From the Hawaian anniversary trip

Can you find us in the picture?

Measuring in the church

What's really important to measure in the spiritual realm? In the local church? Sometimes the answers are easy, but the implementation is not.
The following is a brief excerpt from a compelling 15 page report on this topic from Leadership Network.

“Today, people in our churches—and especially young people—want to devote their lives to a cause that’s bigger than themselves,” observes Ken Fong, pastor of Evergreen Baptist Church in Los Angeles, CA. Ken realizes the opportunity for pastors to enflame and direct the devotion of people in their churches, but also, he is aware of a significant change that needs to occur. He observes, “In our church, we’ve had to change what we measure. We no longer use size as our primary metric. Instead, we spend time and effort analyzing the compelling intangibles of the Spirit’s work: devotion, love, and obedience.” [italics added]
Kevin Doi, pastor of Epic Church in Fullerton, CA, suggests that the analysis of metrics needs to go back to the basics. “When we look at the Great Commandment to ‘make disciples,’ ” he reflects, “we need to ask if our time, energy and resources are being invested in the things Jesus values.” Kevin believes that the church must be evaluated on the metric of making committed, invested, serving disciples—and nothing less. “Every meeting we have, every plan we make, and every dollar we spend is analyzed by how well we invite people to develop a real relationship with Jesus and inspire them to live for him in their world.”

You can view the entire article here. I welcome your comments below.

The feet of Judas

You’re probably familiar with the story of Jesus’ washing his disciples’ feet. To be frank, it’s not something I would naturally do. It was demeaning and degrading. It was serving in its most raw and unfiltered form. So this week I was reading the story again (in John 13), and I noticed something. Before John tells us about the footwashing, he says this:

The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. (John 13:2)

So before Jesus picks up the towel to serve these guys, he already knows that one of them is bent on betrayal. Can you imagine what it would be like to be washing the feet of someone who was scheming to turn you in? I suspect most of us would have just skipped over Judas, and gone on to the next disciple.

But Jesus serves Judas anyway. He serves the guy who’s going to hand him over. I’m glad I don’t have to make that choice of whether or not I’ll wash Judas’ feet. But I do have a choice to make, and so do you. The choice is to serve those around us, regardless of their “worthiness.” After all, it's impossible to love others without serving them.

Turning Vision Into Action

Mark & Jeannette share the challenging vision of how we can work together and make Chapter Two happen!

The Power of One Prayer

So here's the 30 day challenge that we're taking at Seneca Creek. Spend the next month bringing the power of prayer to focus on what is important to God. What are HIS plans and purposes? Since he created us, maybe he knows what's really important. And if we can understand what's important to God, then we'll be able to see what's important for us. To help do that, we're encouraging everyone to use the following prayer, based on Colossians 1:9-13

God, I pray that you would fill me with the knowledge of your purposes & will. I pray you would do this so that I could live a life worthy of you, and please you in every way. I pray that my life be characterized by good deeds, by personal spiritual growth, by godly strength to patiently endure, and by joyful gratitude

This prayer could start a revolution in your life! So why not give it a try? What do you have to lose? I can't wait to see what God will do.

Wasted?

It happened again. I was reading a very familiar story from Jesus' life. And I saw something I'd never seen before. And in that moment God spoke into my life. Not with a "voice from heaven" like in the movies, but clear and unmistakable nonetheless. The story is where Jesus feeds the 5,000 with two fish, and five barley loaves from one little boy's lunch. It's actually the only one of Jesus' miracles that occurs in all four of the gospel accounts (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). And as John is telling what happened, he points out that the disciples distributed this little lunch and everyone had as much as they wanted. Then comes the verse I've missed for 50 years.

When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." (John 6:12)

Let nothing be wasted. I suppose you could argue that Jesus was the ultimate environmentalist, or conservationist. You could say he was being green. You could say he was thinking about all the starving children in Africa. But I think there's something else going on here. I think Jesus was more concerned about wasting the impact of his miracle (and his message) than about wasting the leftover bread. That bread was now going to go back to thousands of homes. And the stories would be told for days to come. People would invite all their friends and neighbors. "Come, look at this piece of bread...come see the evidence of this man called Jesus!" And the story would be told again and again. And people would be drawn to Jesus. And the miracle would not be wasted in any way. "Let nothing be wasted."

You probably haven't experienced a work of God quite like the feeding of the 5,000. But when I talk with people just like you and me, I realize that God is working. He's changing attitudes. He's changing priorities. He's healing relationships. He's answering prayers. He's providing hope and joy. He's deploying your gifts into the world. And in each of these situations, I think Jesus would say the same thing he did 2,000 years ago: "Let nothing be wasted!"

The work God has done in your life can help encourage someone else. It can inspire others to hang in there. To pray another day. To step out in faith. To serve despite their fears. To start a conversation without having all the answers. Don't let your story be wasted. Who you gonna tell?

Do not disturb?

A guy in my dorm at college used to sleep with the window open during the Chicago winters to simulate "missionary training." (He did other crazy things I won't mention here.) He's one of the few people I know who did NOT subscribe to the principle that "Comfort is king." When we're honest, we kinda LIKE that principle. We LIKE being comfortable.

But I don't think God subscribes to that principle very often. Last Sunday at Seneca Creek was an example. Thanks to the International Justice Mission, we heard about the injustice around the world in the form of bonded slavery, child prostitution, and more. And we were brought face to face with the very UNCOMFORTABLE reality that WE are God's plan to bring down the barriers which make it difficult for people to believe that there is a God who cares about them. It made me (and probably everyone there) uncomfortable to see the kind of oppression and injustice that is occurring in 2009. If you missed last Sunday, check out the recording here.

I think God uses those kinds of uncomfortable moments to help us move to action. Let me ask you this: When was the last time God disturbed you? When was the last time your comfort zone was pierced by the prompting of God? If you can't remember when that was, I challenge you to remove the "Do Not Disturb" sign from your life. Here's how to do that. Pray the following prayer every day for a week: "God, please change me." Then get ready, because God will answer that prayer. He will "disturb" you. Your life will never be the same. And you'll never regret it for one second!