One of the times each year I find myself falling behind is when I go on vacation. If I’m not intentional, the absence of my normal daily routine results in falling a few days behind. This just happened to me last week and Saturday morning I found myself faced with the same decision we all face when we fall behind:

Will I find a way to get caught up, or will I simply give up?

All too often we choose to give up instead of getting caught up in the midst of our discouragement, but it need not be this way. In fact, I would argue that discouragement is not a necessary emotion when falling behind in your Bible reading plan. Remember, the goal is NOT the completion of the plan, but to spend time feasting on God’s Word. So if you fall behind don’t’ get discouraged, simply determine to keep going.

Here’s are 3 ways you can get back on your Bible reading plan when you fall behind…

1. Start Where You Are

You could simply re-start your plan right where you are. You may not finish on the day you previously planned, but again, completing the plan is not the ultimate goal. The only reason for any plan is to help aid you in regular reading. So, just start where you are.

2. All At Once

You could set aside the necessary time to power through all in one sitting. Depending on how far behind you are this may be the most simple solution for you. Because I was only a few days behind last week, this was the option I chose. However, if you’re a few weeks, or even a month behind this may not be a feasible option. You may want to simply re-start where you are, or try reading two a day.

3. Read Two A Day

You may want to begin tackling two readings a day which over time you will result in you getting caught up. This is something I have to do a number of times a year and is typically the most sustainable way to get back on track.

So, if you’re behind in your reading, will you get caught up, or simply give up? My hope is that you won’t give up. Don’t be discouraged, instead determine to stick with it. The goal is not to complete the plan, but to enjoy God’s presence through the power of His Word. It’s time to jump back in!

Now we’re back to work and here’s a few things on my mind this morning…

• Disney is better at hospitality than any church I’ve ever been to. It doesn’t matter if you encounter someone sweeping the streets, working security, or running a ride – EVERYONE is engaging and looking for opportunities to serve. Very impressed by that and challenged to see Redemption grow in this.

• For some reason I struggle to maintain my spiritual disciplines while on vacation. I think it’s because my normal routine is off and I have to be incredibly intentional to stay in God’s Word. More on this later this week.

• I had the day off from preaching yesterday which was a blessing. Having a week off always recreates a deep desire to grow and develop my preaching ministry. It also allows me to walk around more and have a better idea of where we have opportunity to improve our Sunday morning worship gatherings. If you’re a preacher and don’t schedule time off to simply attend your church, you should.

• Speaking of having a week off, Pastor Scott Holthaus did an crazy good job preaching on #truesatisfaction from 1 Timothy 6:2-11 yesterday. You can get the podcast later today here.

• If you missed it you should check out the new Desiring God app. 

• Great stuff from Michael Hyatt on becoming a Twitter ninja in less than 30 minutes a day

• Love the clarity from Harvest Bible Chapel in helping new people know what they can expect if they make Harvest home

• Life-giving and encouraging post from my friend Joe Thorn asking, “Is Your Sin Bigger Than Jesus?”

Ever since Ava and Ryder were born, some of my least favorite memories have been taking them to the pediatrician for their regular check ups and the dreaded…SHOTS! Even though they couldn’t talk when they were infants, they would look up at me with that confused and pained expression that asked, “Why are you allowing me to experience this pain?” The answer, of course is, “Because it’s for your good. I know it hurts and I know you don’t understand, but trust me, it’s for your good.”

But, if I’m honest, the reason I hate it when my kids suffer has less to do with them and more to do with me.

I think their suffering actually hurts me far more than it hurts them and as a result my tendency is to shield my kids from as much difficulty and discomfort as possible. The problem is, discomfort is the soil in which character grows. The Apostle Paul makes this point in Romans 5:3-4 writing, “…we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope…”

In his great book, “Sacred Parenting: How raising children shapes our souls“, Gary Thomas writes the following:

“Out of love for our children, we must become strong enough spiritually to watch them hurt, to see them become disappointed, to hear their cries. Otherwise, we risk raising safe and compliant kids with an empty core. In this area our own immaturity and spiritual weakness can handicap our children.”

Obviously, there are certain experiences and unnecessary sufferings all good parents have a responsibility to protect their kids from. But, if we’re not careful, we may be shielding our kids from the very circumstances the Holy Spirit means to use as a source of  sanctification in their lives.

So, I’m asking God to help me put my kids holiness before their happiness. I’m asking God to help me shepherd them through suffering. I’m asking God to kill my cowardice and grant me the courage to lead them toward Jesus in all seasons and circumstances of life.

I’m not sure what to say other than that. By God’s great grace, Redemption had an amazing first Sunday at Prospect High School and I grabbed a few iPhone shots during our set up…

Our entire leadership and production teams showed up at 6am as we had a good amount of new equipment we’d never used and had to figure out on the fly. They were amazing and we had no major problems!

We’ve moved to utilizing three screens in our main auditorium which we also had never done. Our biggest question mark was around whether, or not this would all work, but our guys killed it and it ended up coming together.

Like most churches, each of our ministries used to have their own tables in the lobby people could stop by for information. Unfortunately, this lead to confusion for guests as we were trying to communicate all the places people needed to go to get the information they needed. As a result, we killed all the tables and now have one Guest Services kiosk. They have all the info anyone could possibly need, so we simply tell people to stop by guest services for everything and anything.

The team I was most impressed with was Redemption Kids. They transformed three boring classrooms into beautiful spaces to tell kids about Jesus. So impressed by their efforts!

We have a number of little issues to tweak and get better at, but I have never been more blessed, or humbled to lead Redemption. Our team served long and hard and they have never complained once. The result:

• We moved our entire church in a matter of weeks
• We had 276 people in worship yesterday (record high)
• We saw 4 more people make a public profession of faith

Tyler Drewitz, our Executive Pastor, has done an incredible job of managing this transition and if you call Redemption home it would bless me if you took a second to thank him for his hard work and service towards our team.

The best is yet to come and we can’t wait to see what God does next!

“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.”

Only God can cause growth and I believe God is sovereign over both the means (particular strategies) and the end (growth). I don’t believe that any strategy is a magic formula for numeric growth, and if that’s what you’re looking for you should revisit your motives and reconsider your readiness to plant a church. We plant the gospel, not a strategy. A strategy is merely the means by which we plant the gospel in our various neighborhoods, communities, and cities.

As we labor to this end, I believe these three essentials are necessary for all church plants regardless of context (hence the term, essential). The way you work them out and what they look like may be dictated by your context, but the necessity of them remains. Here are the three essential means God has used to grow Redemption these past 3 years…

1. Communicate Clear Vision
When you plant a church it only exists in two places – your heart and your head. You can’t point to it and you can’t show it to people, so the only thing you can do is verbalize it. Communicating a clear vision requires not just telling people WHAT God’s called you to do, but also HOW He’s called you to do it.

The difference between vision and an idea is a strategy. At Redemption we exist to know Jesus and make Him known by worshipping as a community on mission. That’s WHAT God has called us to do (know Jesus and make Him known) and HOW He’s called us to do it (by worshipping as a community on mission). It’s our purpose and our process. We need to get clear, concise, and capacious. If you’re wrestling with this right now I highly recommend you read “Simple Church” which brought much of this together for us.

2. Culture of Invitation
Regardless of your particular strategy, whether it be incarnational, attractional, or a hybrid of the two (which is what we have at Redemption) we have to invite people in. This starts with the senior leadership in the church. If you’re a pastor, or church leader and frustrated with the lack of personal evangelism and invitation happening in your church, the first look needs to be in a mirror. Is it happening in your life? Are there lost people you’re engaging? When was the last time you personally invited someone into your church?

Cultivating a culture of invitation requires giving people the necessary tools. People have to be taught to share their faith. People need to be confident that their church cares about their friends who don’t know Jesus. People need to know consistent connection is taking place and that once they have the courage to invite a friend, someone will take the time to help that friend get connected.

3. Consistent Connection
When you get clear with a vision to see Jesus save and a culture of invitation begins to develop, people are going to want to get on board. The question is, will you help them get connected? People want to get connected, but often times don’t know how. So how do you get people through whatever the front door of your church is (website, missional community, worship gathering, etc) and connected to your community?  This requires a means of gathering people’s information and actually following up with them.

I hope to write in much greater detail about our strategy for getting people connected in the future, but for now I’d simply say, “You have to do SOMETHING!” If you’re only going to do one thing, than find a way to sit down face to face with every new person (either one-on-one or in a group) to communicate clear vision, answer questions, and invite people into the mission. If you put all the responsibility on people to connect themselves, few people will find a way. We have to provide a consistent means of getting people connected.

I want to see every church that is passionate about Jesus and proclaiming His Word to experience growth, both spiritually and numerically. Only God can provide this growth and He’s sovereign over both the means (strategy) and the end (growth). Let’s trust God for growth and seek Him for more effective strategies to love and lead the people He’s drawing to Himself.

He’s the guy who does not serve, does not give, does not want to become a member, and does not contribute in any way, but has an opinion about EVERYTHING.

- The pastor doesn’t preach right.

- The music is too loud.

- The staff doesn’t communicate correctly.

- Small groups should run differently.

But…

Invite that guy to actually commit to being part of the solution to one of his endless “observations” and he has no shortage of excuses for why he doesn’t have time, isn’t the right guy, or doesn’t feel “called”. See, he doesn’t want to actually DO anything, he just wants to have A VOICE into everything.

Too many times we allow this kind of behavior. Even though that guy is not committed to the mission and only contributes in criticism and complaints we often bend over backwards in an attempt to appease him and meet all his expectations.

Don’t get me wrong, at Redemption we deeply believe that we can always do all we do more effectively. So, we love feedback. We value observations. We want to know how we can better shepherd and serve the people of our church.

But…

If you just want to sit on the sidelines criticizing the rest of us actually playing the game, your feedback is unhelpful, unwanted, and unnecessary.

But, if it’s clear that you’re committed to Jesus’ agenda I WANT to hear what you think. If you’re committed to moving the mission forward as a part of the family I NEED to see what you see.

Whether you’re a pastor, a leader, or a member of a local church it’s time to stop giving “that guy” the loudest voice. Let’s love him (or her), shepherd them, call them to repentance and invite them into our families, but let’s stop letting the laziest people have the loudest voices.

Instead, let’s try something new.

The larger your commitment the louder your voice.

Speaking into the mission requires being committed to the mission. If you want to bring suggestions you should also be willing to be the solution. It’s easy to coach from the couch, but it’s better to be in the game. It’s time to actually play. It’s time to get to work. It’s time to commit. It’s time to be the solutions to what we see.

The larger your commitment the louder your voice. So, how large is your commitment?

I’d started a new position as a worship pastor at an existing church and thus inherited a group of 15 musicians with little talent and lots of attitude (a wonderful combination – is my sarcasm coming through clearly enough?).

One guy in particular was especially difficult. It was discouraging to lead him and he was demanding in his desire to have things “his way.” After one of many phone calls spent trying to get him heading in a healthy direction, I was particularly frustrated and brought this frustration to God in prayer. It went something like this…

“I’m tired of dealing with them, Lord. They’re a constant pain. Nothing I do is ever enough and no matter how hard I try, they refuse to respond in a way that’s helpful for our team. Would you please deal with them yourself? Make them see how obstinate they are and how they need to change.”

But then something happened that does not happen to me everyday when I pray – God spoke back.

God asked me, “Ryan, do you love these people?”

I said, “Of course, God, but they’re just such a pain, so please deal with them!”

God asked me, “I know but, do you love these people?”

I responded, “Yes, but please deal with them.”

God asked, “Ryan, do you love these people?”

This time I saw it. Broken, I responded, “No, Lord. I don’t love these people.”

See, the Holy Spirit was helping me see that these people were not the problem – I was. Did attitudes need to be addressed? Absolutely. Was I right in confronting what needed to be confronted? Without a doubt. Was my motivation in confronting these issues correct? Um…definitely NOT.

In my mind, these people were getting in the way of the mission and I had totally missed that these people were the mission. I think if we’re honest, most leadership frustration is fueled by a failure to properly love the people we lead. When we see people as obstacles to mission and not opportunity for mission, we are off mission.

So, do you love the people you lead? Because this love is the foundation for all true leadership.

I could hear my then 8-month-old daughter, Ava, pushing herself around upstairs in her walker, the responsibility started to set in, and the questions began to flood my mind…

•  ”Are you sure God called you to do this?”
•  ”Where will the people come from?”
•  ”How do you expect to pay for it?”
•  ”Do you really have any idea what you’re doing?”

By God’s grace I beat those thoughts back and began to sketch a basic plan for a new church – Redemption Bible Church.

I met with everyone who was willing to hear me out. I was armed with a keynote presentation I’d built on my Mac and a simple vision of seeing people meet Jesus. To my great surprise people began to get on board with this vision, embody this vision, and tell their friends about this vision.

I was thinking about these early months in the planting of our church this past Sunday when I stood up to preach and looked out over this…

265 people. 7 baptisms. 5 first time professions of faith. Still the same simple vision: knowing Jesus and making Him known.

I can’t believe what God has done and how far we’ve come. I’m anxiously anticipating all He has in this next chapter…

- Conversations I’m concerned will be difficult and not go the way I hope.

- Issues of provision and uncertainty surrounding how God will provide.

- Circumstances outside my control that need changing.

You may wake up this morning feeling like there is no hope, no way you’ll make it through the day, no way you can put up with anything more, but by God’s grace, you’ll wake up tomorrow realizing God’s grace has carried you over yet another seemingly insurmountable obstacle.  But don’t take my word for it. I pray Psalm 121 would give you much faith in our gracious God who always comes through…

I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
My help comes from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD is your keeper;
the LORD is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The LORD will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
The LORD will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.
- Psalm 121

Contrary to the countless criticisms, yesterday was one of the most constructive, convicting, and compelling conferences I’ve ever attended. While our entire team attended and loved the first round of the Elephant Room, this year was a GIANT step forward for what I believe is a much needed model in the church today.

Here are the three things I saw…

1. Humility

It took blood, sweat, and tears for each of these men to make it to the Elephant Room. Some of them lost friends and many of them lost affiliations due to a willingness to associated with those they differ with. The result was a humble tone that covered each aspect of the day from start to finish.

2. Conversation

The Elephant Room is one of the few places I’ve seen pastors talk TO and not just ABOUT those they may not see eye to eye with regarding every facet of Biblical theology and ministry methodology. I was humbled by how this kind of honest and humble conversation lead to clarification and set a clear example for each of us who have the honor of serving as pastors.

3. Courage

By God’s grace I have the great privilege of calling James MacDonald, friend, and after yesterday I’ve never been more honored to do so. The vision and conviction Christ placed on James’ heart for this event has come with a tremendous cost. He’s been slandered, criticized, and ostracized for the willingness to give men more than a mere sound bites worth of time to answer hard questions and clarify what they believe and why they do what they do. Each of these men took criticism from their own tribes and camps, but had the courage to follow through on what they believed God had asked them to do.

The criticism will continue and the slander will never cease. My blog will be one of many written regarding what took place yesterday and a sad number of them  will still call Bishop Jakes a heretic (he’s not) and most will accuse Pastor James of “going soft” (nothing could be further from reality).  While some will be content to make a point on their blog, yesterday’s example has further inspired me to want to make a difference with my life. So by God’s grace I’ll be striving to move forward modeling the humility, conversation, and courage I saw in the Elephant Room.