was more than simply an ear infection or the flu. They did a spinal tap to rule out meningitis and a CT scan to check for abnormalities in his brain. It was so difficult to see my little guy laying there with an IV, barely conscious from the powerful pain medication. We were scared!

So what does all of this have to do with the Body of Christ? They prayed. Our good friends at the Quad Cities Prayer Center sprang into action by notifying their network of hundreds of prayer warriors. Our small group leader came to the hospital to bring some balloons for Hudson. Our good friends watched our other two boys so that my wife and I could stay by our youngest’s side until he could go home. Friends called, texted, and Facebook messaged us to get updates and let us know they were praying.

It didn’t stop with people we know though. Great people from my Twitter community made it a point to re-tweet my situation to get more people interceding. They left me messages to let me know they were praying. These are people I’ve never met face to face, but care enough to take my cares to Jesus. AMAZING! I’m totally honored to belong to a Body like that, and extremely grateful for all of their prayers.

It doesn’t end with my son’s illness either. God has used His people to be there for us in so many ways and on so many occasions. Seven months ago, our ministry took an unexpected turn and, rather than running for security, we decided to take a step of faith and launch something new. Time after time He has used his people to bless us when we didn’t know how we’d make it another week. Even the computer I’m writing this post with was a blessing from a brother in Jesus.

It makes me think about the picture on this post. Life is such a challenge sometimes. We never know when we’re going to hit rapids, rocks, or other dangers as we navigate through it. It’s such a comfort to know that there are others in the boat with you and, as we paddle together, we can look out for each other, work together, and lend each other strength when we need it. What a great picture of the Body of Christ! (Romans 12:4-8)

As for my son, he’s home now and feeling much better. He has kept everything down for the last two days and the headaches are becoming less frequent and less severe. A little while ago I saw him dragging large sheets of cardboard up from the basement. He said he wants to turn his bedroom door into a drawbridge. I love that kid!

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A Gated Community Known as Church

Core Values, ministry, The Church

Next month I’m putting on a free workshop for pastors and ministry leaders on how to use social networking in ministry. I believe that Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, blogs, etc. can be great free resources for churches wanting to strengthen community and communications. I’m so excited about this workshop that I even spent a few bucks on print materials that I can hand out to pastors when I invite them.

Last Monday I decided to drive around town and personally invite pastors to the event. You know, hand them a flier, shake their hand, meet some of our community’s spiritual leaders. It sounded like fun and my son, Hudson, decided to get dressed up and go with me. It was going to be a great father and son time and we were both looking forward to it. However, the afternoon ended up quite a disappointment.

I have to admit how surprised I was by how nay churches were totally inaccessible. Some were empty and lifeless. Empty parking lots, lights off, nobody home. Even worse, some had cars and lights but all the doors were locked! No bell and no answer to knocks on the door. As bad as that was, there was a far worse scenario.

We walked up to one large church in a fine part of town. Hudson had his shoulder bag of invitations and I was looking forward to meeting this pastor because I had driven past his church so many times. The first door was unlocked, great! The second door, however, was locked. I had to push a button to get someone’s attention. One of the office staff peered out at us through bullet-proof glass and asked why we were there. I told her we wanted to invite their pastor to a free workshop. She buzzed us in and we stepped into an area where there was another window and more bullet-proof glass. There was an office area and multiple staff were working diligently behind the safety of the glass.

I honestly can’t remember the last time I felt that uncomfortable. They looked at us like we had lobsters coming out of our ears! It was obvious that unfamiliar faces weren’t welcome there outside the context of church services. The woman opened a small part of the window so I could slide her an invitation, then immediately closed it back up again. She had no interest in what I had to say and couldn’t even spare a smile for Hudson. If they treated us that way, I don’t even want to think about how a homeless person or a refugee would be treated.

The hardest part of our outing? When my six-year-old son asked me why no pastors would talk to us. When he asked why the ladies weren’t very nice, and why all the doors were locked. Even a child knows that a church should be a warm place. It should be a place where people are welcomed and accepted. It should be that way every day, not just Sunday! And now I found myself in the position of explaining that the church really is good and does mean well. Not an easy task when I had the same taste in my mouth that he did.

Unfortunately, many churches have become more like gated communities than churches. Security is in place to keep out the undesirables, the needy, the solicitors, and the just plain unfamiliar. Suspicious of unknown faces, they’re treated with a cold reception and a short response. Heaven forbid someone should come in and interrupt the pastor’s sermon preparation or keep the secretary from getting the bulletin together. Am I wrong to believe that the church is about people everyday (not just Sunday)?

Defined core values have been a big part of church leadership these days. Often times, they’re posted on web sites and printed in bulletins. Statements like “Prayer, Evangelism, God’s Word, and Worship are our core values” are made. I’ve got a suggestion because I’ve yet to see this as a posted core value. How about “People”? How about “People are important to us because they bare the image of God, because they are dearly loved by God, and because Jesus didn’t die for a building, a sermon, a program, or a ministry. He died for people. Not just people who attend our church or share our beliefs, but all people. Because “People” is one of Jesus’ core values, then “People” will be one of our core values too. Even on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

I know it feels like a risk, but let’s get rid of the gated community mentality and be the church every day. Open the doors. Welcome the stranger. See love spread.