For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart. – 1 Samuel 16:7 (ESV)
In ministry, it can become all too easy to put so much effort into building one’s outward appearance that you neglect the condition of your own heart.
I remember the first time I ever saw Anathallo perform live. They opened up for Underoath at the Murray Hill Theatre here in Jacksonville several years back. This was back when Dallas was still a member of Underoath. Anathallo had recently recorded their “Sparrows” album. Now you may or may not be able to picture this, but you had all these hardcore kids at this show and Anathallo takes the stage. Lead singer, Matt Joynt, takes stage in a pair of capri’s and no shoes. The rest of the guys looked like some kids you would find on a university campus somewhere. There were various horns and random percussion instruments and objects on stage. All I remember is the intro to “A Song For Christine” where the band begins by clapping in rhythm and each member phases from claps into hitting drumsticks or triangles or something else made to bang on, I cant remember it all too well. I just remember thinking, “this is the weirdest thing I have ever seen or heard.” It was indie/emo with horns and xylophones and a whole bunch of other stuff, being played by the oddest mix of guys you could expect to find in a band like this. But I was hooked. I couldn’t stop watching. I couldn’t stop listening. These guys were really good. Needless to say, I left with the “Sparrows” album and I have been a fan ever since.
Anathallo’s latest release, “Canopy Glow“, which came out at the end of last year, is in my opinion their best work yet. They have grown and changed since the early days. This album seems to back off from the multitude of instruments approach and is more focused on playing fewer instruments and playing them well. Even the horns that they have been so well known for have been really toned down. If you think you may be disappointed because of this, you won’t be. Trust me. This is a superbly written and produced album that gives no down time for the listener from start to finish. This is a truly recommended listening.
Do you do ministry in hopes that some big name in the church world will take notice of your work and you will be glorified, or so that through the unique work of Christ in your ministry the lost will be saved and God will be glorified?
Is your ministry driven by the far-fetched hopes that some day you might receive some sort of recognition by a church world rock star, or are you satisfied in knowing that Stanley, Young Jr., Warren, McManus, Hybels, Groeschel, Noble, Piper, Driscoll, Chandler, Mahaney, Keller, etc. will never know your name? And that this doesn’t matter because your name is found in the book of life and that is all the recognition that matters.
I worry sometimes that we place these guys on such high pedestals that they become the product of our goals and ambitions. We wonder what Andy Stanley would say about our church, or about what John Piper would say about our preaching. But I really don’t think that in the end, God is going to hold a staff meeting with these guys to see how you would measure up in their eyes.
I think all the guys that I mentioned above are great guys who are making a great impact for the kingdom of God. But their impact is not your impact. Their calling is not your calling. Their ministry is not your ministry. You are specifically gifted and specifically called with a direct purpose for ministry that God has ordained upon your life. Don’t abandon that uniqueness to chase the success of others.
True story.
There were a group of Korean missionaries who traveled to Afghanistan to spread the gospel. They were taken hostage by members of the Taliban. They were in a situation where they were certain to die. The pastor of the church stood before his fellow missionaries and told the group that if anyone was going to be killed, he was going to die first, because he was the pastor and if anyone died, he should be the first. Another one of the men stood up and told that pastor that he was the oldest in the group and that they should respect their elder and he demanded that if anyone died, he would be first. They actually argued over who would die first. In the end, a couple of the missionaries were actually killed. The rest made it back to Korea, where they longed to be back in the mission field of Afghanistan, using their lives for the glory of God and the mission of the gospel.
This is a life that matters.
I have had a great handicap in my life when it comes to engaging culture and connecting with people who do not follow Christ. That handicap is called ministry. I have spent the past 5 years of my life working in church ministry and going to school at a Bible college. These two things took up the majority of my time during the past 5 years, and I allowed them to make me, well… socially retarded, when it comes to connecting with lost people. It think its pathetic. Sure I could talk to you about leadership stuff, ministry stuff, worship stuff, etc., but that stuff means nothing when you’re talking to someone who has no interest in church or God. I think that it is so easy for those of us in ministry to get so caught up in our church world that we totally disconnect from the secular world. We become socially retarded.
I am in a transitional stage in my life right now. I resigned from my last church a couple months ago, and I am currently in the process of finding a new church to serve at. But during this transitional period, I am back in the secular job world. And I must say that it is quite refreshing. I get to work with people who get drunk on weekends, people who drop f-bombs in every other sentence, people who sleep with their girlfriends, etc. I get to work with the kind of people that most church people just sit back and gossip about. I get to work with the kind of people that Jesus Christ came to save. I get to engage culture and connect with the lost, and I get to be a light to these people, rather than a hypocrite that just runs from them and condemns them.
I still know with all my heart that ministry is what God has called me to and I am still in the process of finding a new church to serve at, so don’t think that I am dropping out of church ministry or anything like that. But I have finally realized how socially handicapped I was during the past 5 years and I intend to never reach that point again, even while working full time in church ministry. And I think there are a ton of pastors who need to step up and do the same. Engage culture, get out in your local community and connect with the lost.
Is it weird or childish that I’m pretty excited about this?
In recent weeks both John Piper and Josh Harris have written about their disagreement with Tweeting during a church service. As I shortly discussed in my last post on this subject, the primary argument that stands with the most validity is that of distraction. This is the general argument made by Josh Harris in his recent post. Here are the six points that Harris presents for not encouraging Twitter in church…
1. Playing with my iPhone(or cell phone or Blackberry) during the sermon will likely distract me. I’ll be tempted to check my email or read my Twitter feed that has nothing to do with the sermon.
2. Even if I didn’t look at anything else, the mere act of “tweeting” some quote or question or thought from the sermon would be several minutes in which I wasn’t actively listening to the sermon. Brain space would be taken up with typing and getting my word count under 140. God’s word preached is so important, so precious, I don’t want anything to distract me from hearing it. What if those two minutes in which I’m distracted are the two minutes my soul needs the most?
3. The most important thing I can do while I’m sitting under the preaching of God’s word is to listen to what God is saying to me. I need to actively engage my heart and mind to receive (Isaiah 66:2). Twitter, can take the focus off of hearing and receiving and and makes it broadcasting and sharing. So instead of my mind being engaged with thoughts of “What is the Word of God saying to me?” when I start “tweeting” my focus becomes, “What do I want to say? What do I want to express? What am I thinking?”
4. I think we all need to ask what our example says to other people we’re worshiping alongside. Can a person look at me during the worship and see from the way I sit, listen and engage that the Bible is “breathed out by God” (2 Tim. 3:16), and worthy of honor, that preaching is valuable? Of course this applies to a lot more than the issue of Twitter. If I’m nodding off to sleep, reading the bulletin, staring off into space or filing my finger nails it can send the wrong message, too. So what does someone think if they see me playing with my cell-phone during the sermon? “Oh, he must be so enamored with the truth of God’s word that he’s using Twitter to share the truth he’s just heard with the world! God, your word is glorious!” Uh, I really don’t think so. They’ll probably think, “I should pull out my phone…wonder if I’ve gotten any email.”
5. Just because something is incredibly popular in culture doesn’t mean we have to accommodate it in our worship. Who cares if the whole world is talking about Twitter? Lost people in this world don’t need to see that we’re current with the latest trend, they need to hear God’s unchanging truth (see 1 Peter 1:24-25). They need to understand that God’s word makes a demand on their life. And they should see from us a reverence and holy awe in the presence of God and his word that points them to the fact that what happens in a Christian church is completely different than anything happening in the world.
6. My final reason for why Twitter should be left at the door when we come to church is very simple: you can tweet about the Sunday service after church. I’m not a Twitter hater. In fact I love the idea of members of my church reviewing their notes and tweeting about what God spoke to them during the message. But they can do that later on Sunday afternoon and nothing will be lost.
I would say that Harris presents a pretty good argument, and as you can see, most of it rests on the argument of distraction, i.e. starting with Twitter and moving to email, texting, etc., or missing some of the sermon during tweeting, or being a distraction to others around you. I think that this is a valid argument.
The 5th point made might be what I liked best. I think that it can be very beneficial to be up to speed with technology and social trends, but sometimes churches can be too quick to jump on every bandwagon that comes down the road. If you do use Twitter, Facebook, etc. and endorse the usage of these things during a service, then do it wisely and strategically, not just because you read about another church doing it. Weigh out the positive and negative aspects of using Twitter in church and don’t lose sight of your priorities of worship and preaching.
The Hallmark Channel has made a movie of the Safe Harbor boys home in Jacksonville, FL. Several years ago, I worked as an evening house parent at Safe Harbor. I have to say that this was one of the most unique and enjoyable jobs that I have worked. My job was to supervise several teenage boys with troubled pasts. I would make sure they ate dinner, which the boys alternated preparing each night, did their homework and chores, and made it to their boats at curfew. Other than that, we would pretty much just hang out together and have fun doing things like playing paintball, fishing, watching movies, and more. I also led a short Bible study time with them each evening. All in all, the kids were not that bad. They had just made a lot of bad choices in their life that brought them to this point.
I was excited when I found out that the Hallmark Channel was going to be producing a movie about Safe Harbor, because it is such a cool thing that Doug and Robbie Smith do there, and they have such an awesome story about how Safe Harbor came about. The movie is going to air tonight on the Hallmark Channel at 9p/8c. Here is a brief history of Safe Harbor as shared by Robbie Smith:
In 1982, when Doug and I took in our first boys for a short –term stay, we had no idea that this would become our life’s work. But what we were doing with the boys was working. God seemed to have a plan, so we decided to commit ourselves to the boys for one year. In 1984, when we officially incorporated Safe Harbor we had also committed our own financial resources to support the program. We trusted God that even after our own resources were gone that he would help provide the funding if He wanted us to continue. Because we felt that government was not and never would be very good at raising children we decided to accept NO government funding. God has been faithful. For 25 years, through the time, talent and treasure of countless individuals, organizations and businesses, He has blessed Safe Harbor and all of the boys and families we have served.
Since it’s inception the Safe Harbor program has provided each boy with the mental, physical and spiritual strength to succeed in life. The water and boating have always played an integral part in our lives. Life on the water provides serenity and peace, but also unequaled opportunities for life lessons. For these reasons Doug and I utilize the waterfront and vessels as the foundation of the residential, academic and vocational education program.
In 1989, after years of running the program on a flotilla of donated boats along with only short-term temporary land facilities, Safe Harbor came to the present permanent location adjacent to Blount Island. Through the generosity of the Jacksonville Port Authority, who leases a portion of the land to Safe Harbor, and an individual donor who helped the organization purchase a house on the property, the present campus occupies 2 acres on the bank of the St. Johns River.
Sixty-plus donated boats of all sizes fill the docks and the landscape. The vessels serve as housing for the boys and staff; training vessels for marine industry based skills and play an important role in the vocational education and character development programs. While we have kept the unique residential, integrated academic/vocatio program, guided by the Christian foundation the same throughout the past 25 years, the vehicles through which the goals are achieved are constantly changing, never stagnant. Safe Harbor will incorporate any medium to excite, inspire, teach and bring hope to boys we serve.
Our plan for this campus is to increase our census to 30 boys to meet the desperate need for services. Our office receives several placement inquiry calls each day and as many as 20 families are waiting for placement at any time. As funding allows, staff is being increased to accommodate the addition of more boys. Our goal is to have the Jacksonville campus full within 3 years.
Our vision is to help others duplicate the Safe Harbor model in other areas of the country. Doug and I are working on a succession plan that will identify someone to take over the directorship of the Jacksonville campus of Safe Harbor in the future. This would give us the ability to travel as ambassadors for the program and assist others with the establishment of additional programs.
People often try to praise us for the work we have done. But as Doug says, “God does the work, He just lets us hang out here.” We have been blessed beyond imagination. Each boy, each family holds a special place in our hearts and we are deeply appreciative of the sacrifices of the donors and volunteers that have brought Safe Harbor Boys Home to our 25th Anniversary.
Robbie Smith, Founder Safe Harbor Boys Home
This topic is not really all that new, but it is still gaining steam and is just now coming into the radar for many churches and churchgoers. I’ve seen several responses to this topic, both positive and negative, and figured I would give my take on all this and what I am seeing other people say about it.
On the negative side, one of the biggest comments that I hear is that Twitter is a distraction between you and God, or between the people around you and God. These people would say that church is a place and time where you connect with God, and so there should be nothing the interferes with that time. The problem is that this is not necessarily all of what church is about. Yes, we gather together to worship our Lord. Yes, we do connect with God through worship, prayer, and preaching. But church is also very much about the gathering of community and the corporate worship that we share in. And during the week, we have our own personal time of intimate worship, prayer, and connection with God. Another part of our weekly gathering of community is the time of teaching. This is where the tweeting would generally take place. I have yet to see someone with one hand in the air worshipping while tweeting on their phone in the other hand. So you can pretty much take the worship in song portion of the service out of the debate. And so this pretty much leaves us with the debate of whether one should tweet during the sermon or not.
So lets look at some of the positives of tweeting during the sermon, message, talk, or whatever your church calls it. People have always taken notes during a sermon. This has pretty much always been accepted and generally encouraged. With the advancement of technology, note-taking has moved from pen and paper to using a phone or other device to take notes. Personally, I use the Evernote app on my iPhone to take notes. It automatically syncs my notes from my phone to my Evernote profile on the web, as well as the Evernote app on my desktop. So wherever I go, I can access my notes. Its a lot easier to keep track of than a piece of paper that is stuck somewhere in my Bible. So now you take note-taking during sermons and you introduce the world of Twitter. Now you can not only take notes, but you can share them with a multitude of others in real time, and you can see what others are saying and thinking as well.
But lets take it a step further than that. Most people who use Twitter also use Facebook, and most of them have these two social networks integrated. So whatever they say on Twitter shows up on Facebook. Many of these people are part of a large network of people, Christ-followers and not. And so now all of these people who either follow them on Twitter or are friends with them on Facebook are seeing these thoughts and comments being posted about what they are learning, thinking out, and enjoying from the service. And chances are that there are many people who do not attend church but have friends who do and they are now seeing a running dialogue take place about their friends’ experience at church. Add to this power of a RT (re-tweet), in which someone else re-posts what someone else on Twitter has already said. And so you have their followers on Twitter seeing their posts, their friends on Facebook seeing their posts, and now the followers and friends of the person who re-tweeted the original post as well. And if your head is not spinning yet, you can throw in the advantage of using hashtags (#) along with your Twitter post. This basically creates a real time running dialogue that can be directed under a specific topic or identity. For example #MHC is used to direct tweets to the Mars Hill Church discussions. You can then view every comment that is directed with that specific hashtag. And so now you have the capability of multitudes of people sharing notes and experiences, and at the same time, having another multitude of people who do not go to church seeing this running dialogue take place and how much these people are learning and enjoying at their churches that they might not know of outside of Twitter and Facebook.
In the end, it seems that the primary argument that stands is that of distraction. I can understand how someone going to town on a cell phone can be a distraction to others around them. I encourage anyone who wants to tweet during a service to do so discreetly so that they are not a distraction to those around them. You could even give the people next to you a heads up and ask them if it will be a problem, and if so then move to a seat where it will not be. Another problem would be the likelihood of you doing other things with your phone, i.e. checking email, texting, browsing the web, or just reading tweet feeds that have nothing to do with the service.
When weighed out, I can see Twitter as something positive for churches, but I also understand why churches could be hesitant to move in this direction with their services. What do you think?
I just saw a lawn care specialist company that had an ugly yard full of weeds. Yah, sorry bud, but I’m not calling you for help with my lawn. Churches can take a lesson here. Don’t develop a branding that is inconsistent with your reality, just because it looks good on churches somewhere else. It’s like claiming to be a lawn care specialist while your own lawn is full of weeds. You can only fool so many people for so long.
