Recently, my wife asked me when I started drinking coffee. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I started drinking it at a very early age – at the age of 10 years old. Now, before all of you start judging my parents, let me qualify the statement.
I remember going into my parents’ store which was located in the South Side Chicago (the hood) on Saturday mornings. There were times where I was so tired that my parents would give me a concoction of: dime size amount of Folgers coffee power, massive amount of cream and a good amount of sugar. It was the best drink ever – well, at least for a 10 year old.
Every time I drank it, I was able to stay awake and attend to my duties as I helped around the store. Then I began to find myself “desiring” this sweet, light brown concoction every time I went to help out my parents at the store.
This is how it all got started.
When I told Christina, she was just in shock (shook her head in disbelief) as she heard me recount those golden years.
But it wasn’t until college where I really began to appreciate coffee. As I got weaned off the coffee with cream and sugar, I started to drink it “black” for the actual coffee taste. Then over the years, I have become somewhat of a connoisseur on coffee as my taste buds were being trained to taste the difference between a dark roast and a light roast, the varying acidity levels, and etc.
As I was reflecting on this, I realized that the early introduction of “coffee” (even though it was more like a hot sweet, cream drink) put me on a course of loving and enjoying coffee.
I couldn’t help but to make the correlation with the importance of introducing values at an early age. If the Barna statistics are true, then it is imperative that we reach the next generation at a young age.
This is why I am so committed to reaching the next generation of “world shakers and history makers” through the college ministry. The college years are a transformative life stage. As students are in a stage of discovery, they are making some important decisions. If they can make a commitment to Christ, it will literally change the course of their destiny.
Therefore, I will continue to be an evangelist for Jesus and a coffee-evangelist. I am thankful that I experienced both before the 20 years old.
One of my pastor friends (@harvestpd) forwarded me this video on coffee. I am more convinced than ever.
I still remember the talk that I had with our associate pastor at HMCC of Ann Arbor. We were in the midst of trying to finalize a list of candidates for our leadership team, but then we went on a rabbit trail. Yes, I confess. Rabbit trails are usually instigated by yours truly, but eventually I try to bring everything back to the main thing.
In the middle of the digression, we talked about what traits to look for in a potential leader who is a growing follower of Christ. We went beyond the usual traits that we look for in a potential leader – the FAITH acronym (Faithfulness, Availability, Integrity, Teachability, Humility).
We came to the conclusion that there are a few traits which reveal more about the heart of the person than anything else. They are:
1) In the last 3-6 months, has this person stepped out in radical faith and demonstrated their utter trust in Christ? When we look throughout the whole Bible, we notice that God was constantly calling His people to a life of faith and trust – Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, the disciples, and Paul to name a handful. How they responded to God in obedience revealed a lot about their view of God (and about themselves). Often times, God asks us to do things that are unexplainable, unimaginable, and unreasonable. But that is the point. God wants to see if we will completely trust in Him. Too often we are not willing to surrender and sacrifice in order to step out in faith because we love ourselves more than loving God. We are crippled by fear, insecurities and selfishness. God is always lovingly opening up opportunities for us to trust in Him. He uses our family, our future, our friends and even our finances to test us. Have you stepped out in faith recently? This one trait reveals so much about a person and where they are in terms of their relationship with Christ.
2) Does this person boast about their weaknesses? There is something about being part of a church culture, where it is easy to boast more about our strengths than our weaknesses. I think it is part of the “success” oriented philosophy that has influenced us by the world’s standards. But the Gospel is different. The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians writes, “But I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. But [God] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses” (2 Co 12:5, 9-10). When I see someone boast about their weaknesses, I see a person who has a good perspective about themselves and about God. I get a peek into their heart. They are humble and broken people. They know that it is not about them. They are set on glorifying God in everything that they do. They have a strong view of God’s Sovereignty. They know that apart from Christ they can do nothing. A phrase that God has been placing on my heart recently is: The more our weaknesses and shortcomings ACCUMULATE, the more it begins to ACCENTUATE God’s glory. I want God’s glory to shine through me. When was the last time you boasted about your weaknesses?
When we look at both of these traits, we will see that it shows a lot about what is going on in a person’s heart. We live in a generation where there is a lot of talk, but not enough action. To walk the talk, these two traits will stretch us and test us.
Therefore, next time you are in a situation where you are being challenged to step out in faith and trust in God, remember that it might be God’s way of raising you up for something great. Also, next time you are in a situation where you have the opportunity to share about your strengths, remember to share your weaknesses because God might use it to display His glory.
I confess that I am one of those people that do not take things readily at face value. You can call me cynical or skeptical, but it takes a lot of cold hard facts and a good logical argument for me to believe. This has been a weakness in my character.
This is why, when it comes to the topic of transformation, I struggle to comprehend the full process of it. I don’t have to look very far to see my own shortcomings when it comes to life change. Often I feel this tension in my heart. John Newton said it well when he wrote, “I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I want to be. I am not what I hope to be. But still, I am not what I used to be. And by the grace of God, I am what I am.”
While I understand theologically that genuine transformation is a work that only God can do, I have wrestled a lot with the human responsibility of it.
Recently, I have been thinking a lot about genuine change and transformation.
In the past, I have teetered on the extremes of God’s Sovereignty and human responsibility. Many times I have been either frustrated with God’s Sovereignty and the slowness of genuine change or fatigued by all the “trying.”
The more I think about this, the more I realize that God places various emotions in our lives (His Sovereignty) so that we can take steps to experience genuine transformation (our responsibility).
There are several emotions that will cause us to make a decision toward transformation. Sometimes we will just experience one of these emotions or we can experience a combination of them:
1) DISGUST.There are moments in our lives when we come to a point of sheer disgust. We are shocked and repulsed at where we are. We get tired of doing the same thing that brings feelings of defeat and disappointment. We get tired of being the person that we do not want to become. This emotion becomes the fuel to seek genuine transformation.
2) DREAD. Fear is a powerful emotion. It sometimes causes people to do crazy things and take drastic measures. When we begin to see how our behavior or lifestyle is going to eventually kill us – physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually – we become more open to change. This is when we are willing to pay whatever the price is required for genuine transformation.
3) DESPERATION. When we get desperate, we tend to look outside of ourselves. We come to the resolve that we are not smart enough or strong enough to handle the situation on our own. We get humbled. We begin to open our hearts to other possibilities and avenues for change. These are the times when we usually cry out to God for help.
4) DISAPPOINTMENT. Sometimes we need to experience heartaches in order for us to see the false sense security we had, as we placed our trust in temporary things. Disappointments bring us back to reality – the reality of a fallen and broken world. Disappointments become the fuel for better and wiser choices in the future.
5) DISSATISFACTION.Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician, philosopher and physicist who lived in the 17th century said, “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.” When we come to the realization that we have been filling our hearts with things of this world rather than God, we begin to desire to seek true and genuine transformation.
When we experience these emotions, we begin to say to ourselves, “I’ve had it;” “I don’t want to live like this anymore;” and “enough is enough.” It becomes a powerful moment of realization for that person. It is like the “eureka” or “ah-ha” moment.
Then, there is a strong resolve that comes over that person. It is as if something clicks for them.
This is when a fire starts to burn inside of them. A desire for transformation starts to build. Then, a decision is made.
Maybe some of the emotions that you are feeling right now will become the fuel for transformation. Don’t resist God. He is sovereignly placing those things in your life so that you will turn to Him. Now, we have a responsibility to humble ourselves and surrender to Him.
Some of you might have already heard about the possibility of starting a HMCC LIFE Group in New York City this summer, which will hopefully turn into a church plant one day. One thing I value very highly is the dissemination of information. To be more exact, I value the dissemination of correct and timely information. In this way, there are less misunderstandings, as well as less assumptions, which often times can ruin relationships and cause things to be blown out of proportion.
In this blog post, I want to lay down the facts and also ask you to join me in prayer as we are trying to discern God’s heart and His will for us as a church.
Back on October 10th, 2010 (10/10/10) I presented HMCC’s 2020 Vision. Part of that vision entails planting ten new churches by the year 2020. As I have been praying for this vision, God placed various cities around the world in my heart. One city that has always been on my heart is New York City.
There are 3 things that stick out for me:
1) It is a city with various NEEDS. NYC is the largest city in the United States and is a significant global city. A lot of what happens around the world has its beginnings in this city. The impact is felt in various sectors of society such as commerce, arts and media, entertainment, fashion, and education. There are close to 8.2 million people who are spread out over a small area of 305 square miles. It is the most densely populated city in the U.S. With so many people, there is an array of needs that has to be met. The most significant need is the need for more life-giving churches. According to an October 2010 Barna report, it shows that New York has one of the highest percentage of unchurched people. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life also gives a similar picture of the religious landscape of NYC. A single church cannot reach out to every unchurched person in NYC. There needs to be many more new churches starting, so that more people can experience transformation through the power of the Gospel. Below is a quick picture of the religious situation according to Gallup:
2) It is a city with many NATIONS. It is just breathtaking when I found out that there are as many as 800 languages spoken in New York, currently making it the most language-diverse city in the world. One particular ethnic group that has a large representation is the Chinese people. The Chinatown in NYC is the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere. Also, with a lot of colleges and universities in NYC which are ranked high globally, it attracts students from every nation around the world. The future leaders are coming to NYC to study. With the nations coming to NYC, the opportunities are tremendous to influence the next generation of world shakers and history makers. Even having the United Nations Headquarters in NYC speaks to the importance of being a hub for international affairs.
3) It is a city with our NETWORK. Over the last 14 years of doing college ministry in Ann Arbor, we have seen many students graduate and go to NYC for work and graduate school. Recently, we had the largest freshmen class this past year in the history of our church in Ann Arbor; therefore, we are expecting that many more people will be heading out to NYC in the future. Already, we have been in contact with some graduating seniors who will be heading out to NYC and also with some graduates who now live in NYC. As we are trying to connect the dots with our greater vision to reach the nations, we are seeing more people who want to be a part of what God is doing in the context of HMCC. Many of the freshmen from New York and New Jersey area are back home and we want to still connect with them throughout the summer with what God is doing in HMCC.
With the 3rd point, I want to elaborate a little bit more because this has been a major factor in the decision to step out in faith to start something in NYC.
In the last 14 years, whenever our members were graduating and getting ready to head out to NYC or NJ, they have asked me if I knew of churches in that area. Since there are some friends who are pastoring churches out there, I would always recommend those churches first. Then, there are some larger well-known churches, which I try to recommend so that they have a variety of choices.
Some of these former members would get plugged in quickly with the recommended churches, which is a huge praise; but others have had a hard time finding a church that fits with the vision and values that God has placed in their hearts. Due to our strong emphasis on the importance of the local church, many of the former members would eventually find a church they can fit into and build community.
As I have been examining the various groups of people who come and go through Ann Arbor, I have realized that there are 5 groups of people that would be interested in being a part of what God is doing NYC:
1) People who have served as a leader in our ministry context. Over the years, there have been people who were very involved in our ministry and then placed in a city where they couldn’t find a church right away. They would share with me how it would be awesome to have a HMCC community in their city. One thing I want to make clear is that there have been many leaders who have gone to different cities and found a church that suited them better in their lifestage, which is awesome. Hopefully, we are humble enough to realize that HMCC will not meet all the needs of people. Therefore, I am just addressing those former leaders who have expressed their desire to stay connected to what we are doing globally.
2) People who came to know Christ as their Lord and Savior and those who have had their lives transformed by the ministry in HMCC, but did not serve as a leader. I am realizing that the context of a person’s first experience with Christ is very significant. As we have seen many people’s lives transformed through our church, many of them want to continue in their involvement with our vision and mission. In the past, since we did have not any plans of starting something in NYC, we would encourage these people to write down a list of values that they wanted to see in a church. Then, we would advise them to visit various churches (via recommendation of other alumni and friends). Afterward, they were encouraged to narrow down the list of churches to a few and then make an informed and discerned decision. Even after all these measures, people were still trying to find a community that they could be a part of in the city. We even had some students who went to NYC for summer internships and within the short time there struggled to connect with the recommended churches.
3) People who are coming to NYC for the first time, but they have a relationship with someone in our church network. It was exciting to hear recently that a high school student from Indonesia was going to New York University. With all the great universities in NYC, many people are coming to the city for undergraduate or graduate studies. For some of them, it will be their first time being away from home and for others it will be another transition of trying to find a new community. But what would it be like if there was a church community there for them before they arrive? Especially for the international students. If they come to NYC and find community through our church and then they go back to their country, they will have an international church that they can be a part of when they go back (vis-à-vis HMCC of Jakarta and HMCC of Singapore).
4) People who have friends and family members who are not yet part of any church community. I am finding out there is a large group of people, who are connected relationally with some of our members, who do not have a church community. Some of them are pre-Christians, therefore, they have no interest in attending a church, while some are people who stopped going to church for various reasons. This is a huge harvest field of people that we want to reach out to. One thing I have learned from the business world is that the best advertisement or marketing strategy is not a flashy commercial, but a recommendation from a trusted friend. As our members have experienced genuine transformation, their friends and family have noticed. This is why when our members encourage their friends and family to check out our ministry, they are more open due to the trust that is interwoven into their relationship. We have a passion for this group of people and we want to reach out to them.
5) People who are still students at the University of Michigan or any of the universities where there is a HMCC church, and after hearing about our 2020 Vision, they are interested in being part of the vision in the future. This past year’s freshmen class will be the class that would have had the most exposure to the 2020 Vision. They heard it first as freshmen and hopefully throughout the four years of college, they can develop a greater heart for church planting in the future. I am confident that as God leads us to various cities, many of the current students will one day be a part of the greater movement in all our churches.
In light of these five specific groups, we are in the process of praying and planning for a future church plant in NYC. Honestly, we don’t have all the specifics down. In fact, I think we like it this way because with the last several church plants, it has been exciting to follow God’s lead rather than trying to strategize and plan too much.
When I think about HMCC of Jakarta and HMCC of Singapore, I can truly say that it was really a God thing. The encouraging thing about all that is going on is that when we look at the Book of Acts, we see that when the Spirit of God moved powerfully, God was the One who started different communities of faith to reach that particular city.
As many people have been asking me about our church plant movement philosophy, I wrote some things down in another blog post. You can check it out here.
This is what we know so far:
1) Even with all the great churches out in NYC, the needs are still great and the harvest is plentiful.
2) We have a handful of believers who want to see a HMCC community start in NYC.
3) Pastor Pete and I will be heading out to NYC this Sunday, May 15th to meet up with our current students and alumni to cast the vision and talk about starting a LIFE Group.
This is all we know so far. It is pretty scary at times, but we believe that God is Faithful. If he started the other churches to meet the needs of the community in that particular city, we are confident that God will do the same thing in NYC. We have to remember that things are never boring or routine when we are following God’s leadership. In fact, it is an incredible adventure and I signed up for this when I fully surrendered my life to Christ when I was in high school. I have never been the same – all the glory to God!
Here is a time lapse video of New York City. Let’s continue to pray for God’s will to be done in this great, global city that God is concerned about.
“But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?” (Jonah 4:11, NIV)
Back in 2008, I was introduced to a song called, “Healer” by our worship team. When I first heard the song, there was something about it that gripped me. Not only was the words of the song powerful, but I realized that there was an anointing on it. Therefore, I told the worship team to sing it for one of our major events in our church.
But shortly afterwards, it was brought to my attention that it would not be wise for us to sing the song. Michael Guglielmucci, who wrote the song was discovered to have lied for two years about having terminal cancer to his family and his supporters. The song, “Healer” was written based upon his struggle with cancer and Guglielmucci was propelled into the spotlight by participating in a live performance with Hillsong, who made a worship CD called, “This is Our God” in July 2008. Can you imagine the shock and hurt that people felt after finding out that everything was a lie?
Guglielmucci ended up explaining and confessing his sins on national T.V. with this only interview on Australian’s Today Tonight. Brian Houston, the pastor of Hillsong even had to address it during his vacation time as the news spread throughout Australia.
I was saddened to hear what happened.
But I knew that if we sang the song, word would spread and people would have a lot of objections and even get distracted. Therefore, we ended up axing the song from our list.
I thought that was the end of the story.
But not too long ago, I went through some sort of epiphany. As I was praying and worshiping, the song “Healer” came to my mind. Then I quickly went online to watch the video again; and the words were still powerful.
I started to find out that, Kari Jobe was singing this song and God has been using it powerfully. This is when I realized that God was challenging my theology and my understanding of His power and grace.
As I reflected, these were some of the thoughts that came to my mind:
1) God used sinful people (murders, adulterers, cowards, etc) to write His Word
2) All throughout history, God always use flawed people for His glory
3) People’s mistakes are never greater than God’s purposes and glory
4) Therefore, God can take people’s “junk” and turn it for good
Believe it or not, I ended up watching the video on YouTube again. The thought that was running though my mind was: How in the world can God use a song so powerfully when it was written in deception?
Then I was reminded of the story of how the hymn, “All Hail to Thee, Immanuel” was written back in 1910 by D. R. Van Sickle. He was not a believer and he wanted to prove that one does not have to be a Christian to write a Christian hymn. Even though he did not believe in the message, Van Sickle wanted to prove that he could mimic it. Jill Carattini, who wrote about the history of this hymn, said,
“It is interesting to imagine what might have gone through Van Sickle’s mind when he first heard the words of his own hymn on the lips of a Christian. Did he consider his word-game a success, having fooled the believing masses with his impersonation? Did he find believers all the more foolish for embracing as meaningful words that were void of meaning? It is a curious scene to envision: multitudes proclaiming in song the wisdom of an unbeliever, praising God with words the author himself found foolish. Years after D. R. Van Sickle’s words were in print, he was sitting in a service where a choir sang his hymn. Stirred with conviction, hearing the call of God in his own words, he surrendered his heart to Christ.”
We have to remember that sometimes the messenger is insignificant, but it is the wisdom and the power of God that always prevails.
Then the Holy Spirit gave me a flash of revelation.
How many times have I prepared and preached a message on love, when there was no love in me? How many times have I prepared and preached a message on forgiveness, when I could not forgive? How many times have I prepared and preached a message on giving, when all I wanted to do was be selfish?
This revelation broke me.
It was another reminder that everything was for God’s glory.
All our weaknesses, all our sinfulness, all our failures, all our shortcoming are all for His glory. We will never fully comprehend the ways of the Lord. But when we experience His power, we are left humbled and in awe. Then I came to the conclusion that even though the song was written by a flawed man, God still anointed it so that His glory will shine.
We sang the song, “Healer” tonight at our leadership summit and it was powerful. I couldn’t help but to think that all of us (the leaders) have experienced to some degree an abundance of grace and mercy in the midst of our weaknesses and flaws; and here is God in His infinite wisdom who decides to use a song written by a sinful man to bring glory unto Himself.
You can watch the Hillsong version below:
This is Kari Jobe singing the song in a live performance:
I am so excited to start a whole new sermon series on the Book of Colossians throughout the months of May through August. It has been awhile since we have systematically studied a whole book together on Sundays. But the more I began to pray through things, I realized that this is something that we need to do at this juncture of our church.
As the generations are changing, I have noticed that there are more people who have never thoroughly studied through one book in the Bible. In many ways, this is fragmenting people’s concept and understanding of who God is. We are only getting bits and pieces from passages that are familiar, rather than examining a whole book and allowing it to lay down a firm foundation for our faith.
The great part of the Book of Colossians is that many of the issues that the Apostle Paul had to address in the book are similar to the issues that we are facing in our society today. This is the power of God’s Word. It is able to speak to various situations in our lives because the Truth is always timeless.
One of the major themes for the Book of Colossians is the “Supremacy of Christ.” It is out of this foundation and perspective that we will be able to live accordingly within our context, whether it is with our family, friends, roommates, classmates or co-worker. This is why we are simply calling the series, “paramount.”
The dictionary defines, “paramount” as:
1) Chief in importance or impact; supreme;
2) Of the greatest importance or significance; preeminent
3) Above others in rank or authority; superior in power or jurisdiction
4) A supreme ruler
As we study the Book of Colossians, it is my prayer that we will capture a bigger vision of who Christ is in His Supremacy. As see and acknowledge Christ being “chief in importance” in our lives and “above others in authority” and “superior in power,” then we will be able to trust and worship His Majesty.
Bring your Bibles, journals and something to write with because for the next four months it is going to be a season of learning and growing. We are going to be released to love and live for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
It is that time of the year again – the weather gets warmer, the flowers start to bloom, and the winter clothes are put away. This is when you know the spring season has officially arrived in Michigan (people in Michigan have been conditioned not to think it is spring until May).
Another thing that indicates the change of the seasons is when there are a lot of weddings. As our church has been growing beyond the college ministry, we are seeing more people getting married in our church.
But this year, one wedding in particular that has captured so much international attention was the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, who are now known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. I was able to catch a little bit of it online and all I can say is, “WOW!” All the pageantry and pomp were pretty breathtaking to an average person watching the highlights and pictures online. Even watching all the people, who lined the streets of London to get a glimpse of the couple, was an incredible sight.
According to WePay blog it is estimated that the Royal Wedding cost around $86 million and that doesn’t even take into consideration the reception, which by the way was estimated at around $600,000. To put this in perspective, the average wedding in the United States cost around $30,000 for a small-to-medium sized wedding.
For months people were focused on the wedding details of William and Kate. Questions swirled around: Who will design the wedding dress? What type of food will be served at the reception? Who will be on the star-studded guest list?
I just found this whole wedding process so interesting.
This is not only for the recent Royal Wedding, but also for couples who spend so much time in preparation for just one day. Disclaimer:Now, I know that this is a special day for the bride; therefore I am in no way trying to be a hater. Since I have a daughter (my sweet pea), I would only want the best for her, but I am just trying to challenge some preconceived notions that many people have “just” accepted as the norm.
Now, with that said and out of the way, let me just ask, “When it comes to weddings, are we focusing on the right things?
There are many couples who spend so much of their energies, time and efforts in trying to prepare for a wedding, which last for just one day, but fail miserably to prepare for a marriage, which last for a lifetime. Also, many couples are spending close to $30,000 and more for a wedding. If there is a larger guest list, then the couple can spend up to $45,000 to $50,000. In order to put this in perspective, if a person spends $40,000 on a wedding, then they would be able to buy a nice luxurious car (or 2 decent cars) or they can put a 20% down payment on $200,000 house.
Once again, is all the investment in our time and treasures worth it for that one day, when more focus should be placed on the preparation for the lifelong marriage? Things such as, communication, conflict resolution, childhood scripts, commitment and character should all be addressed by taking the time and expending our energies to work through these things.
It is sad that in National Review Online, right after the announcement of their engagement, it reported that British bookies were taking bets to see when William and Kate will get a divorce. In our society, divorce has become so common that there are people who are betting on the demise of their marriage.
Therefore, for those of you who are getting married this summer or for those of you who want to get married in the future, remember that all the pomp and pageantry will fade away in our memories, but the person that you will have to live with after saying the vows, that will be for a lifetime.
Let’s make it “until death do us part.”
Let’s focus on the right things.
It’s God’s best for us.
It’s God’s way.
His Glory.
There was a point in my life where I would daydream about being part of the Navy SEALs or even part of the Delta Force. There was always something about war movies or even documentaries on war that fascinated me. I think it was the sense of mission and purpose that drew me in and captured my attention.
One of the greatest contexts to learn leadership principles and lessons is in the military. In fact, many people in leadership positions, whether it is in the government or the corporate world, had some experience in the military.
Recently, I was reading an Inc. article where a Navy SEAL and Leadership Under Fire instructor, Rob Roy gave six leadership lessons. I found it interesting that many of these lessons can be applied even to the church and LIFE Group context.
In summary, the six lessons on leadership are:
1) Comfort Zone Busters. Roy says to always make “stretch goals” because we need to learn how to push ourselves. We have to learn how to set high goals. By setting the bar high, it pushes us outside of our comfort zones.
2) Calm Under Pressure. As a leader, many decisions have to be made under pressure. People look to leaders during crisis moments, therefore leaders need to know how to command calmness in order to direct people.
3) Check the Situation. In order to make the right and best decisions, the leader must know exactly what is going on or they will be tempted to make a hasty decision. This is why temporarily stepping back from a situation is helpful to gain perspective.
4) Connect Compassionately.If the people that you are leading know that you are there for them and you are willing to support them, then they will give you their respect and be more open to follow your lead.
5) Cooperate Cohesively. When the people are unified with a strong sense of bond, they are able to work together. There is a greater motivation to accomplish the goal even though there are obstacles, if they are unified.
6) Consistent Convictions.When people know what you stand for, they will be able to know what to expect from you. Leaders must be willing to take responsibility and lead with convictions. This helps followers to know where you will take them.
These are all biblical principles; therefore, we need to grow in these areas in order for us to be more effective in our leadership. We have to remember that some of these traits are not produced overnight. In fact, some of them are forged through trials and difficulties over a long period of time.
The encouragement for us is that God will give us the grace to grow in these traits. So next time when there are opportunities to display faith, trust, discernment, compassion, unity and conviction, remember that God is trying to grow you as a leader.
Now that the craziness of this past weekend is all over, I had some time to just sit down and reflect on everything that God accomplished. First of all, my heart is filled with thankfulness. The longer I do ministry, the more I am reminded that we are just broken and empty vessels that God, in His Sovereignty desires to use.
In the past, I would think about all the ways that I could have planned more, prepared more, and prayed more, but now I am more convinced than ever that it has less to do with me and more with what God is doing and what He wants to do.
This is not only humbling, but it is definitely freeing because no matter what I do (or don’t do), I have to trust that God will always accomplish His purpose. Not only does this release me from performance anxiety, but it fuels me to do things with a pure heart. This is when ministry is fun and exciting.
After some time of reflection, I came up with five things that God reminded me of this past weekend:
1) The TRUST in God. When the Executive Team and I were in discussions about having the Easter Celebration in Mendelssohn Theatre, some people had doubts about having it in a big venue. The big factor was that this year’s Easter fell right in the middle of finals. People were saying that we will most likely have a lower attendance because a lot of the students will probably go home once they are done with finals. But for some reason, I sensed that God wanted us to have one big celebration (by gathering the whole church together) rather than having two Easter services at the Transformation Center. We stepped out in faith and all we could do was to pray and trust that God would move the hearts of our members to stick around for the Easter Celebration, as well as to invite their friends. God honored our faith and our trust in Him. I just found out that we had the highest number of newcomers for an Easter Celebration in the history of our church. As our whole church was worshiping together, all in the same place with one heart, it was a powerful moment for me. There is definitely something about trusting in Him that makes God do some incredible things. God definitely is passionate about making things about Him and His glory rather than making it about us.
2) The TRUTH of God. I ended up wrestling a lot with how I was going to frame and present the message (I preached off John 20:19-31). There were a lot of different drafts. But I finally felt convicted to share it from an angle that would minister to all the groups of people who would attend the celebration. I got this sense that God wanted to work powerfully in people’s lives; therefore I had to preach the hard truth. This meant that I could not “candy coat” the Gospel. There are a lot of hard truths in the Bible. It is not easy sharing those things in a pluralistic and self-centered generation without offending someone. But I keep on mentioning to our church members, “If I do not offend you at least once in my sermon, then I have not preached the Gospel.” There were several moments during my sermon where I felt a hush (a sense of awe in the Presence of God) come over the theater. It was in the key moments where I talked about how our sins have put us in the situations that we are in right now, whether through disobedience, bad choices or our rebellion. But the story does not end there. Thankfully, God’s Presence is evident through His people, His peace and His power. His Presence is something that God offers through Jesus Christ, if we would only humble ourselves and receive it by faith.
3) The TOUCH of God. After giving a full explanation of what was going to happen during the closing praise time, I got this feeling that no matter how awkward it might feel for some people, God, through worship was going to overpower them with His love and mercy. I always have the privilege of looking out to the congregation and seeing people’s faces as they worship and experience God in a powerful way. Similar to other times, as I was looking out this past Sunday, I saw many people getting ministered unto through the worship time. As people were lifting up their hands and singing passionately the words of the songs, God was moving in the theater. It was as if God was reaching down to us and touching us with His power and His Presence. God truly inhabits (is enthroned in) the praise of His people (Ps 22:3).
4) The TEAMWORK of God’s people. When everyone in the Body of Christ is “functioning” and doing what we are called to do, then it is a beautiful sight. I was so encouraged by all the people who were serving on Easter. Some people had to get up early in the morning to help set things up. Other people were reaching out and showing God’s love to the newcomers. Still, other people were praying and preparing for the Easter Celebration. It is hard to describe in words all the stuff that went on before, during, and after the celebration. We have some of the most amazing servants of Christ in HMCC. Not only do they go above and beyond what is expected of them, but they are constantly reaching a new level of sacrifice and surrender as they serve the Living God. Everything just came together throughout the whole morning. I just love the partnership in the Gospel. Already I have been hearing some great testimonies of people who were praying for me, the service and their friends that came out. I heard about LIFE Groups partnering up together to have lunch afterwards to further the outreach. It is just awesome to see everyone doing their part.
5) The TRIUMPH of God’s purpose. It has been awe-inspiring to hear how God was orchestrating different relationships with people’s classmates, roommates, co-workers, friends, and family members to share Christ’s love. After giving the Gospel presentation, we gave everyone in the theater an opportunity to respond to God through a card that we passed out. People we encouraged to check off a box that best described the decision that they were making that day. Throughout Monday, I received e-mail messages from our church members who indicted that their friends received Christ for the first time, while others shared about how their friends recommitted their lives to Christ. These are the times when I just stand amazed at the work of God. No matter what Satan tries to do and no matter what mistakes get in the way of us turning to Christ, God’s purposes will always triumph and prevail. This is why after the Easter Celebration so many people had joy in their hearts. In fact, this is the message of Easter – it is the message of Jesus being triumphant over death and the grave; and since we are His children, we share in this triumph.
I have been greatly encouraged to see God placing many future innovators and influencers in our church. As soon as I posted my entry on “Innovators, Idealists, and Influencers” (I3) yesterday, I received an e-mail with a video link.
As I was watching it, I was reminded of several more things:
1) I3’s are Early-Adopters. They are usually the first ones to adopt an idea or product. They are not afraid of taking risks. Once they believe in something, they are able to spread it to others.
2) I3’s are Evangelists. Since they are out to influence people, they share what they believe in with passion. They want to change the way we think and the way we respond to things. In essence, they want to “convert” people.
3) I3’s are Eccentric. Unconventional. Different. Unusual. Avant-garde. All these words describe them. They love going against the flow; and in many ways they do not care about what other people might say about them. In fact, according to I3’s, being different is good.
4) I3’s are Empowering. Since they are forward thinkers, they think generationally. As they reach a certain level of influence, I3’s try to empower and equip the next generation. They use their wisdom and influence to inspire the next generation of I3’s.
Here is a very good video produced by R+I Creative. They are a marketing and advertising company who helps “brands and artists reveal their values and tell their stories through innovative productions.” Thanks to @ericcyee who forwarded this video to me.
R+I Creative did a great job of explaining the “who, what, and how” of an influencers. I liked the fact that they focused on New York City because this city is really one of the hubs for finding innovators, idealists, and influencers. This is one of the reasons why we are praying about this great city.
Here is a brief trailer:
If you have time, here is the longer version. It is well worth the 14 minute investment.
I have an insatiable appetite for information. Couple that with a hunger and fascination with history and you get a person who is constantly reading, discovering, and asking questions. Sometimes my curiosity frustrates people (sorry); and it is often times misunderstood for my knack of “cornering people” to get to the bottom of things. But to my plea of innocence, it is simply my desire “to know” things.
Whether it is a weakness or strength, I am realizing that curiosity often fuels new discoveries and it even helps people to dream and envision things of the future. One of the things that inspire me is when I read about what people in the past have said to visionaries and innovators to some of their ideas.
Here are some of them:
1) “This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” [Western Union internal memo, 1876]
2) “The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?” [David Sarnoff’s associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s]
3) “We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.” [Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962]
4) “So we went to Atari and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we’ll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we’ll come and work for you.’ And they said, ‘No.’ So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, ‘Hey, we don’t need you. You haven’t got through college yet.’” [Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and H-P interested in his and Steve Wozniak’s personal computer]
5) “Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You’re crazy.” [Drillers whom Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist in his project to drill for oil in 1859]
6) “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” [Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943]
7) “While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially it is an impossibility.” [Lee DeForest, inventor]
8) “The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a ‘C’, the idea must be feasible.” [A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.]
9) “But what is it good for?” [Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip]
10) “With over 50 foreign cars already on sale here, the Japanese auto industry isn’t likely to carve out a big slice of the U.S. market.” [Business Week, August 2, 1968]
When we think about our lives without some of the things that we have now, we are thankful that that they were wrong. Can you imagine all the lost opportunities?
The challenge for us today is to look ahead and to make decisions today that will affect our future destiny. This is not an easy process because there are so many factors that hinder people from moving forward. For some people it is the fear of failure. For others, it is a self-imposed skepticism which limits us. For others, it might be their lack of faith. For some, it might be their desire for comfort, security and safety. But whatever the reason, we have to see things through the eyes of Christ.
He believed that through a rag-tag team of disciples that the world will be transformed. Who would have ever thought or imagined?
But as we look into the future and see what God has in store for us, let’s stay ahead of the curve. The possibilities are endless because we have a God, who is the God of the possibilities (Mt 17:20; 19:26). May we stay close to Jesus, as we navigate towards the 2020 Vision.
Recently, there have been an increasing number of people asking me, “How do we, as a church, decide which city or campus to plant a church in?”
I think in light of our 2020 Vision, we are trying to come up with some systematic way of implementing our desire to plant churches around the world. But one thing I have learned over the years is that strategies and a well devised “plan” can only go so far. Ultimately, as I look back into the church plants that we have participated in, there is simply no “one way” to do it. A good STRATEGY without God’s SPIRIT will always end up in SHAMBLES. But without any PREPARATION, things can easily be done without a clear PURPOSE.
This is why we are trying to find a good balance between allowing God’s Spirit to lead us, while at the same time doing our part in getting ready for the next step.
When it comes to allowing God’s Spirit to lead us, it is important that we are praying and listening to the Holy Spirit. There is definitely a spiritual element of discerning what God is doing around the world when it comes to church planting. Then, there is also a practical element of coming up with the possibilities of starting up a church in a particular area.
I have been trying to teach people in our church to take it from two different levels – one is from the individual level, and the other from the corporate level. Please keep in mind that this is all contextualized in the HMCC context.
On the individual level, I have communicated to people to remember the PLANT acronym:
1) P – Pray. God often times uses prayer as an avenue to strengthen a conviction or lead us in a different direction. Therefore, before we either rule out the possibility of being part of a church plant or believe that God is calling us to do it, we need to pray. As we pray, God will give us His burden and will speak to us.
2) L – Learn. I have told people to learn as much as you can about the campus, city or country that God is placing in your heart. Without a proper knowledge of the city, we will never be able to make an accurate assessment of the feasibility of planting a church. Also, when we learn as much as we can about a particular place, it will just solidify more of our convictions.
3) A – Assess and Affirm. We have to keep in mind that having a community of believers who know us well and who can speak into our lives is a vital part of discovering God’s will for your life. You need to include your pastor or your leader in this process as well. Even though you might have a desire to participate in a church plant, if people who know you well are having a hard time affirming you, then it might be better to go back to the drawing board and continue to pray. When we have an honest assessment of ourselves, then we will fair so much better in the long run. It is usually better to find out areas of your life where you need to grow in and commit to in developing your character.
4) N – Network. As you pray and learn as much as you can about a particular city, and as people are able to assess and affirm your calling, then the next step is to network with other people – both, in your HMCC church as well as other HMCC sites. You will be amazed once you connect with other people who have the same burden or who want to go to the same city. We have to remember that we cannot do things alone. We need to find other people who are praying about the same particular city. It might be good to even meet up with them and start praying together. By networking, we are creating bonds of relationships that will allow us to partner together for Kingdom work.
5) T – Training. Once, many of these factors are considered, then we can start going through specific training in order to send you out. One of the best training grounds is the small group context. Our LIFE Group ministry is really like a mini-church plant. A lot of the things that are required in planting a church, you can experience in the process of doing community with others. Remember that the better trained you are, the more likelihood you will be ready to face some of the difficulties of church planting.
The PLANT principles are more on an individual basis when it comes to determining whether planting churches is something that God is calling you to do. But we also need to look at church planting from a corporate level, which entails not only your particular church site, but also all the HMCC churches.
In order to achieve our 2020 Vision, we have to see how all the pieces are coming together. Simply, we need to “connect the dots” so that everything that we do is tied in with our overall vision of transforming lives and transforming the world.
I will explain the corporate level of planting churches with the acronym SEEDS. It is important that rather than looking at SEEDS as a strategic model or program, we look at it as a process. This means that we have to be flexible, but yet focused.
Here are the five principles of the process:
1) S – See God’s Sovereignty. It is imperative that we learn to see what God is doing in a particular location. Often, we try so hard to “force” things to happen. When we trust in our human wisdom, it always leads to manipulation and frustration. Rather than trying to make things happen, it is better to see how God is sovereignly bringing things together. In the past, God clearly opened up specific doors for us as a church by bringing people together without any direction or “help” from us. God has also brought sovereign circumstances together without our knowledge or our assistance, which opened up opportunities for us. When we know that it is something that God is doing, there is great confidence that He will carry us through.
2) E – Explore the possibility. As God is sovereignly bringing the pieces together, we must then take the responsibility to explore what the possibilities are for starting a church in that particular location. This is when some initial contact must be made in order to explore the various things that God is doing in that campus or city. A vision trip is helpful in order to assess and pray more specifically for God’s will to be revealed. As God’s Sovereignty and human responsibility come together, we will be able to see more clearly the direction God wants us to move towards as a church.
3) E – Establish the community. One crucial piece of the whole exploration process is to start establishing a community of people, who are willing to commit to the vision of starting a church. It is critical that we have some people in that city, as well as people from other HMCC churches, who are willing to sacrifice for the reality of the church plant. We have to remember that not all our church plants will start off right away as a “typical” church. We are open to initially starting a LIFE Group or even starting a house church with the established community. As the community is established, we will be able to make a better, informed decision on the possibility of planting the church.
4) D – Discern the sustainability. With the formation of the community of faith, we need to prayerfully discern if they are able to continue to live out the principles of Acts 2:42-47 in a sustainable way. There are four specific areas that will give a good indication of the sustainability of the community: maturity, ministry, multiplication, and missions. When a community of faith is growing in their relationship with Christ and their love for one another, then the community can be sustained. As the community is growing in maturity, it will naturally overflow to people doing ministry by serving one another and to the surrounding area. One factor that we want to carefully observe is the multiplication of disciples. If people are not reproducing themselves by evangelism and discipleship, then the community will be weakened and implode due to their self-centeredness. This is why the group’s heart for God’s mission has to be monitored. These markers will help gauge the realistic sustainability of the future church plant.
5) S – Start with quality. Too often, church plants are concerned with growth in the quantity of people that it is easy to compromise on the quality. We have to remember that Jesus never sought after the crowd but rather He focused on a few. It was through this intentional, focused investment that the Church was established after His death. When we start the church with a focus on quality, we will be able to build up a strong church. The quality has to permeate in our disciple-making, our witness, our LIFE Group community, our love for God and love for people. If we are faithful in developing quality Christ-followers, then the numbers will take care of itself.
Therefore, if we remember the acronym PLANT SEEDS, then we will have a pretty good idea of how to move forward in HMCC’s vision to plant churches in various campuses, cities, countries, and continents.
The most recent example of these principles being lived out is in Singapore. As the church was started in an unconventional way, we are seeing God do some extraordinary things in the lives of the people at HMCC of Singapore.
As we look forward into the future, we are seeing God sovereignly bring people together in different cities in the States, as well as in international cities around the world. With prayer and God’s grace over our lives, I am confident that we will be able to witness more churches being planted by the year 2020.
“’Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’” (Lk 19:17)
I just recently finished reading Greg Ogden’s book, Transforming Discipleship. I was given this book for free to provide a review; therefore, since I enjoy reading and the topic is something that I am passionate about (anything with the word “transform” has my attention [smile]), I decided to write some things about it on my blog.
Even though this book was published in 2003, there were still a lot of relevant points to consider for our generation and beyond. I appreciated Ogden first starting off the book by giving the current situation with the Church and discipleship. He used the word “superficial” to summarize the state of discipleship that we see today. Although, Ogden was describing the Church at the turn of the 21 century, fast forward eight years and this is still the situation today in the Church. There have been some definite improvements, as more pastors and leaders are seeing the current crisis of “superficial” discipleship in the Church. But overall, it has been a slow process. Change always takes time.
It was helpful that Ogden laid out his expectations and ideas of what the biblical standard of discipleship should be in the Church. In fact, he gave seven specific traits of a biblical standard: proactive ministers, a disciplined way of life, discipleship affecting all of life, a countercultural force, an essential organism, biblically informed people, and people who share their faith.
If you look at these traits, it is clear that it describes a follower of Christ who is not passive and someone who is willing to invest in building the Kingdom of God. In essence, true biblical discipleship requires people to go against the flow and choosing to be uncomfortable in their journey with Christ.
As Ogden lays out the expectations of a Christ-follower who is committed to discipleship, he gives us various reasons why there is a discipleship malaise. One big factor that stuck out for me was the issue of discipling through programs. We see this all the time in churches. Pastors and leaders have tried to make disciples through programs; and the track-record tells us that it is not very effective.
Program oriented discipleship is usually focused on head knowledge; but head knowledge alone will not transform people. The sad part is that it usually produces proud and arrogant people who develop a big head, but fail in growing their heart and character. Programs are easy for leaders because it does not require a lot of relational investment. All that the leader has to do is to just “run” the class and make sure that the information is being transferred to the people. But if you look at the life of Jesus with his disciples, it was always based on a relationship. It is only when our lives are intertwined with people that we will be able to make a difference and see disciples being made.
But the biggest failure comes from the top. Pastors and leaders have failed to challenge people into a life of radical discipleship. Whether it is our fear of raising the standard or our lack of knowing a clear pathway to maturity, the leadership of the Church has failed in following Jesus’ command to “make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19).
One thing I really appreciated Ogden mentioning was the fact that due to people’s “inadequate view of the church as a discipleship community” it has caused an enormous gap in producing quality disciples. What better place than to get discipled through the local church? This is where you can grow in your commitment, accountability, serving, sacrifice, and spiritual depth. Maybe a stronger view of ecclesiology will help people to see discipleship in a whole new way?
Over three chapters, Ogden mentions some key points of how Jesus modeled discipleship and how the Apostle Paul carried out discipleship in his ministry. In essence, everything came down to the relationship between the disciple and the disciplee. As Jesus spent time with the disciples, He was able to influence and impact His disciples. As Jesus spent time with the disciples almost every day over a three and half year period, it had a profound effect on them. In the same way, Paul was focused on the relationship as well, but it was more from a spiritual parenting or spiritual fathering angle. With the idea of spiritual parenting, it helped to see that it is really about assisting people go through different spiritual lifestages such as infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.
It was good to see Ogden draw a lot of reference from Dr. Robert E. Coleman’s books, The Master Plan of Evangelism and The Master Plan of Discipleship. Both these books had a significant impact on me during my seminary years. Also, I had the privilege of getting discipled by Dr. Coleman; therefore I was able to catch the heart behind a lot of the principles that were shared in his books.
Towards the end of the book, Ogden gave a vision (or a picture) of what it would be like if we took seriously the call to discipleship and then started to multiply. It would be a definite shift from “adding” disciples to “multiplying” disciples. The thought of increasing the effectiveness in reach people with the Gospel through multiplication is another powerful reminder that the Church cannot just coast by with superficial discipleship. We need radical people, who are willing to radically disciple people, so that we can radically transform the world.
In order to see genuine transformation, Ogden gives three specific and necessary ingredients: transparent trust, the truth of God’s Word, and mutual accountability. All these things help catalyze a thriving and growing discipleship relationship.
If we can see more churches take on the call to radical discipleship, we will see a revolution on the horizon. Without it, the Church will be filled with people who are just going through the motions of Christianity and not being faithful to the call that Jesus gave to people who would follow Him.
May we remember the word of Jesus, when He said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life – he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it” (Lk 14:26-27; 33; Mk 8:34-35).
One of our church members forwarded me a music video of the 25th Anniversary of the song, “We are the World.” The original song was released on March 1985 which was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie; and it was produced by the legendary Quincy Jones. In hopes of bringing awareness and also raising funds for the famine in Ethiopia, the song sold over 20 million copies (which was a lot back in 1985). The song ended up winning 3 Grammy Awards, a American Music Award and a People’s Choice Award – it was hit.
In light of the earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12th 2010, an incredible collection of artists were gathered together to remake the “We are the World” song on February 1st, 2010. They called the song, “We are the World 25 for Haiti.”
As I watched it on YouTube, it brought back a lot of memories because I grew up with the original song in my teenage years. Then I started thinking about some parallel principles in regards to the remake of this popular song.
There are 3 lessons that I was reminded about as I watched this video:
1) RELEVANCE. The beauty of this song is that the message is the same but the packaging of it is different. If you hear the 1985 version of it and the 2010 version, there is definitely a lot more of the current hip-hop flavor. This reminded me that we always have to be culturally relevant without losing the message. If the Church fails to bring the Gospel message in a culturally relevant way, then it will fall on deaf ears. But if we are able to present the timeless truths of the Gospel in a context where people can understand their need for a Savior, then life transformation can happen.
2) RALLY.It was inspiring to see the assembly of singers in the 2010 version. I felt the same way back in 1985 when all the top artist of that time came together to rally for the needs of Ethiopia. I was just thinking how a cause or a clear purpose is able to bring various people together. If you look at the list of singers, it is a pretty good array of styles and personalities. As the church, we are one Body but there are many parts. There is something very powerful when the Body of Christ is able to come together with all its different parts to do something great for the Kingdom of God. Sometimes all we need is a rally cry. May the eternity of lost people drive us to come together as a church to reach the nations.
3) RESPONSE. Many times when we think about superstars or famous people, we get enamored by their lifestyle. But one thing we forget is that outside of their posh lifestyle and all their fame and money, they are people, who are made in the image of God. Even though we might not know their motives fully, it is good to see many of these artists giving up their time and energy to produce this song. I think about how many Christ-followers are constantly on the sidelines just watching rather than getting in the action. We use excuses of being too busy or not having enough resources to do anything about a situation. But we are called to be the salt and light of the world. This requires an active response from people who have experience the mercy and grace of God. This is why the Apostle Paul said, “in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God” (Ro 12:1). May we always be enamored by God’s grace, which in turn will cause us to give generously (our time, treasure and talents) to His cause, for His glory.
Check out the 2010 version of “We are the World.” You can check out the list of singers in this song here on this page.
