Mad Church Disease

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This is an interesting book that is coming out soon on the topic of John’s post yesterday morning on “another one bites the dust.” Burnout is a HUGE problem in the church with leaders. Honestly, if their calling wasn’t so sure, I think there would be many more who decide it is just easier to go get a job in the marketplace.

As the writer of Hebrews says, it ought to be a “joy, not a burden,” but sadly it is often a huge burden that people endure. There comes a point in time when they simply can’t endure it any more and they don’t want to “jump ship” to another church because they were called to that church, so they simply leave the ministry altogether.

Pray for your pastor and staff on this Monday morning, whoever they might be! Mondays are probably the hardest days for many pastors as they sort through the previous day. The majority of resignation letters are written on Mondays after simply being too overburdened.

Monday Morning Reflections

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I don’t like saying this out loud–it’s kind of like praying for patience, but I feel like God is really sifting me right now. He is really shaking me to the core of who I am to see if I will follow Him.

I don’t think I realized how influenced by the culture I am. As a sociology major (Quick, how do you get a sociology major off your porch? . . . pay for the pizza!) I realize that we ARE at some point a product of our environment. But what about the fact that God calls us to not be conformed to the patterns and culture of this world? The way I grew up in church, it seemed that verse was easy–dang heathens “out there” “in the world.” Just stay away from “the world” and “the worldly” and you will be fine. But what if Paul was indeed talking about culture–but that there is more to culture than just “the world out there?” What if I can be negatively influenced by a “church” culture that is not necessarily sin, but isn’t Biblical?

I have been wrestling with God lately (and losing–see Jacob in Genesis 32) about what is cultural and what is Biblical in my worship, my “Christian life.” How quickly we get into the routine of doing Spiritual things because “we’ve always done it that way before.” Read more

Me and the Monks

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I spent Monday afternoon through Tuesday morning reflecting upon Christ on a Solitude Retreat.? I went with a bunch of pastors from the Springfield area on Monday and Tuesday to Assumption Abbey, a Trappist-Cistercian monastery near Ava, MO.? They are200px-stanthony.jpg quite famous for their fruitcakes.? They had several of the clippings in TIME magazine and other news publications on display in the retreat center lobby.

They have a retreat center that is provided for people to come and leave the trappings of this life, including cell phone signal!? There are some very simple rooms and meals provided for a small donation.? You could go to the different masses with the monks, if you could figure out when they were!? I would be a terrible Catholic monk because I was only able to be at one complete service, the evening prayers.? I went several other times and they had already completed the services.? The schedule provided in the rooms were obviously “appoximate” times and they didn’t wait for the retreat guests.

Overall, I had a really great time with the Lord on several hikes in the beautiful Ozarks hills.? Actually only there 23 hours and just when you got acclimated to the routine, it was time to leave. ? The monastic life is quite noble for these men to give their entire lives to God through a quiet life (yes, they speak.)? Actually had a very good conversation with the Abbot, Father Mark.

I have been reading about Sabbath and rest in God.? It was good to go, next time I will carve out more TIME to go.? I could say that about a lot of things.

Tuesday Evening Reflections

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This weekend was a real whirlwind of events. Taylor, Papa Bill, and myself went to a model train show on Saturday morning before the party. Taylor really had a pretty good time even though he couldn’t see the layouts real well because of his height. He was also bummed because he had some money burning a hole in his pocket that I kept refusing to let him buy some overpriced model boxcar. We then came home to his constant begging to get out my old layout to get it to run. It is going to need a lot of work to be back to running–not something a 6 year old wants to hear. All that needs to happen is that it runs . . . and fast!!

Saturday evening we had Taylor’s birthday party at Godfather’s Pizza! Read more

Tuesday Afternoon Reflections

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I have really been enjoying reading about all of the awesome “returns” from churches around the country that had AWESOME Easter weekends! I truly believe that we are all on the same team and that we all win when there are so many people coming to Christ on one day! I know that there are a bunch of churches that were planted on Sunday! How exciting to know that Christ’s bride is growing and reaching more and more people!! Katie Rentfro, former member and MSU grad, is living in Houston, TX and is a part of one of those new church plants that started on Easter Sunday. It is cool to see where God is taking people from even our little place and moving them to be a part of great things. I think the best churches still haven’t been planted yet!
I think something that Mark Batterson said on his blog sums up the weekend for me . . .

One last thought for pastors.

Is it just me or is Easter one of the toughest messages to preach? I think I put a little extra pressure on myself 🙂 And it is so hard to approximate the emotion we ought to feel. I really think the greatest truths are the toughest to put into words! No combination of the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet can adequately praise God for the victory He won over death. That is when you feel most dependent upon the Holy Spirit to do what only the Holy Spirit can do!

I agree wholeheartedly, Mark! I ran into a colleague at the hospital this week and he was talking about how much pressure we put on ourselves on Easter. It really is funny how we put all of our “eggs” (pun intended) in one Easter basket. Around here at CFC, we are a church of young families that go to grandma’s for Easter. History has shown us (and Sunday held true) that we have a lot of visitors on Easter, but they are mainly family members and friends of our people. If history holds true, we will have almost as many people here the next few weeks as we had on Easter. It is really difficult not to get frustrated with this . . . but to trust that it is Resurrection Sunday EVERY WEEK of the year!

I am really excited about the next few weeks as we start our new series called Beyond Limits.

Monday Morning Reflections

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We really had a good day yesterday.? It was good to get back to preaching after Chris did such a great job last week starting this series off with a great message.? I preached on “The Man.”? Jesus is the most loved and hated man in history.? There are so many differing opinions about Jesus from believer and non-believer alike.? I felt like that we need to take an in depth look at this man Jesus.? We are continuing some of the Scriptures that we didn’t get to on the devotional blog.? You will want to check them out.? Read more

Monday Morning Reflections

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Had a great Sunday service yesterday as we started our new series. Chris Jones did a great job batting lead off talking about all of the changes in emotions and attitudes during the week of the Passion. You will want to check out the devos that go along with the messages. After our longer than expected hiatus from the world wide web, we are going to have the daily devotionals going again. There will be Scripture references as the least on the site, so feel free to read along in preparation for Sunday and COMMENT, COMMENT, COMMENT.

I think one of the things that Chris said that is still sticking with me was the DISGUSTING illustration he used to talk about how we need to have a PERSONAL faith. Read more

Monday Evening Reflections

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What a great Sunday! Our attendance was down quite a bit, but I think we had a really good service! Our worship band sounds better each week! Not that it was really bad before! That’s like saying, “boy, have you lost weight? You sure look great!” Makes you wonder if you really looked HORRIBLE before! Ha! It was “Stars Sunday,” so our elementary age kids were out of the service for the whole time, which made the sanctuary seem that much more empty.

God seems to be moving among our people.
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Monday Morning Reflections

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Wow, it was so great to be back in our church on Sunday morning! What was even better was the fact that our staff has been working really hard in getting our First Impressions teams up and going. They hit a home run on Sunday morning!! The band rehearsed at 8 a.m. and were finished and ready to go at 9 a.m.!! That is when about 40 people started showing up to our new prayer time at 9:15 a.m. Heather Payne has so graciously volunteered to watch kiddos for that 45 minute time so that our other teams, First Impressions, Worship team, Sight & Sound, Cafe, Children’s Ministry teams could pray for the services!! Thanks Heather!!

We had several first time guests that I think are going to come back because you guys did such an awesome job in making them feel at home!! Way to go!! Read more

Monday Morning Reflections

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The saying holds true, “you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.” (Sang in the 80s hair band style!) I really missed being together with our people when we had to cancel last week. This Saturday night’s “CORE” was AWESOME! What a great turnout for such an “iffy” weather night! We had well over 50 adults and 19 kiddos. It was so good to see people hanging out before and after the event. Jenny and I had made plans to take the Jackleys out to dinner after Brandon shared with our group and they were left there standing seemingly FOREVER because of everyone standing around talking. It reminds me of the “old days” that still happen quite regularly where we have to “run people out” of the church in order to lock up.

How about Brandon and Jill Jackley’s story of faith and expanding the Kingdom of God through chicken sandwiches!?! What came through, in my opinion, was their heartbeat for missions and evangelism. They actually got out of “ministry” in order to DO ministry and to “build a platform for sharing the gospel!” Wherever you are in life . . . that is your ministry field! How we need to hear that! We often think ministry happens, “out there” somewhere. It happens in our lives, everyday!

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