Oh Elijah...

In our monthly Friday conversational group tonight we talked about stress.  In particular, we talked about Elijah's experience when he ran from Jezebel.  This guy was so stressed out because of Jez's death threats that he ran into a neighbouring country to hide in a cave in the desert.  Elijah's problem wasn't his circumstance, it was his interpretation of and perspective on his circumstance. He forgot about God's past faithfulness to him, and he forgot that God was in charge of the future.  So he panicked.  God had to "gently" remind him that He had a different perspective. To God, everything was going good. To Elijah, it couldn't have been worse.

In our small church it can be very easy to forgot about God's faithfulness in the past, and that he controls the future. It can be easy to stress out about finances, attendance, personal troubles among members, how particular people are enjoying their experience etc.  The reality for me is that God called us to this vision, and that success is defined by our faithfulness, not by anything else.  God is in control and is pleased to use us to lead others into a growing relationship with him.  

And so we refuse to run into the desert and hide in a cave. Instead, we take each day on its own, trusting that God has gone before us.  We look forward to seeing how he's going to accomplish His vision through us. 

Your Deal Is More Important Than My Deal

I'm trying to be more vulnerable and less protective, so when Lana asked me how I was doing tonight, I told her the truth:

"I"m feeling anxious about the following things," I said, "Making all the phone calls to see who's coming to Starting Point, preparing my message for this Sunday, acquiring a video projector for this Sunday, how to revamp our worship music with multi-tracks and higher quality instrumentation, whether the bank is going to honor the interest rate we agreed to 2 months ago but now they can't remember, whether the videos I've been working on will augment the message at church or distract, how to care for the members of the church who are hurting, when and where I'm going to have to get another job and go bi-vocational because our church's bank account is drying up, and how to bring friends to church on Sunday when our car is only a 5-seater"

Lana replied, "sounds like you better to into your room and close the door and pray to your  Father in Heaven these words, 'your deal is bigger than my deal' and then make your requests.'"

I responded, "gotta go," and headed up to the spare room to pray. I read this verse in Psalm 21:

"How great is his joy in the victories you give." In other words, God gets the victories, not us. Our job is to rejoice when He does His thing.

Yes, I've got a lot of anxieties and worries and concerns. But the God I worship cares about me. It's His church, not mine.  I can bring all my burdens to Him in prayer. He's more interested in me than what I do for him. All these things will be taken care of. I can rest in his faithfulness.

Welcome to Blogland

This is my first blog, so I'll keep it simple: boy, am I glad to be home. I spent 5 days in Atlanta at DRIVE (Northpoint's Church Leader's Conference) and then 7 days in Victoria with my family and some friends.  Regarding DRIVE, here's a brief summary from Carey Nieuwhof, a pastor in Ontario who I met:

"So Andy Stanley went a little crazy during the last session of Drive, dumped his planned talk and spoke almost off the cuff.  Man, I'm so glad he did. Did he bring it.

Some quotes:

• If we are going to reach people no one else is reaching, we must do things no one else is doing. Andy borrowed this from Craig Groeschel, but man did it resonate.
• Focus on the people you want to reach, not the people you want to keep. Here, Andy was quoting his long time friend and associate Reggie Joiner, whose heart for the family and for a prodigal generation is enormous.  If church leaders could get this, we'd be living in a different reality.
• When your memories exceed your dreams, the end is near. What else do you need to say? Church life sometimes feels like its 90% nostalgia, not 90% vision.
• The next generation product almost never comes from the previous generation. You can fight the next generation of leaders, or you can fund them."

The vision of Waypoint church is to be a church that continues the mission and ministry of Jesus in the networks we live, work and worship in.  We want to create environments where our friends and associates can come and meet God in ways that are authentic, relevant and enjoyable.  

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