Oct 09

The Gospel-Driven Church

Posted in: Teaching, Church Planting, Harmony Church, Leadership

Yesterday, I headed to Raleigh and Vintage 21 with Pablo for an Acts29 Network luncheon. It was wonderful and uplifting,as usual, and I really learned a lot. I’ll probably total it up in a future post. But for now, I really want to key in on something that Tyler Jones from Vintage21 brought up: the Gospel-driven church. We are increasingly seeing this at Harmony, which is good in that it lets us know that the Gospel is being preached and taught and lived out, but it does indeed increase the “mess.” Here’s a brief diagram that I worked up, and I’ll then explain it after the jump.

  1. The Gospel Is Preached - This is plain and simple, and it’s where the Gospel-driven church begins and ends. It’s the hill we die on. As the good news of Jesus proclaims, a few things happen. We recognize first of all that we are broken. After all, there is no good news without bad news. The good news is this: Jesus has come to save us. The bad news is this: we need saving. We, along with our world, our broken. Sin has invaded our lives, enslaving us to itself, and has taken us captive. There are addictions, lust issues, word issues, heart issues, and relationships to be healed and mended. As the great name of Jesus is made famous, it makes us realize the depth of our depravity more and more. This leads to the next “step” in the cycle.
  2. People Get Messed Up - This is what Tyler mainly talked about. This is when, once people realize the depth of their depravity and pride, they become messed up. They realize that they are sinners in need of a Savior. As this process happens, church gets “messy”. Counseling becomes intensive, discipleship becomes vital, and accountability becomes necessary. Leaders must be raised up in order to encounter, instruct, and encourage messed-up people. Communities form to hold one another accountable, and to further disciple people in order that they may eventually find the answers in Christ that they are looking for.
  3. People Look for Answers - As people become aware of their brokenness, they look for answers to satisfy the soul. They look for mercy, forgiveness, and restoration, all of which are found in Jesus. Through the Church, the manifold wisdom of God is made manifest in that the answers, all residing in Jesus (all of the promises are “Yes and Amen”, are preached. This happens through communities (Harmony’s Echo Groups), preaching and teaching (Sunday morning gathering and smaller teaching events), and accountability (diving deeper with one another as we live on mission together).

The cycle just repeats itself as people who have found Jesus relate the Gospel to people in their social circles, who relate the Good News to people in their social circles, etc. As the cycle goes through it’s many iterations, people are drawn to the Jesus who is lifted up, and therefore to the Church. But here’s the rub:

People find Jesus on different timelines. Some people get “stuck” in the mud of their brokenness instead of finding the refreshing fountain of the cleansing waters of Jesus. Therefore, church gets pretty messy, really quickly.

As leaders, we have to prepare in advance for this mess. We must “Gospel ourselves and others” to the point that it is instinct to rely on Jesus, no matter the brokenness placed in front of us. This is what Dr. Sam spoke about: counseling in the Gospel. Both we as leaders and those who follow our example should know the Gospel backwards and forwards in order that when the church gets messy, there are plenty of shepherd-janitor-servants who point to the Shepherd-Janitor-King, Jesus Christ.

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Sep 25

Headed to Minneapolis

Posted in: Teaching, Leadership

Miranda and I are flying out today at 5:45pm. We’re headed to the Desiring God in Minneapolis. I’m stoked about this conference, for a number of reasons:

  1. It’s not going to be flashy. The past few conferences I’ve been to have been mainly about entertainment instead of the Gospel. I couldn’t stand it. Not naming any names, but if you’re headed to Atlanta in a few days, I’m sorry…. :)
  2. It’s going to be on an issue that hits home. This year’s conference is about words. Using words to glorify Christ. It’s an issue I struggle with (yes, pastors struggle). I make many coarse jokes. I belittle people closest to me. I wrestle with how to provide a clearer picture of Jesus to the people I teach. All of these things are going to be brought up and taught at the conference. If nothing else, it will at least bring the topics to the forefront of my mind.
  3. It’s in Minneapolis. A major city I’ve never been to. I love traveling, especially with my woman. It’s probably our favorite thing to do together. No family, no friends, no enemies, no church stuff, no work. Just she and I. Relaxing and unwinding while taking in different cultures and places.
  4. Miranda gets to fly for the first time. I’m really anxious to do this with her. She and I have been together for a little while now, and there’s been a lot of things that she’s never done that I’ve had the joy of introducing her to. This should be a fun one.
  5. The church goes on without me. Echo Groups, Sunday morning, the whole shebang. This is the first Sunday that there will be multiple Echo Groups and a Sunday am gathering without either Miranda or myself. I’m delighted in the leaders that God is raising up in our church, and the community that is forming. From Proctor and Beamon to hosting the Echo Groups to the Vicks’ leading in my absence, to Justin preaching on Sunday morning, it’s awesome to see the vision spread.

To give you a glimpse of the fun this weekend, here’s a little video from Desiring God on using words to the glory of Christ (beware, rated-R language):

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Aug 12

Proactive Leadership

Posted in: Harmony Church, Leadership

So many times we as leaders, and even as Christians in general, are caught on our heels. In general, and usually disguised as “seeking the Lord”, we wait too much. We are too often on the defensive, instead of taking the Gospel movement to the world, we focus on fixing things within the movement itself. We worry that people won’t handle responsibility…responsibly. We worry that the finances won’t be there when we need them. We worry about if anyone will show up to an event. We are so busy responding to the problems we perceive in the movement, that we neglect the entire purpose of the movement itself: bringing the redemption of Christ to a fallen world.

Practically, this works itself out in leaders who respond to problems, and deal with effects of situations.

My question is this: when are we going to stop worrying about the effects and start worrying about being a cause?

We react too much as leaders. Christ has called us to “go”. Not to wait. He has instructed us to move forward, and not look back. Even though the plowline may be more crooked than Nixon, we are still told not to worry about the past, but to instead look towards the future.

Question for you: what can you/I/we do to be more proactive and to propel the Gospel forward?

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