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Every year, before all the madness begins with the start of the new year’s ministry, all the leaders of our LIFE Groups (small group ministry) and the leaders of our various ministry teams, come together to pray and prepare. I always look forward to this time because I love spending time with leaders, especially the new ones. The leaders are always the pacesetters for the church. In the words of the leadership guru, John Maxwell, “everything rises and falls with leadership.”

Therefore, when we have strong leaders, then we will have a strong church. The more equipped the leaders are, the more they will be able to equip others to do the ministry. The more that they are growing in their relationship with God, the more they will be able to help others to grow spiritually.

This is why the investment in the church’s leadership is crucial.

We are at an important juncture in our church. With all the transitions that have occurred recently and with all the new things that God is placing in our church, there is a great need to come together as the leadership of our church to pray and seek God’s face.

We are going to go back to some of the basics of leadership. We’re asking God to transform us in greater ways so that we can become the instruments to bring transformation to others. The anticipation is growing. We are waiting to see where God will take us this year and into the year 2020. The best is yet to come.

Please keep our leadership summit in your prayers for the next couple of days.

 

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It is hard to believe that God has given me the privilege of serving HMCC for the last 14 years. With all its ups and downs, my heart is filled with gratitude and joy as I think about the many transformations that I have been able to witness because of the power of the Gospel.

After going through seasons of tremendous church growth, I began to experience something that changed the way I view the importance of my spiritual health. Christina started to notice that during April I went through a spiritual funk that lasted for weeks. At first, we really couldn’t pinpoint the cause, but it became more evident that I was just exhausted from a whole year’s worth of intense ministry. After going 100 mph, I just ran into a wall. But I was always able to push through because during the summer, I had to prepare for the various missions trips, which I had to lead.

Everything came to a crash when August rolled around and things started to slow down. It was at this point that I felt a great hunger and a need to get away to just retreat, reflect and refresh before the start of the new school year. After talking to some people, our church was gracious enough to allow me get away to take a personal retreat. Since then, I have been trying to take a personal retreat every year to prepare for the new year of ministry.

Now, with the summer time slowly coming to a close, it is that time of the year again. As I have been trying to transition back to the swing of things after one year in Indonesia, I am feeling the need to retreat and spend some concentrated time with the Lord.

I am praying that as I take a few days to reflect and refresh that God would prepare me for what is ahead. This year will be a very important year for us as a church. Therefore, as I retreat away, I am expecting God to speak. When I get back, I can’t wait to share the revelations and insights with the rest of the HMCC churches. Please keep me in your prayers.

 

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It was interesting to read what Barna Group recently discovered regarding teenagers (ages 13-17) and evangelism. Not only is the “spirituality” of teenagers slowly waning, but they are less likely to share Christ in their conversations. You can read the whole article here.

In Barna’s survey, they specifically asked the teenager, “During the past 12 months, did you explain your religious beliefs to someone else who had different beliefs, in the hope that they might accept Jesus Christ as their savior?” Guess what? Compared to about a decade ago, the percentage dropped considerably (from 63% in 1997 to 45% in 2009).

David Kinnaman, the president of Barna Group said, “Christian teenagers are taking cues from a culture that has made it unpopular to make bold assertions about faith or be too aggressively evangelistic. Some of the Barna Group’s other research shows that the vast majority of these students agree with the statement it is ‘cool to be a Christian.’ Yet fewer young Christians apparently believe it is worthwhile to talk about their faith in Jesus with others.”

Can something be that “cool” but yet, something not worthwhile to share with others, especially to those who are important to you?

This is a problem in the American Church today.

We have made following Christ a “cool” thing through all the culturally-relevant youth programs, but we have failed miserably in “making disciples.”

How can anyone not talk about someone that is so important to you?

Sometimes the problem is started from the front-end. We have been content with just presenting the Gospel and then have the person say a simple “sinner’s prayer.” It is easy to think that our job is done after the person says, “Amen.” To our demise, we make our goal to see how many converts we can get. Nowhere in Scripture does Jesus command us to “make converts” but rather to “make disciples” (Mt 28:19).

Disciple making is hard work. In fact, it requires a lot of time, energy, effort and prayer.

I will never forget one of the discipleship sessions I had with Dr. Robert E. Coleman. As he was talking about the importance of evangelism and discipleship, he said, “We have not done evangelism, until the person who has come to Christ is able to bring someone else into a relationship with Christ.” At first, I really didn’t know what he was trying to get at, but after giving it some thought, I realized that he was emphasizing the importance of discipleship. A person will not be able to bring someone else into a relationship with Christ if they are not discipled to share their faith.

If we are serious about seeing a cultural shift in our generation, then we have to put a lot of attention on making disciples. No more lukewarm Christianity. No more easy Christianity. We need to raise the bar and challenge Christ-followers to share their faith.

A person who has genuinely experienced Christ in a powerful way would want to share the greatest discovery with everyone. No apologies. No excuses. No hesitation. There is just no way around it.

 

 
 
 
On May 21st, 2008, Steven Curtis Chapman’s five-year-old daughter, Maria Sue Chapman, was killed in an accident. The hardest thing about this accident was that Maria was accidentally killed by her older brother, as he was driving into the driveway of their home.

I can’t even imagine the devastation and the pain that the whole family must have gone through. Not only were they grieving over the loss of their daughter, but they had to comfort their oldest son of the guilt and remorse.

After the accident, it left Steven Curtis Chapman asking a lot of questions. Sometimes those “why” questions can really haunt us. But by God’s grace, he was able to trust in God’s Sovereignty, even though at times it does not make any sense. It reinforced the importance of having faith and hope in his life.

Out of this tragedy, Chapman wrote a song that was deeply personal and powerful. It just reminded me of how God is in the business of redemption and turning things around. I really don’t know how the world can live without this kind of perspective due to all the pain and suffering in this world. If this is the “opiate of the masses” then please give me some more because I rather die with hope rather than in despair.
 
 

 
 
Here is a news report of the memorial service.

 

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As a pastor, I have done my fair share of performing wedding ceremonies for couples. I have also attended many weddings just as a guest. In many ways, weddings are pretty similar and standard. Lighting of candles by mothers, the processional, cute kids, the bride, songs, prayer, message, vows, rings, prayer, unity candle (as the special praise is playing), giving roses to parents, pronouncement, benediction, announcement, and the recessional.

Of course the order might be slightly different from one wedding to the next, but in general most of these elements are there.

So the question is: What gives one wedding a different “feel” compared to another?

In light of several weddings that I performed more recently, I began to think about this a little bit more. Let me start off by giving some HUGE disclaimers. The things that I am about to write about do not discredit any of the weddings that some of the readers of my blog might have had in the past. Also, I am not putting down any weddings in the past, whether performed by me or someone else. Hmm… let’s see… are there any other disclaimers?

Bottom line is that I am just making my personal observations from the perspective of a pastor who has performed weddings.

I think, from a pastor’s perspective who is performing the wedding, there is a different feel when these things are evident:

 

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As soon as we arrived to Ann Arbor, my family and I realized that there was a lot of road construction going on in this city. When the boys and I went out on an errand, one of them asked about the increase in construction on the streets.

This was one of those great teaching moments that I did not want to miss.

I started out with a series of questions:

We concluded that bumpy roads stink and are bad for cars. We also concluded that it is frustrating to go through construction because everything gets delayed. But the ultimate conclusion was that construction, while it is frustrating for the moment, has a lot of great benefits at the end.

I really didn’t have to make the connection about the road construction and the change that God puts us through in life. They made the connection pretty quickly as we had to wait for the traffic to move.

As I mentioned in my sermon two weeks ago, “pain always precedes change.” Without some pain, discomfort, stretching, and frustration, we will not experience the change that God wants to bring into our lives.

So next time when there is construction in your city, remember that the construction in our lives will pay off. You will definitely notice the difference and so will other people!

 

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There was a USA Today article the other day that caught my attention. It described how so many NFL (National Football League) players go bankrupt after their career is over. The sobering statistic was that the average football player’s career last only 3.5 years.

This means that after 3 years there are a lot of players who will have to find something else to do to earn a living. But the problem is that the players are not educated and equipped to manage their finances as they enter their rookie year. Therefore, with the allure of fame and fortune, many players end up having financial problems and some even go bankrupt when their careers are over.

Keyshawn Johnson, who was a former number one draft pick and now works as an ESPN analyst sees the trend and coined the NFL as “Not For Long.” He said, “After Uncle Sam comes first, your agent is going to get his cut. Then there’s your wife, girlfriend or baby’s mama. You’re going to hook up your family and homeboys, and get yourself some nice things, like jewelry or some sweet tire rims. By the time you’ve done all of that, you’d be lucky to have $320,000 left.”

We cannot forget that the rookie minimum salary in the NFL is $325,000 USD, which about 7x the average starting salary for a college graduate. It is sad to hear that it is estimated 78% of NFL players will become bankrupt, divorced or unemployed within two years of retirement.

As I was reading this article, I couldn’t help to see some of the similarities with college students who graduate and start their single adult years, as a working professional. As they get their first paycheck, they are amazed at the new financial power. Many end up getting a new car, new wardrobe, new entertainment system, new electronic gadgets, and even possibly put a down payment on a condo.

The sad fact is that many college graduates have not been trained in the area of stewardship. Therefore, after several years out of college, many single adults are in debt. This then puts them in a downward spiral, which affects their ability to steward God’s resources wisely for God’s glory.

This is when the Church really needs to step up and provide various tools so that the college graduate can be equipped to better steward God’s resources. Here are several things that came to my mind:

I will never forget the time when in the early years of our church, I challenged the graduating seniors that once they get a job to tithe their first paycheck to the Lord. The reasons I gave were twofold: 1) It will remind you that it was God who provided you with the job, therefore learn how to be thankful by giving; 2) It will help you to hold things loosely because just as God gave you the job, He can take it away at any moment.

Whether it was a lack of faith or my lack of confidence in people’s obedience, I was flabbergasted when I found out that there were several people who took up the challenge and wrote a check to the church after receiving their first paycheck.

We would love to see more people raised up in our church who are magnanimous and missions-minded so that they can leverage their resources for the building of God’s Kingdom. Oh what God can do with a church like that in our generation!

 

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We have all heard the adage that states, “We need an attitude of gratitude.” I am realizing that having a grateful heart does not come easily. Simply, it is not natural. In fact, it is something that has to be trained in a person. No one is born with a grateful heart. We are depraved human beings, therefore we would rather be complainers and selfish, than live with thankfulness.

Over the years, I have observed that people who have this “attitude of gratitude” display certain traits that are consistent in their character:

 
 
So if an “attitude of gratitude” is something that has to be trained in a person, how does a person go about obtaining it? Well, here are some things that I am trying to work on because everything inside of me wants to complain, argue and be selfish:

 
 
I am trying to commit to this discipline of gratitude and hoping that I will become a better person because of it.
 
 

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues but the parent of all others.”

[Marcus Tulius Cicero]

 

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In John Maxwell’s book, The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader, he writes, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” This principle is seen in every major area of life. If a family is struggling, then there is some connection with the husband not taking responsibility of leading his family. If a sports team is not doing well, then we have to look at the coach’s ability to lead.

More recently, we have seen this principle play out in the whole fiasco with BP and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. BP just recently asked Tony Hayward to step down as the CEO and Robert Dudley will take over as the new CEO effective October 1st.

In order to cut Tony Hayward some slack, we will have to concede that there were a lot of factors involved in this oil spill debacle that went beyond just his leadership. Also, we have to look at the overall “system” or “structures” that produce people like Hayward.

But once again, the principle of “everything rises and falls on leadership” applies in this situation with Hayward.

After the oil spill, Hayward made some comments that questioned his ability to lead (at least from a PR and perception perspective). In light of these comments, there are several leadership principles that Hayward failed to uphold:

 

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Recently in my prayer time, God put a phrase in my heart – “Let God do the saving, while you do the serving.” I am constantly reminded of the paradox of God’s Sovereignty and human responsibility. We cannot have one without the other. If we only have one, then it would be like rowing a boat with only one oar – we would go in circles.

Too often we falter in two areas. Either we take all the responsibility on our shoulders and eliminate God from the equation or we get passive and expect God to do everything. But in order to be effective in doing what God has called us to do, we need both.

As I am looking ahead to this coming year, there is an excitement and a momentum that is building within my heart and in our church. We are trying to exercise faith. We believe that God is preparing the harvest field for us. Not only is this in-coming freshman class the largest in the history of University of Michigan, but there will be many new single adults and families coming into the area.

Therefore, as we learn how to sacrifice and do our part by faithfully serving people, God will do His part and save the people.

We cannot get this confused. We do not save anybody. In fact, we cannot by any human means. It has to be the Spirit of God who prepares and prompts people to trust in Christ. We are called to pray and proclaim.

So as we serve, God will save.
I cannot wait to see all that God will do this coming year.

 
Sometimes when there is so much to do, it is easy for us to start feeling overwhelmed. This feeling of burden can cause us to procrastinate. It is always easier to deal with reality “later” rather than sooner. It is easier to do everything else but the important things that you need to do. This video describes perfectly how a day can go by and not get anything done.
 
 

 
 
With all the transitions and the things that “need to get done,” I am praying for more focus. Lately, I am seeing the need for taking my own advice which I have given to people for so many years:

 

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It is interesting to note the various shifts that have occurred in Christianity throughout the centuries. A pendulum that swings back and forth until it comes to a halt in the middle can be a good imagery of some of the shifts. In fact, shifts are good because it compensates for people going too far to one extreme. I think about the social Gospel that began to deafen the voices of the fundamentalist in the 20th century. Then there was a shift back to the fundamental evangelical doctrine as the social Gospel opened the doors to liberalism. Now, there is a shift back to the social justice aspect of the Gospel in the recent decades.

Once again, these shifts are good because it helps us from going to one extreme to another.

Recently the Barna Research Group conducted a study where some of their findings re-emphasized the shifts that are happening now.

In this study, the Barna Group gave a snapshot profile of Americans who are active in their faith. They examined various expressions of “group” faith, such as: church attendance, small groups, adult Sunday school programs, church volunteering, and house churches.

Here is a partial list of things that they found:

 
 
As I read the study, I did not find the results too surprising. In fact, it just shows the trends that many people have been noticing, as well as reaffirming the things that churches are implementing.

Here are my conclusions in light of the findings above:

 
 
As things are shifting in the church structure, we have to trust in our God who never changes. He is constantly working whether we notice it or not. Jesus wants to present a beautiful Bride, a radiant church (Eph 5:25-27) and it is for this end we labor and toil, even though the shifts are bumpy at times.

 

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With the remaining time I have left in Asia, I have been trying to squeeze in as my interviews as I can for my doctoral dissertation. I am trying to examine the importance of starting an international church with the alumni from our HMCC churches back in the States. It has been an interesting journey of discovery for me.

I am so thankful for our alumni and the nationals who have been gracious enough to take the time out to do the interviews. Not only did I get to know them better, but it helped me to realize the importance of having an international church like ours in their country.

Here are some lessons learned through the interviews:

 

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It has been great having the new Jakarta Team here in Indonesia. Even though we have been together for only a week, we have been able to bond quickly together. Recently, our team, along with the new team went away to a retreat center to pray together and prepare for the next chapter in our church. For the next two weeks, we will be transitioning the various responsibilities over to the new team; and the current team will assist in the assimilation process.

It has been encouraging for me to see our current Jakarta Team being so helpful to the new team. It just reminds me the importance of the partnership in the Gospel. We are not doing this alone. As my family and I prepare to make the transition back to the States, I have full confidence that God will lead our church to the next level.

In the last few days, I have been thinking about the importance of transitions. Transitions in life are not easy for many reasons. So, I have been reflecting on the process of transitions for our family and the church. In my reflection, I have made some important observations on what will help in a smooth(-er) transition: