I hear you're starting a church...

When the thought first crossed my mind that perhaps God had called me to Pastor a church, my first reaction was fear. I was afraid it was just another ego thing. I love to perform, I love being on stage, so here was another way for me to be in the spotlight. I knew that was NOT a good reason to start a church plant. So, I quickly squashed the thought, prayed for forgiveness and greater humility, then went on my merry way. Or so I thought...

The funny thing about God's calling, is that you can't outrun it, outlast it, or ignore it. The other funny thing about it...it's not what I personally would have thought God would have me do. It seemed like a sure fire way to feed my flesh. I decided rather quickly to put out so many fleeces that Gideon would be embarrassed. Fleeces are not God's idea and we all know what happened to Jonah when he ran from God's calling. That's when I began to just open myself to listening to the Lord's leading. When I did that, things began to fall into place. Let me share a few things I think all future church planters need to consider. No, I'm not considered successful by many, but after 5 years in and a church that is growing deeper in faith, I feel that I can give you at least a few pointers.

1. Put yourself under a Mentor. For me it was my Pastor, Mark Martin. By willingly waiting upon the Lord and serving wherever your spiritual authority points you can get you ready for when you will be listening to the Great Shepherd's instructions.
2. Don't borrow sheep. Most of you will probably be church leaders, people that are teaching and preaching with many folks that love you. It's natural to want to then transplant the whole ministry into your new startup. Fight the urge. Do not ask ANYONE to leave. Instead, leave that up to them and perhaps even make it hard for them to leave where they are.
3. Find a Tent-making job that fits. If you are stressing big time at your paying job, how much do you think that will transfer to the spiritual job? Quite a bit of your early ministry will be just simply trying to juggle the Family, Job, Church balls and keep them up in the air. If you can be doing something you enjoy (I worked at Starbucks for a while), you will find it a lot easier.

So there are three tips to start off with. I'll post more as time goes on. One big one is "Don't worry about everyone else". Easy to say, hard to do. I really have a great relationship with many of the other church pastors here in Maricopa. I truly pray for them to make a difference for Jesus. Not that I don't wistfully covet some of the toys the other guys have, but it's quickly put out of my mind with the thought that many people look at our fellowship and covet things they see here. It's just part of the fleshly nature we still fight with.

Prayers are lifted for all of you seeking to begin new fellowships where God has placed you. Be faithful..Be watchful..Be grace filled.

Procrastination

We all fight it. Well, most of us fight it. Some people are just born with "Type A" personalities that strive to get everything done a day early. I can assure you that I'm not one of them. What's really strange is that I can almost step outside myself and look down saying, "Why did you put off all that stuff until the last minute??"

It's a curse. It's the tool of the devil. Call it what you will, it's something that needs to be excised out of my life. What brings me to this posting is the overall sense of "look what's coming" that has been approaching. Being the Pastor of a church is a blessing and a responsibility, and sometimes things aren't going great or bad, they are just...going. That's when the the flesh kicks in and wants to make things happen. I begin to feel the need to start new Bible Studies, renovate the Calvary Kidz ministry, change Service times, and just generally make a ruckus. Instead, I should be waiting on the LORD.

So how does that relate to procrastination. I'm glad you asked, I was getting to that. When I raise a ruckus and operate in the flesh, I begin to create tasks and activities for myself. I share these things with our staff at CCM and then they begin to get the ball rolling. Then the procrastination kicks in!

So, let's recap: Pastor Chris doesn't see anything happening and begins to try and make things happen. Everyone tries to help out, but Pastor Chris' procrastinating stalls things out. Meanwhile Jesus is up in Heaven shaking His head and saying, "You're not going to change until you start listening to me more." Well, that's what I imagine He's saying.

For those of you out there that are procrastinators like myself, perhaps we will find ourselves being more timely if we let God set the timetable. When I do that, I find it's a lot easier to get things done on time. Speaking of time...I need to go finish the dishes before I get too tired and put it of til tomorrow. God bless you this week.

When will God show up?

Have you ever shown up for an appointment only to find out that the other person isn't there or doesn't show up? Many times it's because I messed up the day or the hour, but it can still be frustrating sitting there waiting.

I admit I'm not the most patient person in the world. Just ask my family or the staff at CCM. There are times I wonder if God is going to show up and fix the things that are broken in people's lives. There are times I wonder if I'm on the same page as my Heavenly Father. I especially feel that way when counseling people at church about trials and problems that arise. No one likes going through tough times, fiery trials, or just plain "life". You hear yourself asking a lot of "Whys?".

I love what my Pastor shared recently as part of his daily devotion:

"Yet I am confident I will see the Lord's goodness while I am here in the land of the living. Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord." Psalm 27:13-14

Waiting in this context doesn't mean that you stand around and look at your watch and say, "God, where are You?" Waiting on the Lord means (in Hebrew) to entwine yourself around the Lord like a grapevine winds itself around an arbor, a rose that winds itself around a trellis, or an ivy plant that winds around a pillar. The ivy plant has no strength in itself but from what it hangs onto. The idea here is to entwine yourself around the Lord and gain your strength from Him.

The desperation of the psalmist here is obvious in the New American Standard Bible translation. He says "I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living." He would have just given up unless he knew he would see the goodness of the Lord in all of what he was going through.

"Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary." Isaiah 40:31, NASB -
Pastor Mark Martin - Calvary Community Church

Let us all not grow weary in doing good. Let us not fall down and not get back up. God does show up. He's never late, rarely early, but always right on time.