Tag: pastors

  • Worth fighting for

    The last few days I’ve been following the story of Shaun King, an Atlanta church planter and friend of YS, who recently discovered his former boss & pastor has admittedly molested and raped some children.* After doing some further research Shaun learned that other church leaders were aware of the situation but remained silent.

    Not Shaun. He took to Twitter to expose the problem. Here’s how he kicked things off:

    Bishop Johnathan Alvarado of Total Grace Christian Center is a child molester. In the name of Jesus I declare this must end RIGHT NOW. @shaunking – March 13th, 2011

    Here is the crux of his demand:

    I have heard the worst, learned of his admission of guilt, yet he continues to serve and preach. Kids get the raw end of this deal. No more. @shaunking – March 13th, 2011

    And he didn’t back down from there. He has continued to press on. Laying out his case and defending it with more evidence. Even if you don’t like Twitter, please take a few minutes to read through Shaun’s tweets from the past few days.

    You will see righteous anger in action. As he says, “I will STAND FOR KIDS 100 out of 100 times.”

    It is the embodiment of Ephesians 5:11-13:

    Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.

    I know many are offended by Shaun, his tactics, and think that he is somehow giving the church a bad name. Are you kidding me? If these allegations are true, (and it seems the pastor admitted to them) young men were raped, families paid off, and the pastor went right on preaching? That’s a disgrace and we need to applaud Shaun for speaking out! To be silent, to deal with that in private, is disturbing. If you’ll protect a rapist… who wouldn’t you protect?

    This morning I’m asking for 3 things:

    1. Pray for Shaun, Rai, and his kids. Pray for the victims and their families. Many in church circles are denouncing Shaun for speaking out. And sadly other people have sent him death threats. Pray that God protects Shaun as he stands in the gap for children in his community. Pray that justice prevails, not in the court of public opinion, but in a court of law.
    2. Reflect on the types of things worth fighting for in your life. What are things that you, as a child of God, would cause you to stand up and fight for, putting your reputation on the line for, even to the point of receiving death threats as you expose light to darkness?
    3. Act, act, act. I believe there are countless stories like this hidden in the confines of the church today. Expose them. Today. There is a devil-inspired lie that “true believers” settle things without the courts involvement. I’ve even heard people say that it’s a sin to sue a church. That is a lie. Examine 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 yourself. Rape is not trivial. Breaking the law is not trivial. Extortion is not trivial. On and on. Examine the context and reason Paul wrote those words. But yet this untruth has lead to countless victims and the continued victimization by people originally called to represent Jesus. Expose them. Do not take refuge in the reality that God will judge them. It is your responsibility as a believer to bring light to dark places. Search your heart, discover what is worth fighting for, and act. Today.

    *I’ll admit in sharing this story that I’m confused on some of the details. I don’t know how a person can rape children and settle that in court without criminal charges against the accused. I firmly believe that a person is innocent until proven guilty. If someone could help me understand Shaun’s statements that the person has admitted guilt and not received a criminal complaint, please enlighten me. Is this a statute of limitations thing?

  • Listen to the Right People

    A big mouth doesn’t always equal an effective mouth

    Photo by sroemerm via Flickr (Creative Commons)

    One thing I’ve noticed happening in Christian-land these days is that there are a lot of voices saying quotable things about stuff they have no clue about.

    The biggest one, something I’d label a pet peeve, is people who have successfully planted a megachurch trying to teach people in existing churches how to change their church culture.

    It’s all a big misunderstanding.

    Let’s face this one reality– A guy who planted a church and it grew to 10,000+ members cannot possibly help a 100 year old church of 300 who is struggling. Nor can they help a church plant that started in a house with 25 people and has grown to 200. Or a church that was once 1000 but is now 85.

    Let’s face a second reality– If a person is a wonderful communicator of biblical truth they are not likely a prophet to your struggling ministry. They don’t know a single solitary thing about your situation. Nada, zip, zilch. If you had the chance to meet them they might tell you the same thing. They are probably impressed with what God does through their ministry, too. But that doesn’t mean squat to your church context.

    Do take their words of encouragement personally. But let’s face it, they don’t know how to fix your church.

    Should I try to change my church?

    Of course! Just make sure, when you need advice, you listen to people who have actually done what you are trying to do.

    • Hire a consultant. Having an outside expert come over a series of months is probably the best and fastest thing you can do to systemically change a church. A neutral third party can be the best money you’ll ever spend.
    • Get to know people. It shocks me how fast newly hired church leaders want to move. Most church issues are based in culture. Over-eager church leaders will try to change stuff without understanding the culture enough… thus making the problem worse. Then they quit and leave the mess to someone else to clean up.
    • Become the expert on your community. You have the one advantage that truly makes a difference. You are there. When you read a book, article, or hear a message, everything you take in should be screened through the matrix of your unique church culture. Something you hear can be a fantastic idea– but a complete disaster in your culture. Become the expert of your community. (Which means spending decreasing time in the office and increasing time meeting the people you are trying to reach.)
    • Innovation is always welcome. I’ve never been in a church where new ideas were frowned upon. The trick in a church is how you implement an innovation. If people spent half the time on implementation that they spend on generating new ideas they’d be a lot better off.
    • Fools GoldPhoto by sportwrapper via Flicker (Creative Commons)

      Focus on transforming the people you have. The people in your church already have access to the people you want to reach. A popular speaker says, “You need to focus more on reaching than keeping.” That phrase shocks me. It sounds brilliant but is incredibly rude. Do you want to go to that church? I know I don’t. Rather than focusing on shedding people you don’t like why not focus on teaching in such a way that transforms those people’s hearts? Why not pray for those who are your enemies that they might become your allies? You don’t turn around a church by shedding all the people. You turn around a church by transforming people’s hearts around a common vision.

    • It’s about we not you. When I read books and listen to speakers I’m shocked at how little value they give to the leaders of their congregation. When a leader starts to say “this is my vision” everyone should automatically know that this person isn’t leading people. Vision is inclusive.
    • Measure the right things. Do measure stuff. Just make sure you measure the right stuff. I can’t believe how many people are upset with their congregations because they are measuring stuff like butts in seats and dollar bills. We both know those aren’t Kingdom measurements.

  • A Pastor Who Gets It

    There’s a tiny amount of cynicism when you hang out with church leaders. We have a hard job and it comes out in funny ways.

    That guy just doesn’t get it.

    There are lots of conversations where church leaders don’t get it. Talk to any associate level pastoral staff member, church secretary, maintenance person, van driver, or ministry volunteer and you’ll hear it. “My pastor doesn’t get it.”

    And, in all fairness, the job is too big to “get everything.” You simply have to chose what to “get” and what to “punt” on.

    In my world when a pastor doesn’t get it— that usually means that the suck at all things computer related.

    How these people got through seminary I’ll never know! But I’ve met too many pastors who can’t use Microsoft Office or manage their email or find stuff using Google.

    And when it comes to social media– some pastors get it but most don’t. Facebook, Twitter, blogging, live broadcasts online… they glaze over as I talk about these things!

    And yet over and over again, when I meet with pastors, they tell me “I want to get it.”

    This is precisely why I contacted Doug and Tony over at JoPa productions and asked them to bring Pastors’ Social Media Bootcamp to San Diego next week.

    Pastors want to get it. Let’s make sure they get the training they need to get it.

  • Social Media Training for Pastors Coming to San Diego

    I bump into church staff all over San Diego County who have the same question, “I hear that social media is a great way to reach people, but I don’t know how to get started, and I don’t have a lot of time to figure it out.”

    Youth pastors. Church planters. Senior pastors. They all have the same questions!

    I love the heart behind that question! It shows an earnest desire to try to reach people in their community, but also acknowledges a need for some basic training.

    So when I saw that Doug Pagitt and Tony Jones had put together a one-day training seminar which teaches church staff the basics of blogging, Twitter, Facebook, and live streaming your church service— I knew I wanted to bring them to San Diego.

    I love training church staff over coffee, but the truth was that there are way more pastors who need help on this stuff that time that I have to train them over a cup of coffee. This way is just a lot better and more thorough than I can handle. (Plus, Kristen says I get goofy when I drink too much coffee)

    The first half of the day talks about social media philosophy and the second half is nuts and bolts of getting started. In talking to them about the content, this is entry-level– right where most pastors are. The feedback from participants in other cities has been fantastic.

    I hope to see you (or your boss) there!

    Here are the details:

    Date: March 9th, 2010
    Time: 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
    Location: Christ Lutheran Church – Pacific Beach
    Registration cost: $95, lunch included
    All the details are right here
    Presenters: Doug Pagitt and Spencer Burke

  • Do Ministry Leaders Need a Social Media Presence?

    Photo by Flickr user hoyasmeg (creative commons)
    Photo by Flickr user hoyasmeg (creative commons)

    Seth Godin answers his own question:

    What is the reason social media is so difficult for most organizations? It’s a process and not an event. Events are easier to manage, pay for and get excited about. Processes build results for the long haul. link

    Why do pastors and other church leaders need a social media presence?

    • The world is full of fakes. Because of the public sin of so many who lead large ministries, there is a general suspicion of all people in church leadership.
    • The people in your congregation want to know if you are a fake. They show up, so on some level they believe in you. They are watching your life to validate what you say.
    • The people in your community already think you are a fake. You need to prove them wrong.

    If you need a biblical justification for investing your time and energy in social media, look no further than the incarnation of Jesus. John 1:14 says, “He came and dwelt among the people.” The way church is run today… pastors do not dwell among the people. They dwell among their flock and their offices. (2-3% of the population of your community is hardly “the people.”) Look at the example of all of the Apostles in the New Testament. They all dwelt among the people. Most of them worked vocationally in the cities they ministered in.

    A public presence, 1 hour per week, preaching in front of an audience, is simply not enough of a presence to know if you are fake or not. The fact is, if that’s all people see of you than they know you must be fake.

  • Ministers Need Friends

    Photo by LabyrinthX via Flickr
    Photo by LabyrinthX via Flickr

    This may come as a shock to people who go to church– but being a church leader is a very lonely job. Sure, if you work in a church with a large staff it probably isn’t that lonely since you have co-workers who can become friends. But by-and-large, friends are hard to come by for ministers.

    Loneliness is a major issue for church staff.

    Reasons

    1. It’s hard to be friends with parishioners. Kristen and I have been fortunate in this regard, but by-and-large it is really hard to truly be friends with people in your church. You can be acquaintances, but you’ll never get to the point where you can go out for a laugh (or a beer) and lament about work sucking. (or just share “real life.” You have to be guarded.)
    2. It’s hard to find people wired like you. Even in large cities, there aren’t many people wired quite like a pastor.
    3. It’s hard to be friends since work hours are weird. I’ve not met a person who worked in a church who kept 9-5 type hours. It’s always that plus a bunch of nights out… randomly scattered. Makes it tough to be friends.
    4. It’s hard to have a life outside of the four walls of a church. The reason so much is said and written about balance and rest for church workers is that they suck at balance and resting! The job is just too demanding.

    Solutions

    1. Understand that this isn’t optional. For your long-term health as a minister in the community, you require friendships. (Not church acquaintances) You require true friendship outside of the church, in your local community.
    2. Seek permission from your supervisors. This sounds like a silly step, but you may need to hear “get a life” from your boss or board to make this a reality. If they’ve been a leader in the church for a while they will know that if you have good friendships locally you are more likely to stay in the community a lot longer. But if you are lonely, you will be a poor leader and in your boredom you’ll start looking for a job elsewhere.
    3. You aren’t in ____, so get over it. I know you are probably from somewhere you liked better. And you have friends who are in those places. That’s not helping you. Get over it and get to know some people in your community. God planted you where you are, He is smarter than you are, you need to suck it up and make friends.
    4. Do something outside the church. How did I make friends when I was in full-time church ministry? I volunteered to coach the golf team, I joined a golf league, a started participating in local politics. I wasn’t looking for 1,000 friends, just a few people who didn’t go to my church that I could be “just Adam” with and not “Pastor Adam.”
    5. Meet up with your long-time best friends once per year. Meet up at a conference, go away hunting, go on vacation together, go visit them for the Holidays… just do something where for a few days you can be with your long-time friends.

  • Update on the Dare

    the_double_dog_dare-artSix weeks ago I threw down the gauntlet and challenged pastors to get out of their offices and meet the people that go to their church, on their turf. My post, A Dare for Pastors, has been read, shared, linked to, commented on, and forwarded a few thousand times.

    Here are a few of my favorite responses:

    1. A senior pastor who commented on Monday Morning Insight that I was insulting the role of his sermon by saying he should either wing it or let Craig Groschell preach by video. Take this as someone who sits in the pews and occasionally preaches, actions speak louder than words. I guarantee you that your message that week, with little to no prep time, will be more memorable than 90% of sermons you preach the rest of the year. That week every person in the church will know that you lived out the Gospel more than you shared the Gospel. I’ll further the insult by the way. If your pastor claims to spend 20+ hours on a 30 minute sermon each week, he/she clearly not using time wisely. 6 years of education, years of experience, and a 30 minute message takes all week? My message prep takes no more than 5 hours. 8 hours if I have to do some hardcore research. You know we have the internet, right? 20 hours of prep time! Does that involve 2 rounds of golf?

    2. A good friend of mine who speaks around the country emailed me and asked if he could steal my idea and challenge church leaders to take the dare. I think that’s an awesome idea. The more church leaders who meet their people in their context, the better ministries will be as a result.

    3. Several pastors have emailed me to tell me that they are taking the dare. I know of two churches who will shut their doors to staff and force them to spend 5 half days with the people in their workplaces. I can’t wait to hear the results! The dare is still open. Need help pulling it off? Let me know.

    I can’t wait to update more on this dare later in the summer.