More Sleigh Bell!

Were the classic Saturday Night Live cowbell sketch with Will Ferrell and Christopher Walken executed in a Christmas setting, Walken would be Arthur Fiedler and Ferrell would be the person who played the sleigh bells on the quintessential Christmas favorite " Sleigh Ride." Of course, Blue Öyster Cult would be the Boston Pops Orchestra. (If you're not familiar with the SNL sketch, click here to see an excerpt at NBC's website. Mild language warning .)

"I've got a fevah (fever)... and the only prescription is more sleigh bell!" Although I'm not sure Arthur Fiedler put it that way, this is what comes across in the Boston Pops recording (link goes to Amazon.com's MP3 store), and although one rarely hears a percussion instrument droning in an orchestral song from start to finish, I'd have a hard time imagining "Sleigh Ride" without it.

The 1867 lithograph "A Brush for the Lead" by Currier and Ives

For this post I made a moderate effort to find the name of the Boston Pops member who played the sleigh bells on this song but I came up empty. If you know, I'd love to hear from you. It's a little odd; the person who has one of the most important parts in the song has gone relatively anonymous since 1949.

Fiedler has enjoyed fame as a conductor, the Boston Pops Orchestra has been in the limelight (if you consider orchestras as being in the limelight), and according to a reference at Wikipedia, "'Sleigh Ride' ... has been performed and recorded by a wider array of musical artists than any other piece in the history of Western music."

But for all that, the sleigh bell player remains an unknown. He did his job, did it quite well, and his effort has assumed its place in history. If he could have foreseen the popularity of the song (written in 1948, lyrics added in 1950), do you think he would have said to himself, "I can't see the benefit for myself in this. It will just promote the conductor, the orchestra, and the record company will make loads while I'll remain a nobody," and as a result decided to let someone else play on the record? I rather doubt it.

Raise your hand if you can tell that I'm about to draw a really obvious parallel here.

As we put our gifts to use as one of many parts of the body of Christ, we are called to play our part and do so to the best of our ability. We are not given direction or license to envy someone who has a seemingly more important role or to have resentment if someone else gets credit for what we think was our work or our accomplishment. That's not easy.

"Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ." - Colossians 3:23-24 (NLT)

"In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary." - 1 Corinthians 12:22 (NLT)

I've got a fevah... and the only prescription is more sleigh bell!

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November Loads of Love

Tomorrow morning -- the first Saturday of the month -- we'll be at Five Points Laundromat in Huntsville, AL for Loads of Love, where we wash clothes for people who could use a hand. What makes tomorrow morning a little different is that we need your physical assistance. Yes, you: the person in the Huntsville, AL area reading this. For a little more info, our flyer sums up Loads of Love:

On November 5 we invite you to Five Points Laundromat (815 Wellman Ave, 35801) to wash and dry your clothes (up to three loads - for blankets and heavy items, one to two loads) free of charge or obligation. Just show up with dirty clothes and we'll provide detergent, fabric softener, bleach, and the washers and dryers so they'll be clean when you leave.

Loads of Love happens the first Saturday of every month, from 8:30 until 11:30 in the morning. Coffee, orange juice, water, and snacks are a part of every Loads of Love event!

Our goal is to develop relationships with people. We want to have the privilege of praying with them, hearing what's going on in their lives, sharing Jesus Christ, and helping them with something that many of us take for granted: washing clothes.

Again, I'm posting this because we need your help. Yes, it's a little last-minute; turns out we're going to be short-handed tomorrow. Would you work with us? We meet at 8:00 at the laundromat, get set up, pray, and start helping people wash their clothes. Click here to e-mail me with questions or to tell me you'd love to help!

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changes

Yes, I have finally arrived. I am earning my proverbial salt as a blogger by using "changes" as the title of a post. You may not know it, but this is a requirement for all bloggers. I think it's in the Super-Secret 13th Level Blogging Handbook somewhere, anyway.

This is life-altering stuff, and since it is in motion and I've told a couple of groups, I wanted to outline it in as much detail as possible so there would be no chance for hearsay, rumor, or speculation of motives. Some of that has started, and mercifully, it's been all good (a rarity!). I will be presenting the high points at Wall Highway on October 11, in case there are those who haven't heard it from the horse's mouth.

Updated note: this post gives personal background and observation which I believe is based fully in fact, and it's highly likely to contain something that will make you mad. If that happens, remember that I didn't write it with you personally in mind. Read what I say, see if it aligns with Scripture, and if it does, you have no reason to get mad. If you don't fit the mold, you have no reason to get mad. If you believe I'm twisting Scripture, you may get mad, and you need to jump in to correct me.

I sometimes wonder if it’s as glaring to anyone besides me that money has become such an important part of the functionality of the Church today that the lack of it throws our servanthood and our ministries into chaos. This is a symptom of the march of “progress” over the past 1,800 years, which has led the Church from being a family of believers with Christ as its head to being a well-structured business defined by people with similar theologies. While the Church hasn’t adapted to our culture in every way, we have adapted to it with alarming excellence in many ways.

With this in mind, about two years ago I began to study the Word more deeply and specifically than I had before, fully expecting God to reveal Himself to me more profoundly than I’d allowed Him to do in the past. I began to pray more fervently, expecting to see God work in mighty ways. In both cases God amazed me.

It seems to me that by and large, our churches have become slaves to their systems of operation rather than bondservants of Christ. As culture has marched forward, the Church has marched forward with it, and all too often the two are linked arm in arm. “…the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.” These words of Paul have been taken to an extreme in the business of church. Isn’t it striking how much of a typical church’s budget doesn’t go toward assisting other struggling church fellowships, caring for widows and orphans, or supporting itinerate ministers and those who carry the Gospel to remote places? To add insult to injury, isn't it also striking that the main thing that goes from our churches toward these areas is money, not people?

Lately this has become all the more stark to me as I’ve learned of church fellowships that have let go of administrative and pastoral staff members due to financial strain, while others not far away are investing money in things like advertising campaigns, property improvements, new buildings, and ministries designed to bring people in for “growth” (as opposed to the Church going out). Unfortunately, this doesn’t even raise an eyebrow among the people of God. While I am not suggesting that one fellowship is more or less Godly than another, on the whole, churches continually prove through their actions that they’re primarily concerned with their own territories to the exclusion and detriment of others that labor for the sake of the Gospel.

(This is typically done with the idea that each church fellowship is called to minister to its specific area in its specific way -- that God has tasked each fellowship with sticking to its own area. While the sheer size of Christianity has necessitated multiple churches in neighboring areas, I maintain that the “territorial” idea isn’t Scriptural either in practice or in concept.)

In Acts 20, Paul talks to the elders of the church at Ephesus: “You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:34-35, NLT, emphasis mine) While he admonishes the Church to care for its elders financially and he accepted one-time monetary gifts on at least two occasions, several times in his letters Paul flatly states that he will not avail himself of this right on an ongoing basis.

In the spirit of Paul’s words, about a year ago it struck me that God had blessed me with a unique possibility: the potential to pastor and lead His people at Wall Highway Baptist Church while financially supporting my family independently. This would also have the benefit of allowing me to live and work daily among people who may not know Christ while still serving the Church in the leadership role to which I’ve been called. My wife and I began to pray about it, but although the idea surfaced a few more times over the year, we never received any word from the Lord or indication that this was a viable option or a step of obedience to Him… until a few weeks ago.

In one specific moment I began to feel a very real sense of urgency that I should move back into the “secular” workforce; that now was the time. That evening I presented the idea to my wife and she was in complete agreement.

Over the next two days I was amazed at the “coincidences” that appeared before me. If I’d had any doubt that this was God’s idea, it would have been completely washed away over those days. The company I spoke with happened to have a position open. Amazingly – and unbeknownst to me at the time – I apparently had a window of opportunity that was open for one single day. It just happened to be the day I followed what I believed the Holy Spirit was telling me to do and talked with them.

In addition to two years of Scripture, prayer, and the uncanny situation surrounding the job, there were two independent confirmations of this direction to me and my wife over the next two or three days from Christ-followers who knew nothing about what was going on.

My family and I do not move forward lightly or with little consideration, but instead we move forward with full confidence in God and in the leading of the Holy Spirit. For many of the 18 years that we have been at Wall Highway, I served the body of Christ bi-vocationally, and I’m excited that I have the opportunity to return to this, beginning in October. I do so with a fresh vision of what the Church should look like and with the amazing opportunity to give my gifts for the building up of the body of Christ without expecting any financial compensation in return.

You may be thinking, “Bi-vocational?? In a church that size [we’re only around 500-600, so it’s not huge], you’re nuts to do this, Dean!” Not if the body of Christ begins to love, fellowship, and live in a Biblical way. Over the course of hundreds and hundreds of years, we have unintentionally moved toward atrophy in the body of Christ by anticipating that a small core of people, either paid staff or "super Christians" among us, will do what God has called all of His people to do (Acts 4:31, Romans 12:6-21, 1 Corinthians 12:7-11, 1 Corinthians 14:26). Ephesians 4:11-16 summarizes how the Church is to work as a body in which everyone functions, and church leaders are called to equip the saints to do God's work - not do it all for them!

It is absolutely critical for me to communicate plainly and directly that in no way am I moving away from the calling God placed on me to serve Him with my particular gifts, and to do so at Wall Highway Baptist Church. This is not a decision to stop serving God in a full-time capacity. “All believers are called into full-time ministry” is a valid phrase that is sometimes heard in Church meetings, but is one that is rarely reinforced by action or example. With a desperate desire to serve my Creator in the most Christ-centered way that I can, and with the full support of my family, this very statement is what I am pleased to continue to fulfill.

Finally, understand that I am not condemning those who earn their living in vocational ministry. (For real. I should probably elaborate more on this, but the post is already miles long...)

I welcome your comments!

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End of the Arrogance

From today's study at InterVarsity Press come these two questions:

1. Who might you be tempted to impress during the next few days?
2. What act of humble service could you do for this person instead?

They're based on Philippians 2, which over the years has become one of my favorite passages. It cleanly and simply summarizes what the life of the believer is to look like.

As you read the words of these verses, imagine that you are a member of the early church at Philippi. The Gospels have not yet been written; your fellowship has been formed based on the apostles' teachings. Paul tells some characteristics of Jesus here; that He was God, yet He became a servant. And he says that we're to imitate Jesus in that way (the sevant part, not the God part). I've emphasized several phrases that stick out to me.

Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.

Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

Though he was God,
    he did not think of equality with God
    as something to cling to.

Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
    he took the humble position of a slave
    and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
    he humbled himself in obedience to God
    and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
    and gave him the name above all other names,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless. But I will rejoice even if I lose my life, pouring it out like a liquid offering to God, just like your faithful service is an offering to God. And I want all of you to share that joy. Yes, you should rejoice, and I will share your joy.

- Philippians 2:1-18, NLT

Again, the two questions:

1. Who might you be tempted to impress during the next few days?
2. What act of humble service could you do for this person instead?

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Dying vs. Doing

During a discussion with my friend (and our youth pastor at Wall Highway) Tom a couple of days ago, he said something that I found very compelling. Neither concept was unfamiliar. In fact, they're both integral to the life of the person who follows Christ, but I'd not necessarily thought of them as competing concepts. To be sure, they aren't at their core, but often we let one overrule the other in our lives

He said something like this: "Living to serve God daily may not be so much about 'What can I do for you today, Lord?' as, 'How can I die to myself today, Lord?'"

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. - Galatians 4:24-25 (NLT)

There is no wrong in asking God how we can more perfectly serve Him by doing. As a matter of fact, I'm convinced that relatively few followers of Christ do this with enough regularity. However, unless we die to our selfish desires daily by the power of the Holy Spirit -- with intentional effort on our part -- our works are bound to be polluted by what we bring to the table.

That all sounds very churchy, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it can sterilize the concept so much that we can't relate to it. I've seen "selfish desire" in myself in the the way I guard my time to the point of being rabid about it. Dying to that selfish desire might not be particularly fun for me, because it may involve me physically serving someone when I'd intended to sit on the couch and watch SpongeBob. In that case, "dying vs. doing" may oddly involve both.

In another case, I might be so consumed with a ministry activity or event that once the ball gets rolling I lose sight of its original focus (which had better be seeing Jesus Christ magnified/glorified). I'm convinced that this probably happens more often than not in most organized church activities.

Every personality type will have a different area of self that must die. This sounds awful, but it's probably going to be a slow death: "Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." (Romans 12:2, NLT, emphasis mine)

Transformation is a process far more often than it's an epiphany.

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The Privilege of Servanthood

I'm going to have the privilege of preaching at Wall Highway on April 26 when our senior pastor is out of town. I've been asking God to show me what He wants me to speak about to His people and those who don't know Him.

I'm leaning toward the thing that C. S. Lewis wrote about in chapter 21 of The Screwtape Letters -- the fact that we regard our time as our own, and consider it an affront to us if someone does something that robs us of "our" time or inconveniences us.

The funny thing is that it hit me last night as I wearily got home after our second night of revival services that I've been bordering on being guilty of that sentiment the past couple of weeks. I've had numerous 13-16-hour "work" days, and I've thought, "I need a break." I'm not stressed out, I haven't been neglecting my family, and nothing's wrong other than the fact that I'm physically tired. But I've been tempted to get into "I pity myself" mode -- that place where I tell myself that I deserve some tangible reward or some return for all my hard work.

Last night it dawned on me that I've had the privilege of spending myself of serving my Master more than usual; I'm actually allowed to devote my life to speaking into the lives of many, many people for the purpose of showcasing God's mercy, His grace, His forgiveness, and the fantastic joy that comes from knowing Him and serving Him. If I want to tell people about Christ, help little old ladies across the road, or sit and pray for 48 hours straight, no one will stop me -- I have the liberty and freedom to do that. This can't be said of people in many places on earth.

With that realization, I'm all the more fired up and determined to make use of that great privilege. This is what I want to do! The reward for serving God is knowing that I have the great privilege of serving God. I hope that you'll see the same opportunity in your daily routine.

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Firewood

This weekend I'm planning to take firewood to some people with an urgent need for it. I'd like to ask for donations of wood from those of you in the Huntsville, AL area. You don't have to donate a truckload or anything; any amount will do. Your donations will help this group who can't afford to buy wood or arrange for its delivery.

You can either e-mail me using the tab at the top of this page, or you can post a comment and I'll follow up with you.

Here's just one passage that's motivated me: "What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, 'Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well'—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?" (James 2:14-16, NLT)

James is actually not solely focusing on helping the poor in this passage. Rather, he uses feeding and clothing the poor as just one example of the broader picture of a living faith versus a dead faith. It doesn't just apply to a little niche thing that we do, and it's not instruction to soothe our consciences by performing one act of kindness. Rather, this sort of selflessness is to characterize everything that we do -- selflessly serving not only the poor, but people like our spouse, our boss, our annoying neighbor, etc.

You may find that in applying these verses, you'll be helping a different person or set of people than I might; individuals unique to your sphere of influence, but I'm sure you're going to find yourself doing something. Whatever the case, I encourage you to look for the opportunity today. Don't ever let yourself say, "I really need to do that..." and then do nothing about it.

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Appreciation Into Idolatry

I was hunting for some miscellaneous "worship team" resources yesterday and came across one church fellowship's website. I noticed that the worship leader's name was inserted at a number of places around the site, and the stray thought hit me, "Wow, this guy has an ego." And then I chided myself for assuming anything like that, because I know nothing about the guy other than he apparently likes to be in charge of things and write music, which is all fine.

So I visited his blog. He was actually very down-to-earth and focused on following Christ and leading the Church in worship, and if his writing is anything like his heart, he doesn't have much of an ego problem at all. He sounded a lot like me. (Bada-boom! That was a joke, all...)

I read further and noted that the comments at one of his posts were from members at his church fellowship. They said things like, "I appreciate the way you mix styles of music," "Your faithfulness is a testimony," "Your team of musicians regularly leads us into the presence of the Lord," "We're blessed to have you," and things like that. Without splitting hairs, these things are good. I'm sure that every lead worshipper would love to hear things like that said of him or her.

However, being able to look at another fellowship from the outside-in reminded me that this -- focusing on how well someone performs their ministry duties or serves God and His people -- is a dangerously easy way to develop a cult of personality, and it made me wonder the extent to which this may have developed at my own church without any of us there really realizing it. I've heard it said that the most effective lie is based on the truth -- this is the same type of situation; Satan grabs the good things and twists them to sow seeds of things like idolatry.

"It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building." (1 Corinthians 3:7-9, NLT)

As a church leader, I speak from the heart when I say that a church fellowship isn't about its leaders. A group of believers should not be built around, or because of, the personality of a person, their style of Bible teaching, their musical skill (or style), genuine heart, or any other good thing.

Should it?

If it's been built up that way, how can it be fixed? Ask the leaders to start doing a really crummy job at everything?

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"Cynicism" -- Say it Ten Times Fast

"What is the most Christ-like thing that I could do (or not do) in this situation?"

One of the reasons I started this blog was to get Christ-followers to begin to ask this kind of question to themselves regularly. Its answer may or may not fall in line with what you've picked up over the years. A corollary to the non-Scriptural statement "God helps those who help themselves" (see Romans 5:6, not Poor Richard's Almanack) may be the statement, "I will only help those who help themselves." Our response to seeing someone in need, sometimes not in so many words (I don't think we're honest with ourselves sometimes), may be like this:

"He made his own bed, now he should lie in it."
"I would just be enabling him."
"That situation is a direct result of his sin."
"He needs to learn the hard way."
"Nobody helped me when I was in that situation. I had to rely on myself." (Or more pompously, "I had to rely on God.")
"He should have known better."

Each of these statements is the product of selfishness and anger; not wanting to dispense something that we think we've never received.

While our "job" may, from time to time, include helping people to learn to do things for themselves, our primary task as Christ-followers is not to convict people of sin (see John 16:8 for starters) or to leave them in a situation that may be of their own making -- for instance, the traveler in Luke 10:30-37 should probably have taken along traveling companions, but that didn't prevent the Good Samaritan from helping him. Our privilege is to live in obedience to Christ in day-to-day life, to show people that we love them like Christ loves them, and to spread ("preach") the Word.

Obey the simple truths of the Word without over-analyzing them. As we get older, we don't necessarily get wiser -- we can actually begin to use our past experiences and their resulting lessons as crutches.

Never mistake cynicism for widsom.

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On Being a Servant

On a long drive the other day I listened to about four hours' worth of sermons by Francis Chan. I think I most appreciate his genuineness and boldness in speaking in a point-blank manner about what the Word of God says, regardless of whether or not it will offend. This seems very natural, but many preachers don't speak with this candor.

I'd like to borrow a small segment of something he said in one of his sermons.

Today every Christ-follower should wake up and ask God, "What do You want me to do today?" However, it's likely that most of us will wake up and say, "I have some things that I would like to do today, and I pray God helps me."

In this scenario, God becomes a means to us rather than the end.

What an honor it is that the Creator has chosen us to be a part of something He has going on, even in the smallest possible way. We should consider the act of service itself to the King to be our reward; not some good thing that may possibly or hopefully come to us because we have faithfully served Him.

"When a servant comes in from plowing or taking care of sheep, does his master say, ‘Come in and eat with me’? No, he says, ‘Prepare my meal, put on your apron, and serve me while I eat. Then you can eat later.’ And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Of course not. In the same way, when you obey me you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.’"
- Jesus, Luke 17:7-10 (NLT)

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