Fishing In An Aquarium

Reading Romans 15 today, Paul's words jumped out at me.  In verse 20 he stated "My ambition has always been to preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard, rather than where a church has already been started by someone else". 

Reading this, I was reminded of a conversation recently with church planter, Al Parker about building a church by reaching those who are unchurched and don't know Christ instead of trying to attract those who are already churched to come our church.  

Al laughed recalling what a mentor pastor of his called "fishing in an aquarium". He claimed this was what most pastors do to build their church.  They fish for fish that have already been caught!  What a great analogy.  As I thought more about the metaphor and how it related to the way most churches seek to grow, I took the analogy a little further to explain why we find ourselves fishing in aquariums instead of oceans, rivers and lakes.    

• Fishing in an aquarium is a lot quicker and easier than out in the ocean or river.     
• You don't have to know a whole lot about the different kinds of fish you may encounter or the specific bait you'll need to use.  Just drop in a line or better yet you can just get a little net and reach in and pull them out.  Aquarium fish are usually pretty docile.
• You can stay in your own controlled environment. No need to travel outside of your local area or comfort zone.  
• It's also much safer.  You definitely know what you are fishing for in an aquarium. Out there in the ocean you might catch something that bites or can attack you. Think of all the things that can happen when you are out in a boat on the high seas or in a river!    
• You can easily lose the fish and be really disappointed when it breaks your line or eats your bait.  

On the other hand think about this.  You really have to spend a lot of time maintaining those aquarium fish.  They need to be feed and pampered, their fish bowl cleaned often.  So we spend more of our time maintaining instead of discipling.  


I better stop there. I don't think that Jesus had fishing in an aquarium in mind when he called his followers to be fishers of men. Thank God that Paul followed the Holy Spirit's direction and went to those who never had heard about Jesus.  Is it the church's job to fish in the open waterways or just transfer fish from one aquarium to another?  How do we help our members become fishers of those who do not know Christ?

Creating Margin in your Life

My wife called to tell me she had been in a wreck earlier in the day.  She first told me she was all right but said the car's front end wasn't so lucky.  It happened while she was driving out of our neighborhood going to work at 6:30 in the morning!  As she followed a flatbed truck, the truck driver suddenly slammed on his brakes to avoid a deer that had jumped out in front of him and my wife just couldn't stop in time and the car crashed into the back of the trailer.  The truck driver apologized profusely but it was't his fault.  It was my wife's fault because she was following too closely to the truck, not giving herself enough margin for a sudden stop or unexpected event.

I think most of us are guilty of following too close at times, and perhaps you are fortunate enough not to have an unexpected event that caused you to crash.  Yet I venture to say that even if we are careful drivers, we have margin issues in other areas of our lives.  It's the American way.  Our culture encourages us to live in all areas of life as if we have no limits. So we fill up our schedules and empty our bank accounts. We do as much as we can, spend as much as we can, and acquire as much as we can—all in an effort to get as much as we can out of life. It's as if the apple is handed over to us without a rulebook telling us which fruit we can and cannot eat.  Just eat anything and everything you want.  But the consequences like in the garden are often devastating.  

Two areas of our lives which face increasing demands by our culture to push the limits of what is healthy are the areas of finance and relationships.  Most Americans have little to no margin when it comes to money.  We live from paycheck to paycheck and a good percentage of Americans are in deep financial debt. The average credit card debt per cardholder is $5,100, and expected to increase to $6,500 by the end of the year.  1 in 10 consumers has more than 10 credit cards.  1 in 50 households carry more than $20,000 in credit card debt. That amounts to more than 2 million households.

And the same can be said about our relationships also.  With the internet opening up the world of porn to children and adults alike, with little to no restraints or boundaries, there is a real sexual health crisis for adults and teenagers.  One professional counselor told me that he is seeing more and more young males who have E.D. caused by over stimulation from porn and sexual activity.   This is only the tip of the iceberg of the emotional and physical problems caused by a failure to put any kind of governor on sexual activities.  

The alternative is to create boundaries and healthy margins in all areas of life so that we can live productive lives and be prepared to handle the curves that life can throw us.  It is a simple concept straight from the Bible, as simple as keeping a safe distance from the car in front of you.  Yet, so many of us violate these basic principles and find ourselves in a heap of trouble whether it be with our finances, time management, health or relationships.

A great resource on creating margins is Andy Stanley's series for small groups called Taking it To The Limit.  In this study Stanley shows us how to create margin so that we can live healthy lives and be more prepared to handle the curves that life can throw us.  He explains that the secret to getting more out of life is not doing more, but doing less. 

Questions to consider:

Do you have an emergency fund of at least a year's salary?

Do you get at least seven hours of sleep each night?

Do you find yourself always late to appointments?  Do you create enough margin so that you'll be on time even if there are unexpected delays?

Do you have an emergency fund of at least a year's salary?

Do you get at least seven hours of sleep each night?

Do you find yourself always late to appointments?  Do you create enough margin so that you'll be on time even if there are unexpected delays?

MVP apps

I love it when I am introduced to a new app that is functional, especially ones that I can use often. So, I thought I'd share my most valuable apps. I'm probably way behind therefore I'd love to know what your most valuable apps are and be introduced to some new ones that could add value to my life.

Evernote 

My word processing app for writing, taking notes and organizing. I can sync it to my iPhone, iPad and laptop.  It has so many features, which I'm just now learning how best to use.  Its uses are so extensive, and there is an e-book available about the many applications for Evernote.

You Version Bible

There are many Bible apps but the one I find most useful is the You Version. It has multi translations available on and off line, with the choice of parallel versions on your screen.  There are also options for taking notes, audio and commentaries. For more Bible study, I use the BibleStudytools.com app. 

Pandora

The best music app I recently discovered when I bought a home speaker and iPhone charger combo.  I never used it much away from home.  So now while I charge my phone, I use Pandora to access and play the music of my choice. Whatever mood I want to create, I just type in the artist, song or style of music and I enjoy the songs I choose or ones similar as long as I need.  It's great for creating the atmosphere for writing or praying. 

Flipboard

A great app for reading magazines, newspapers, blogs and Facebook. Better on my iPad than iPhone but the iPhone app makes reading web based material easier.  Other similar apps include Zite and Pulse news. 

Words With Friends

I don't play video or many other games, but I love this Scrabble alternative. I keep in touch with a lot of friends and actually communicate thru this word game. Challenge me to a game. 

Camera Plus

Someone recommended this camera app and I love to use it to take pictures. You can edit your photos quickly and powerfully after taking them.  I found that you often don't need to use a flash when taking the picture but have the option of adding the flash after the picture is taken. People often comment about my photos, how colorful and clear they are. All because of Camera+.

Web Albums

I use this for storing, organizing and accessing my photos. This syncs with my Picasa website where I store all my photos on line.  So I can sort them and view them on all my devices.

Find iPhone 

This is the least used but perhaps most valuable app.  I've had to use it three times.  Not long after I'd gotten the app, I dropped my iPhone at night when getting out of the car.  I didn't realize I had lost it until I went to dinner that night.  I had my iPad and used my find iPhone app which led me back to the parking lot.  There it was lying on the parking lot next to where I'd parked!  

The Art of Kingdom Building

Barbara and I had the great fortune recently of traveling for two weeks through Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany, visiting some very old and beautiful towns and cities.  One of the highlights was touring several royal residences from the 17th and 18th centuries.  

One of the things that struck me as we walked through these incredible palaces was how much time, effort, money and lives these rulers spent building themselves up and creating this supreme image.  It seems their ascention was only limited by their ability to create the illusion of greatness.  Most everything about these palaces from the lavish gardens to the extravagant, grandiose entry halls and waiting rooms, was to show the guest king just how important and powerful the ruler was.  Their incredible castles were the ultimate symbol of their image and as we traveled from country to country I got the feeling there was tremendous competition to keep up with the neighboring emperor.

As I returned to San Antonio, I began to ask myself if there was a bit of image building in my life also.  I certaninly don't place much importance in money and power.  But I asked myself, am I trying to build God's kingdom or my own?  Is there some inner desire to shape an image that comes from my flesh and not from an identity based on God's imprint?  Have I bought into the world's idea that I can create my own image apart from God?  It's a good practice to give yourself a good motivation check every so often.

In this world that demands that we reshape our image out of a need for affirmation, love and acceptance, pastors can easily fall into the trap of building kingdoms to their own selves and calling them monuments to God.  I knew a pastor that actually made it known that his goal was to have a larger church than the biggest church in town! He made no bones about what motivated him.  Yet there are probably hundreds of pastors who would never admit it, but are driven by similar demons of pride and the need to be significant.   

Have you examined your motivation lately?  Am I building God's kingdom or my own?  What in my ministry is of the flesh and what is of God?  Is there a way to tell the difference?  What is the biggest trap that church planters fall prey to?  

Religious Games

I came across these verses the other day and they hit me like a punch to the gut, paraphrased in The Message;

Isaiah 1:13 13-17"Quit your worship charades. I can't stand your trivial religious games: Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings— meetings, meetings, meetings—I can't stand one more! Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them! You've worn me out! I'm sick of your religion, religion, religion, while you go right on sinning. When you put on your next prayer-performance, I'll be looking the other way. No matter how long or loud or often you pray, I'll not be listening. And do you know why? Because you've been tearing people to pieces, and your hands are bloody. Go home and wash up. Clean up your act. Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings so I don't have to look at them any longer. Say no to wrong. Learn to do good. Work for justice. Help the down-and-out. Stand up for the homeless. Go to bat for the defenseless. 

Amos 5:21-24"I can't stand your religious meetings. I'm fed up with your conferences and conventions. I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I'm sick of your fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making. I've had all I can take of your noisy ego-music. When was the last time you sang to me? Do you know what I want? I want justice—oceans of it. I want fairness—rivers of it. That's what I want. That's all I want.

Through this modern translation of the Old testament passage, Isaiah's message could easily have been to the church today. When we take a look at where the church in general is today, many would agree that there is one issue that has thrown most of the church off track and Isaiah and Amos both proclaim it; that is a move away from an external focus to an inward focus.  

You can look back on the development of the church In North America the last century and understand how the church drifted away from an outward missions focus to more of a self serving model. Of every dollar given to a U.S. Protestant church, the average amount going to overseas missions is 2 cents.  In 1920 the church gave 10% of the total offering to missions, compared to only 2% today. 

With the settling of new territories and development of cities and new frontiers in the US, the church in 1920's was in an outreach mode. Ralph Winters used the term sodality, the evangelistic arm of the church, going outside of the church to make new converts. The inreach arm of the church he termed "modality".  Modality is like the lake with streams and tributaries running into it, sodality is the river streaming away from the lake. Early in the deveopment of our country the church was focused on sodality, evangelism, missions and reaching the lost.

But after WW II, the US had adopted a Christian culture and a good percentage of the population considered themselves Christians. The clergy was most concerned with attracting believers to attend their church.  So churches started in growth areas and marketed themselves to this hugh mass of potential members. As the church began to take on more and more of the characteristics of the culture, it became more and more competitive and turned more and more inward.  To attract the potential members, churches needed to "do church" better than their competitor down the street. This meant having dynamic preachers, a good music program with a big choir and solid soloists, lots of programs, safe and exciting children and youth ministries and of course comfortable and nice facilities. One had to keep up with the church around the corner.  Schools and seminaries focused on producing the type of pastors and ministry leaders that would produce "successful, growing" churches. Conferences on church growth and church excellence sprang up all over.

In the rush to attract 'believers', the church lost it's mission, "to go and make disciples".  They certainly wanted to disciple believers, but reaching the lost, bringing them to Christ and then discipling these new believers was not the main focus.  As a matter of fact, to do that took so much time and effort that it was not 'profitable' for the church to spend its time on the lost.  Time was better spent on reaching believers who already possessed a church background who would understand tithing and be plugged into the ministry of operating any one of the many programs that were designed to minister to believers and their families. 

There were some who realized the need to reach out, to send missionaries who became frustrated with the church's reluctance.  These men and women of the faith started para-church ministries and mission organizations to fill in the gap. Even these are frowned upon by many pastors as taking away resources from churches.  The question is, are we guilty of playing "religious games"?  If you could give a grade to the churches today on how well they made new disciples, what would it be?

The good news is that as the "Christian culture" in the U. S. shrinks along with the number of people who claim to be Christians, there is a greater realization from clergy and church leaders of the need to focus on reaching the non-believers.  It's still a battle to convince pastors to change.  But thankfully there is a movement back to the Sodality mode for churches led by Verge, Catalyst, Exponential and educational forums like Perspectives.  After all isn't that God's mandate to us, "to go and make disciples"?

Dread or Excitement? What do your church newcomers feel?

Not being on a church staff anymore, I now have opportunity to visit other churches and I enjoy checking out our church plants from time to time.  But it also brings back memories of a time when visiting churches was a very unpleasant experience.  

My family moved from Texas to California when I was in middle school and for two years we visited a new church almost every week.  My parents just could not find a church in Califorinia that they liked.  So each Sunday we'd walk into a new setting and either attend the worship service or sometimes both Sunday School and worship.  As a teenager, I had to "visit" the youth Sunday School class.  I was always the outsider in the class and I never remember a time feeling welcomed.  During this time of searching for a church, I don't remember any teenager asking me to sit with them in church, so I'd end up with my parents in the worship service wishing I was part of the youth group sitting together on the other side of the church.

Those experiences gave me a great appreciation and empathy for those who are new to the church. Having been on church staff for 30 years, its easy to forget how stressful it can be to walk into a new place for the first time. Experiencing the stress of visiting a church for the first time has reminded me of the importance that first impressions can have on whether an individual or family decides to make a church their home.  I've experienced everything from a church who spotlights the visitors by making them standup and introduce themselves to churches that never even acknowledge that you were there.   

My best experience of being welcomed into a new place was the time I visited the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream factory in Vermont on a vacation a few years ago.  I recall not being that excited about taking a tour of an ice creme factory but by the time we parked I was pumped up with anticipation.  Ben and Jerry's changed my attitude.  The minute we drove onto the parking lot, the folks at Ben and Jerry's created a sense of excitement and anticipation that something good was awaiting us, laughing, joking and directing our way. I remember thinking at the time, how great it would be if churches could create the same atmosphere. 

Most churches that handle newcomers well have a "guest services" team whose job it is to make sure the newcomer feels welcome and has an opportunity to become connected to the church.  I would call this ministry team "Guest Connections" and it would be one of the most important ministry teams in the church.  For more about making guests feel welcome and connected read this great article on Guest services http://www.worshipfacilities.com/go.php/editorial/17366

It's important for pastors and leaders of the church to get away occasionally and visit other churches to put themselves in that position of being a newcomer in a church.  It is also wise to have independent "auditors" to visit your church and give some feedback as to how well your church handles newcomers.  Evaluate how you handle newcomers, accept constructive criticism and be willing to make the necessary changes. Here are some questions to ask:

Does the atmosphere at your church create a sense of dread or excitement for visitors?

Do you have a team of trained volunteers that specialize in handling newcomers?

Do guests feel welcome and valued?

Is there a follow up procedure?

Does each guest walk away with a general knowledge of the church's vision, purpose and values?

Is there a pathway for a new person to connect to the church?

Why miracles on the mission field and not at home?

I've had the privilege of leading hundreds of ordinary people on short term mission trips and I've had the opportunity to experience God in incredible ways and see Him work through these common folk to do extra-ordinary things, most of which I would consider miracles of God.  Some people would dismiss them as coincidences but as you read these stories you'll see some amazing experiences and phenomenon that are hard to explain by calling them coincidences.  They are all unique, as God moves in many different and sometimes supernatural ways using common people to accomplish uncommon results.

As I chronicle these miracles of God which I have witnessed on the mission field, I wonder why these have all occurred while on mission and not at home.  Read about the miracles at http://missionfieldmiracles.blogspot.com/

Unfortunately, I've not experienced the same miraculous moments here in the every day life even though I spend a majority of my time in ministry.  Why is that?  Am I not obedient, not following God as close while at home?  Is it about location?  Is God not as involved in our every day life here as He is overseas?  Why do I experience Him in such incredible ways and with so much power on the mission field?

There maybe various reasons but I've come to the conclusion that the main reason is, it takes a total dependence upon God to really experience His power.  Here at home in my daily routine, I am going about MY business, taking care of MY needs and responsibilities.  There is not a lot of dependence upon God because I have spent years building a foundation of security and safety so that I control the circumstances of life as much as possible.  Therefore, there is little need to rely upon God until I lose a semblance of control because of health or circumstances.  

On the mission field we are more likely to have that dependence because we have left our secure life behind and stepped into an unknown world and different culture.  And when we arrive, our purpose is Gospel centered, pretty much 24/7.  There is fear, uncertainty, insecurity and a real sense of a lack of control of the life around you. Therefore, when God intervenes and works through you to accomplish His purposes, whether miraculous or not, there is a very profound experience of the power of God and intimacy with Christ.  

Well, why don't we experience this while doing ministry at home?  A fellow pastor gave a me  simple answer, "because we don't operate in freedom".  He explained to me that so much of our ministry here at home is self-centered, operated out of our flesh instead of from a pure motive, that we can't experience Christ in it.  The barrier is that I am motivated to accomplish my goals through ministry to satisfy my needs for security, accomplishment, or validation.

  

Jesus said it simply, "whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, pick up their cross and follow me.  Only when I have a sincere dependence upon him do I experience the wonders of God.  Miracles can happen when we get out of our self supporting, routine and rely totally upon God.  I admire so much those serving full time on the mission field and the everyday experience of depending solely on God.  I realize that just being in a foreign place does not equal dependance upon God.  But it's my experience that there is a greater opportunity for a dependence upon God when out of your comfort zone, serving Him whether here or overseas.    

I also realize that the miracles of God that we often take for granted are the lives that are radically changed by God's grace.  We often get to see first hand, lives being changed before our very eyes and yet many times we don't get to see the fruit of our work.  Some of these stories reflect those personal changes but there are so many more that are untold, stories that are still being written in the lives of those we have encountered.

I also want to say that short term missions is the most powerful and quickest way to bring about spiritual growth in Christians.  You can accomplish in a week or two what may take years to learn from a Bible study.  So, not only have I seen life change from those we minister to, I've also seen incredible life change and spiritual growth from those who have gone on these mission trips, growth that leads to full-time missionaries and ministers. So many Christians miss out on the opportunity to impact others and be impacted by God, because many churches do not place a high value on actually sending their members.  They may give to missions but fail to actually send.  If you want to light a fire under your members for Christ, send them on a short term mission trip.  Perhaps, after you have read the experiences, you too will want to go, serve, and share.  http://missionfieldmiracles.blogspot.com/