northpoint notes

I was rearranging books on my book shelf recently (making room for more books) and noticed specific themes to my collection. The majority of the books (besides reference works) fall into about four categories: prayer; discipleship/spiritual formation; church growth/health and leadership.

One entire shelf is on leadership – some are motivational encouraging the reader to face their fears; make decisions and lead. Others are how-to books – how to bring about change; communicate vision and motivate people. There are a few that talk about the character of a leader.

I have several copies of another book that is often quoted to teach leadership, yet it speaks very little, if any, about leadership. It is an old book originally written in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic. It speaks more about following than about leading – about submission rather than dominance – about God’s plan rather than personal vision. It speaks more about giving up control than taking control.

When Israel wanted a king, God was grieved but granted their wish. Until Saul, God had been their King. Through a succession of kings, Israel moved further and further from God.

I sometimes wonder if the church has sought for kings and God has graciouslygranted her request. As kings, we created visions and strategies and stuctures. We build great institutions but have we heard from God and become the Church God envisioned or have we build the churches we have envisioned?

When I look at leaders in the Scriptures, I see first of all followers – men who listened to God – who were often reluctant to lead but God used them. Perhaps the greatest quality of Christian leaders is their ability to hear the voice of God and follow it.

Do Christian leaders lead or does God use them to create an atmosphere for Him to work through the rest of the body of Christ?

I have been in Christian leadership for many years. I have written mission/vision statements and planned multi-year strategies. Right now I am watching several people step up and do ministry – not because it was part of my great vision but because God put a passion in their hearts. That passion is consistent with Scripture and I (and the rest of the formal leadership) are stepping back and blessing these ministries. It seems to be a God-thing in their lives.

There are places where leaders need to lead but in the Church we mostly need people who will follow – follow the call of God on their lives.

I love the Olympics. I love watching people push their human limits. I love the stories behind the athletes – the sacrifices it took to get to Beijing. I love living the competition vicariously. I am amazed at Michael Phelps’ accomplishments in the pool; the precision of the gymnasts and the intensity of the volley ball matches.

Being a recreational runner, I tend to be most interested in foot races. I loved watching the marathons (men’s and women’s) while my wife yawned her way through. Names of many of the runners have escaped me but I watched the Romanian pull away from the rest of the pack and run most of the women’s marathon alone. She ran with such strength and consistency.

Then there was the men’s marathon. A Kenyan eventually took the lead and seemed to sprint into the stadium for those final few hundred yards. I have never run at that pace – even for a short distance – even when I was young…but every time I run, I picture the form, the ease and the effort and I know I can run farther, and faster and stronger in spite of the fact that the number of new calendars I have seen works against me.

I watched in amazement as Usain Bolt – from Jamaica – raced for gold. How could a man that big launch himself onto the track with such power and maintain such speed? While I dream of faster times, I will never be Usain Bolt.

• I’m at least 6 inches shorter – making my stride shorter as well
• I have never been a sprinter – and never really wanted to be
• I wouldn’t look good in an Olympic style running suit
• I had a pair of track shoes once and didn’t like them
• I have never liked starting blocks
• Besides, I have seen many more calendar pages than Usain Bolt.

There is a similarity – like Bolt, I still try to do better – even though I know my best running years are past, I still strive to do my best – not because I have anything to prove but because I can.

As a Christ-follower, I know that I am not like Him. I fall short in so many ways and yet I strive to learn from Him that I might be more like Him. Jesus once told His followers that a student is not above his teacher but when He is fully trained, he will be like his teacher.

There are limitations on my body that make it impossible for me to ever be like Usain Bolt. There are no limitations to what Christ can do in my life to make me more like Him.

Biblical parables are intended to convey a spiritual truth – quite often it is something about the Kingdom of God – sort of a peak in the window at what the Kingdom is like.

I am looking at the parable of the good Samaritan and trying to understand the dynamics, truths and ramifications. It is obviously a story about compassion, (lack of compassion – priest and Levite), redemption, going the extra mile, helplessness, grace, mercy, etc.

I have heard numerous sermons on this parable and in each one the priest and Levite look bad and the Samaritan looks good. The man beside the road is seldom mentioned.

I thought about that man today. He was wounded, robbed of his possessions, helpless. - would likely have died without the intervention of the Samaritan. We have all seen people who look and act like the Levite and priest in the story. We have also seen Samaritans, willing to give the shirt off their back to help someone in need.

Who have I seen that looks like the Samaritan? In the story, the one who looks most like the Samaritan is the lawyer who is questioning Jesus – questions that prompted the story in the first place. Here was a man asking for help – how can I have eternal life? His religious training wasn’t helping him. His religious practice wasn’t giving him assurance. There were still doubts in his mind. While it says he came to test Jesus, the question is interesting. Why not ask about some point of the law?

Here was a man fully trained in the law; most likely faithful at the local synagogue but was unsure about eternal questions. Here was a man who, like the man beside the road in the story, could not help himself; could not rely on his relgious views or practices. From all appearances he had it all together. He was a man carrying around the wounds of life – looking good but dying inside. What Jesus showed him was that all of his efforts could not save Him. It would take a Redeemer – Someone unexpected to bind His wounds and do for Him what he could not do for himself.

The man on the side of the road looks a lot like me – in need of a Rescuer to do for me what I can’t do for myself.

There are many walking wounded in my world. People who look good on the outside but who need a touch from the Redeemer.

I recently mapped out a new route for my regular 5 mile runs. Today was the second time for the new path. I was a bit disappointed the first time I ran it because my time seemed slow. I assumed that perhaps my measurement was not accurate – that I was actually running a bit further than 5 miles. I ran the same route again this morning. At the half-way mark I was even slower than I had been on Tuesday. If it took as long to run the 2 1/2 miles back as it did to run the first 2 1/2 my total time would be at least 30 seconds slower than before. 30 seconds is not a lot of time to most people but anything slower is frustrating.

I started the return trip. I looked at my watch at several check points and realized that I was actually running slightly faster on the return trip. In fact by the time I reached home, I had finished the second half of the run 46 seconds faster than the first half. My overall time was 16 seconds faster than I had run on Tuesday.

Negative splits are not easy to achieve. Most runners (including me) start out too fast or don’t account for hills and expend too much energy in the first half of a run. Then there is not enough energy to finish the second half well.

I am well into the second half of life’s run. I don’t want this second half to be faster than the first. I want to run this second half better than the first. I am trying to quantify what that might look like. For example, I want to be:

• More generous
• Less self-centered
• More intentional in making disciples
• More prayerful
• Focused more on people than programs
• Less fearful to take steps of faith
• More confident in God’s leading
• More encouraging of others
• More available to family and friends
• Less concerned about making “my mark”
• A better listener to God and others

Negative splits is about running the second half faster. It doesn’t mean the first half was run poorly or too slow. In fact, running negative splits may mean you have run the first half just right. As I look at the second half, I can easily see mistakes in the first half. I am trying to make those corrections so that the second half is better.

What would make your second half better than the first?

I continue to reflect on Jesus’ training of the 12 disciples. It has several facets – two of which I have mentioned previously but will touch on again.

1. He taught them ministry skills – the how to stuff – healing the sick, blessing children, making weddings special, associating with tax collectors and sinners in general.

2. He taught them what to believe – correcting false teaching with words like, “you have heard that it was said, but I say to you…” He helped them see the connection between the words of the prophets and what was happening in their own world.

3. There was another part of the training that was so critical. I think it is a bit more complicated. He built into them character – He changed their hearts. He confronted Peter’s pride at not wanting his feet washed. He took three of them to a mountain where he was “transfigured” before them.

He gave them the Holy Spirit to equip and empower them for ministry and to guide them as they did ministry.

I fear, we have spent far more time on the first two arms of Jesus’ methodology. We developed classes so people can identify their gifts; then we train them to use the gifts. We have developed Bible classes to be certain that our people have sound doctrine. We have even divided the Church in our attempts to be right in doctrine.

I fear we have spent too little time teaching people to walk in the Spirit – to listen for and hear His voice. We have spent more time training people than praying they would be filled with God’s Spirit who would equip them for ministry.

It seems we have moved away from Jesus’ instructions when He sent His disciples out. He told them to take nothing for the journey and not to worry about what they were going to say.

Have we transferred our confidence from the Holy Spirit to our training seminars and Bible classes?

Is the North American church weak because we have neglected the work of the Holy Spirit in favor of things we have more control over?

What constitutes a good day? For several friends of mine, a good day would be relief from the side-effects of chemo. In the same vein, a good day would be receiving a report that cancer was in remission.

Getting a job offer would be a good day for the man who has been unemployed for weeks or months or even years.

Depending on our point of view, circumstances, stage of life or state of being, any number of things could make it a good day; a day without conflict; a day without pain; a day without war; a day with plenty of food and water; a day without having to change a toddler’s diaper; a day without getting caught in traffic; a day with family; – the list is enlist.

Today was a good day – We baptized 9 – 9 people who publicly stated their desire to follow Jesus – 9 people who stated they had invited Jesus into their lives. The weather was perfect. The setting was great. The testimonies were clear. Friends and family gathered to celebrate with them.

It was a good day!

As I continue to reflect on the ministry of Jesus in training disciples in that first century it is obvious He was on a mission to equip them to do ministry.

Equipping in ministry skills was only a part of the training. He also taught them what to believe about God; about others and about life.

He used parables to teach life lessons – like the good Samaritan to illustrate who you neighbor is and what it meant to love your neighbor. There were the parables of lost things – coin, sheep, and son to illustrate the value the Father places on the lost. The list goes on and on.

It is a good reminder of the power of a story in teaching disciples important Biblical truth – illustrating what it means.

He taught from the Scriptures – explaining His own connection with the Old Testament prophets – helping them see the truths from those previous servants of the Lord. Again, a reminder to keep our teaching Biblically based.

He often began a lesson with, “You have heard that it was said,…but I say to you…” He was careful to correct wrong understanding of Scripture and wrong traditions.

We live in such a diverse culture that focuses on acceptance and inclusion that this may be one of the more difficult parts of teaching disciples. Many want to include ideas from other faiths; generally accepted cultural ideas; and traditions passed down from previous generations. Helping followers to think Biblically becomes and challenge and generally confronts their everyday lives.

If we are serious about making disciples, it will require skill training and helping them to think Biblically. Once again, it will not all be accomplished in the classroom. It is life-on-life. Jesus spent time with the disciples – confronting them in life situations when their thinking was out of step.

What might have happened through the centuries if we had spent more time training disciples to make disciples and less time building institutions?

As I continue reflecting on this assignment of “making disciples,” I am trying to remember what and how the disciples learned from Jesus and the implications for those desiring to be disciple-makers.

Jesus trained the disciples to do ministry. They traveled with Him and watched Him heal the sick, change water to wine, feed thousands and bless little children. There was no training class with theories and stories of how to minister. They learned by watching and then by doing. Jesus sent them out, paired with another disciple to do the same kinds of ministry they had seen Him do.

There are obvious implications for the would-be disciple-maker today. OTJT – On the job training. In our professional ministry oriented world, there is reluctance to release people into ministry who have not received formal training – either college, seminary or at a minimum, a series of classes.

To release someone to do the same ministry I have been doing requires three levels of faith – faith that I have successfully modeled effective ministry – modeled a ministry that reflects the presence and power of the Holy Spirit; faith that “my disciple” has learned more than ministry skills but also dependency on the Holy Spirit; and faith that God can and will work through these in whom I have invested.

This process also requires a restructuring of time. It is easier to schedule a class on Sunday or some night during the week than it is to work around that work schedules to involve disciples in ministry. It is easier to simply do ministry than to invite others to participate.

Training disciples to do ministry today requires the same kind of intentionality Jesus had when He was training the 12.  The easier path is to create another program – sort of a mass production approach.  Jesus didn’t call us to create programs but to make disciples. It seems to me that making disciples is more about life on life. The methodology of Jesus is still effective.