Inner Revolution

An open letter to pastors

    

This weekend Gary Lamb, one of the more popular pastors in the social networking world, admitted that he has been in an ongoing affair with his assistant. Following the direction of his church Overseers he resigned from the church he planted five years ago effective immediately. The damage his actions caused will continue for many years in the lives of hundreds of people. I do not know Gary personally but I have followed him on Twitter for the past year and have read his blog occasionally. I have no comment on his specific situation other than to say I am praying for his family, his church, the woman he has been involved with and for Gary.

    I do, however, want to comment on pastors shipwrecking their lives and the lives of their families. I have been involved in ministry all of my life, the past 27 as a staff member or pastor at three different churches, and I have seen stories like Gary's over and over. The details vary, but the end result is the same; total devastation. The key question is not what happened, but rather how can we avoid the same fate. Here are some random thoughts:

1. If you think you aren't vulnerable, you are already toast
   I had a counseling professor in college who said that the pastors who are in the most danger of a moral shipwreck are the ones who think it will never happen to them. If you think you are too honest, too faithful, or too transparent to ever be involved in an affair you are skating on very thin ice. David never thought he'd sleep with Bathsheba until he saw her naked; then he couldn't think of anything else. You can steal money, you can get involved in pornography, you can cheat on your spouse, and you can lie to your family. Every day of our lives we have to remind ourselves we are vulnerable to complete moral failure.
   
2. If you think you can burn the candle at both ends, you are already toast
   There are no super humans in ministry. When I read twitters of pastors who get up at 4:00 a.m. every day, who work seven days a week, who counsel people at night and on their "day off", I know that they are headed for a fall. God took a day off when he was creating the world, Jesus took a beach trip to Tyre and Sidon (Mark 7:24) during his ministry. Unless you know something God doesn't know you are headed for a major fall without regular downtime.
   
3. If you think you can do ministry without accountability, you are already toast
   The only "conversation" I ever had with Gary Lamb was a Twitter exchange over the importance of an accountability group. Gary felt that the Overseers of his church provided all the accountability he needed. My contention is that we need people who are face-to-face with us on a regular basis, who know our wives and our assistants, who can ask us the really tough questions. I don't know if the Overseers provided that for Gary or if a local group would have prevented his fall, but I do know that I need that kind of scrutiny in my life.

    

4. If you think you don't need safeguards, you are already toast
   Filters on internet access, never handling cash for the church, never meeting with someone of the opposite sex alone, letting others have access to your email; these are such a pain and to be honest I don't always have all of them active in my life. The reality is that safeguards will not keep you from doing what you have already decided to do, but they can give you enough margin to change your mind before you act.
   
5. If you think it's about you, you are already toast
   Failure begins with ego. When you begin to think that success is because you are smart, funny, talented, cool or a 100 other adjectives and not simply because God is God and has chosen to bless you; you are headed down a very dangerous path. When you being to think the ministry will crumble without you and that you have to work 24/7 to make it happen you are headed toward destruction. When you think the rules stop applying to you and you can cut corners and you are above it you are on a crash course for disaster.
   

As ministers we are in a marathon. If you do not pay attention to the danger signs along the way you will crash before the finish line. Your crash may be a spectacular moral failure like Gary's, it may be the slow destruction of your marriage, or it may be the rotting of your soul; but Satan will use ministry to destroy you. And God will not say to you in Heaven, "Too bad about your family, but awesome job building a great big church. Fist bump, dude."

Three things every pastor needs to do:

1. Slow down
   You will not change the world today and tomorrow isn't looking good either. There is plenty of time to hang with your wife, play with your kids, play golf, relax. God was at work long before you showed up and He will be at work long after you are gone. You cannot live on adrenaline all of the time. You cannot be pumped up about every weekend. If you live that way for an extended time you will crash.
2. Open up

   You need someone in your life who knows you inside and out; someone who will ask the hard questions and know when you are ducking the answers. It is difficult as a pastor to find someone you can be truly honest with, but it is essential that you find that person. Another pastor who does not attend your church might be ideal.

3. Count the cost

   Every time you are tempted to break a rule, to cut a corner, togo somewhere you shouldn't go consider what it will cost you when it all comes to light. What is going to happen when your wife finds out? How will she feel? What will it do to your children? What will this do to your church? How will it feel to write a letter like Gary had to write?

You don't wake up one day and decide to shipwreck your life. You do it one stupid decision at a time. As someone who has seen this happen again and again and again I am begging you to take action today because it will happen to you.

Dino Rizzo Servolutionizes Inner Revolution

Dino Rizzo is one of my favorite pastors in the country. He is an incredibe communicator and has a huge heart, but what impresses me most about Dino is that he is exactly the same one-on-one as he is on stage. Dino is a humble servant with a heart for God. Recently I got a chance to ask Dino my #1 burning quesiton about his new book, Servolution. (By the way, the book is amazing)

What is the best first step for a church that wants to open a Dream Center?

Geoff - it’s so cool of you to take time to be a part of this tour.  I’ve so appreciated your writing and the part you’ve played in making Seacoast such a great church - such a great example for us at HPC as we moved to a multi-site model.  Thanks for what you do for the Kingdom.

I think one thing we did right in our journey of starting a Dream Center was to go and learn from those who were already attempting to run Dream Centers.  We visited Los Angeles where Matthew Barnett is doing a phenomenal job with the LA Dream Center.  We also were on the ground to help at the St. Louis Dream Center as Joyce Meyer launched it.  We sent teams for several years to these places to serve and to inject the passion and culture into our family here.  You’ve got to go and touch it, see it... let someone sneeze on you so you’ll catch it.

Then we started doing outreaches into the community.  We went mobile to begin with and we started where we had favor.  We started small and let God guide each step.  Put your action behind it first, then as God grows it, the facility will become a reality.  Activity precedes facilities.  It isn’t about gathering a million dollars and going out to buy a building.  Just get busy serving where you have favor and watch where God takes it.

I want to thank Dino for taking time to give us his insight. He will be stopping by the blog today to interact with your questions and comments, so what would you like to ask Dino?

Doing Good

My friend Shawn Wood is sponsoring a very cool initiative he's calling 5 Days in May which got me to thinking about doing good. I think there are three levels of good doing:

Level One: The do gooder

These are people who see something like 5 Days in May and think, "I have to do something about this." They sign up to drink nothing but water for 5 days and give the money they save to Water Missions International. They are the people who hear an appeal to help tsunami victims and toss a $10 in the collection plate. Sometimes they will sign up to sponsor a child in Africa. Do gooders are a very necessary part of the good doing process.

Level Two: The game changer

When Shawn heard that one in six people don't have access to clean water he thought, "I have to do something about this." He could have mailed a check to Water Missions (do gooder), or he could try to start a movement that raises awareness and spurs hundreds or thousands of people to action (A game changer). A few years ago when my wife visited Christ's Gift Academy, a school for AIDS orphans in a small fishing village on the shore of Lake Victoria, she thought, "I have to do something about this." She could have sponsored a child (she now sponsors three children), or led a team of teachers on a mission trip to the school (which she has done several times). But that wasn't enough. Sherry organized a new board for the school, revamped their fund raising process and continues to lead the American operation. She is definitely a game changer. (And a darn good looking one as well)

Level Three: The world shaker

My friend Joe had no intention of moving to Africa when a buddy talked him into taking a trip to Christ's Gift Academy, but after his first visit he thought, "I have to do something about this." When he returned he spent several weeks in prayer, consulted with trusted friends and sought pastoral guidance on what he should do. Then he quit his dream job as a Division 1 basketball coach, sold everything he owned and moved to Africa. Joe still doesn't see himself as a traditional missionary, he's just a guy who had to make a difference. Joe is a world shaker.

What are you? Are you a do gooder? It seems like if we take up space on earth we should at least be a do gooder. Are you a game changer? Where could you made a significant contribution that would change the status of good in the world? Or are you that rare individual who is a world shaker? One of my favorite scriptures is in Acts 17; "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also." I hope before I die someone will say that about me. I want to shake the world. How about you?

A stupid brush with fame

Yesterday I was at a campus greeting people in the lobby after service when a sharp guy about my age introduced himself. He said he had committed his life to Christ a few months ago and had been baptized at Seacoast this past winter. He then began to explain his life situation which is, to put it mildly, complicated. I asked him what he did for a living and he said that he is a retired musician. I have never met a retired musician before, especially one in their mid-forties. Musicians tend to starve rather than retire. I started to ask him what exactly he had retired from, but I decided to leave it alone.

In the car on the way back I asked Jeanne Radekopf (several of us had traveled together to the campus) if she knew any more about the guy's story. Since Jeanne is a worship pastor at Seacoast I figured she might know more about retired musicians and their complicated lives. Actually she knew his story quite well. It turns out he was a member of a band that everyone in America over the age of 12 has heard of. In fact you probably own at least one of his albums, and you definitely have had his songs stuck in your head for at least a decade. He is a retired musician because when you sell as many albums as he has you don't need to work again, and everyone knows your name.

Everyone but me.

I'm glad I didn't ask him what he retired from.

Five Multi-site Lessons (part 2)

A couple of weeks ago I started a series of posts on Five Lessons I've learned about multi-site. Today I want to pick up part 2 of that series with a mistake I've seen at several multi-site churches I have visited over the past few years; offering an inferior experience at the offsite location. It seems like a no brainer that if you want people to attend your new site you need to make sure to offer something as close as possible to the original. If Ruth's Chris Steakhouse second location had opened with a menu of mystery meat and mac and cheese there would never have been a third location. Here are several areas where I have seen churches miss the mark in launching a second campus.

Poor teaching: If your church has been built on excellent teaching then your offsite campuses will need excellent teaching. The challenge is that great teachers are hard to find. You can find teachers who are effective with groups of 50, 100 or 200, but once you get beyond 200 people it becomes difficult to find teachers who can effectively engage a larger audience. That's one of the reasons Seacoast uses video teaching almost exclusively; we are able to leverage the teaching gifts of our primary communicators and allow our campus pastors to focus on their areas of strength. As my brother Greg often says, many people feel they have the gift of teaching; the question is does anyone have the gift of listening.

Poor music: The second most important leader at most campuses, after the campus pastor, is the worship director. If you put a poor band led by a mediocre singer in front of a skeptical crowd followed by a video preacher; people aren't going to come back. In fact if you choose to use video teaching you will need an extremely effective musical worship experience to capture the people's hearts. I saw this in action at North Coast in San Diego. The best worship band on the campus is in one of video venueus,The Edge, not in the auditorium where Larry Osborne speaks.

Poor children's ministry: This is often an uphill battle. Your original location has children's ministry space that would make Walt Disney envious; 3d characters, state of the art lights, sound and video, and backdrops straight off a Hollywood set. But you ask parents at the new site to drop their kids off in a dingy high school classroom or a dark, empty theater. Often they'll make the sacrifice for a few weeks until the kids beg to go back to WallyWorld. The first key to children's ministry in an offsite campus is to look good until you can be good. We often start with a video curriculum and put as much money and effort as possible into making the space look fun and clean.

Poor technology: We talk a lot at Seacoast about the good enough line; we want our technology to meet the expectations of the audience, but we don't stress about having the best cutting edge equipment available. For example we are still using standard definition video in all but one of our venues. The challenge with a good enough line is that it is very important to stay above the line. I have visited several churches that use video teaching and are either straddling the good enough line or woefully below it. Often they are capturing video that is hard to watch. The lighting is poor, the backdrop is cluttered, and the camera is poorly operated. Asking people to watch video teaching is a leap; you have to help them make that leap with appealing video. The same is true of sound and lights. You don't need Broadway, but you do need better than a Jr. High sock hop.

Definitions that should be

 

A friend emailed these to me last week. I probably shouldn't post them, but they are too funny to pass up:

Once again, The Washington Post has published the winning submissions to its yearly neologisms, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words. The winners are:

1. Coffee (n.), the person upon whom one coughs. 

2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.

3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach. 

4. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.

5. Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent. 

6. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown. 

7. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp. 

8. Gargoyle (n.), olive-flavored mouthwash. 

9. Flatulence (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller. 

10. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline. 

11. Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam. 

12. Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists. 

13. Pokemon (n), a Rastafarian proctologist. 

14. Frisbeetarianism (n.), The belief that, when you die, your Soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there. 

 The Washington Post's Style Invitational also asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are this year's winners:

 1. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

 2. [You'll have to find this one somewhere else. A little too PG-13 for this blog]

 3. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

 4. Giraffiti (n): Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

 5. Sarchasm (n): The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

 6. Inoculatte (v): To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

 7. Hipatitis (n): Terminal coolness.

 8. Osteopornosis (n): A degenerate disease.

 9. Karmageddon (n): Its like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

 10. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

 11. Glibido (v): All talk and no action.

 12. Dopeler effect (n): The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

 13. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

 14. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

 15. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you're eating.

 And the pick of the literature:

 16. Ignoranus (n): A person who's both stupid and an a******.

It’s here, it’s finally here!

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It has taken almost three years to get here, but Ten Stupid Things That Keep Churches From Growing is available beginning to today on Amazon. It has been a long and winding journey, but I am excited to see the book begin to help pastors expand their impact for the Kingdom.

Ten Stupid Things started out in the summer of 2006 as an outline typed on my phone. I was in a little café in Elizabethton, Tennessee eating cheese sticks and drinking a Diet Coke while Sherry used the free Wi-Fi to send some emails when the idea for the book dropped fully formed popped into my head; what if I could identify ten of the most common mistakes we make as pastors from my own experience and from interviews with other pastors and could develop ways to overcome those mistakes? I didn't have my computer with me, so I started typing out the idea in an email to a friend in the publishing business. After 20 minutes of typing my thumbs were tired and my cheese sticks were getting cold so I hit send.

I didn't hear anything for a couple of weeks, so I assumed that the idea was more indigestion than inspiration. Finally my friend wrote back to say that the idea didn't really fit the format of the books he published, but he had showed it to a mutual acquaintance who was an agent and he said he might be interested in the idea. I called the agent and he said there might be some merit, but we couldn't take an email with multiple typos to a publisher; I'd have to write a formal proposal including a sample chapter. That's when the real work began. It took me several months and a great deal of prodding by my agent to get the proposal done. Much to my surprise several publishers made offers on the book. We chose Zondervan because of their offer and I had a great relationship with them from my first book, The Multi-site Church Revolution, written with Greg Ligon and Dr. Warren Bird.

Now came the hard part; actually writing the book. First I needed some help from my friends. I contacted several pastors around the country and asked if they would do an interview about one of the ten stupid mistakes. I was blown away that Craig Groeschel, Mark Batterson, Perry Noble (whose name is misspelled on the back cover), Dave Ferguson, Dave Browning, Chris Hodges, Dino Rizzo, Scott Chapman, Dr. Ron Hamilton, and my brother Greg Surratt all agreed to participate. I spent the fall of 2007 writing the manuscript and turned it in February of 2008. Then came editing, cover art, cartoons and layout. Then it was time to wait. For six more months. Until today!

I really think the work and wait was worth it. I think with the help of my friends we have a book that will be a practical help to pastors across the country. If you get a copy let me know what you think.

I’m through with Christianity

Since the election Newsweek has resorted to running more and more sensationalistic headlines each week. A few weeks ago the cover screamed "WE ARE ALL SOCIALISTS NOW" followed by "STRESS COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE"; the editors have obviously decided the only way to survive the digital onslaught is to follow as closely as possible behind The National Enquirer. I'm sure "ANGELINA JOLIE GIVES BIRTH TO 72 YEAR OLD MAN!" is not far behind. So when I got this week's issue I was reluctant to read the cover story, The Decline and Fall of Christian America. Since Christopher Hitchens, author of God is Not Great, How Religion Poisons Everything, has recently become a regular contributor I knew that Newsweek would take great delight in the latest statistics showing that religion in America is sliding into the abyss. What I did not expect was to be heartened by the article.

You see, I am one of the many Americans who would no longer describe themselves as a professing Christian. I cannot in good faith associate any more with what the label Christian has come to represent in America. Christianity is now a set of political views, a way to distinguish different groups of people (Jews, Muslims, Christians, Hindus), a movement to impose a certain view of morality on others regardless the condition of their hearts.

In order to be a faithful Christian I can only vote for politicians who say they hold the party line on the right issues. It does not matter if I agree with their economic views, their foreign relations policies or their theory on education; if they pass the Christian litmus test they are my candidates. The fact that voting for these Christians again and again has produced little change, in fact we see abortion more acceptable and gay marriage legalized at a faster pace, can't be factored into the equation. As a member of the Christian party I have to toe the line.

Christianity in America seems to be led by self-appointed spokesmen who attack others without charity, seek places of prominence wherever they go and live outrageously extravagant lifestyles. They are so important that they can't possibly be expected to fly with commoners on commercial airlines. One leader needs a jet that costs $3000 an hour to operate so they can get from one Christian event to another and be home in time to record their Christian television show. But it is my duty to defend them because they are on my team. Jesus' commands to serve, to do acts of kindness in private and to prove your discipleship by pure love for others seem to be secondary for Christian leaders in America.

The main goal of Christianity in America is to build a Christian society where Christian values are taught in the schools, Christian morals are enforced in the workplace and Christian laws are followed in the courtrooms. And if Christians can't force non-Christians to act like Christians, we'll just build our own separate society. We'll shop in Christian stores, buy from Christian salesmen and live in Christian neighborhoods. And if we need to we'll buy guns and defend our Christian values to the death.

I am flawed in my faith and every day I make mistakes that I am ashamed of. But I love Jesus more and more the older I get, and I love the church with all my heart; I just can't buy into the Christian thing anymore. So I quit. I am resigning from the Christian party, the Christian club, the Christian religion. I am going to devote the rest of my life to loving God with all my heart and loving my neighbor as myself. I am going to spend all of my energy learning more about Jesus so I can follow him as closely as I can. Every day I am going to pick up my cross and follow Jesus; I am going to try be a light in my community and salt in a desperate world. I'm just not going to be a Christian anymore. Are you with me?

Servolution in Africa

I got this email from Joe Peterson, my friend who serves at Christ Gift Academy, a school for AIDS orphans in Kenya.

Just wanted you to know that CGA had a great day of service particpating in Servolution yesterday.  Our students and staff spread out to 3 different places in the community and did a ton of activities to serve the community.  It was a huge success.  Thanks for including us in this and allowing us to join with you and other churches all over the world!  It is a great learning tool for our kids and something we are talking about making a consistent thing every term!

How cool is that? Children who have no parents and live in grass huts are out serving their community.

On writing more better stuff

I want to learn to write well. (Or should I say I want to learn to write better? write gooder? write more better?) Anyone with a third grade education and access to a Mac can write poorly, and anyone with the right connections or enough money can get published; the real challenge is to write in a way that moves the reader. The skill to move the reader is a powerful tool, and there are several well-known (and not so well-known) authors who have pulled back the curtain and allowed us to see how they go about their art; here are a few I recommend:

Books on writing I recommend:

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

Anne Lamott is an excellent writer very similar in style to Donald Miller. (I'm pretty sure he read Traveling Mercies before he wrote Blue Like Jazz.) In Bird by Bird Lamott focuses on writing fiction, but her advice is applicable to any wannabe author. This is not an instructional manual, it is an autobiography built around how to write. Lamott's language, political views and take on Christianity will shock the faint of heart, but her advice on @#$#@#$ First Drafts is worth the price of the book for anyone who wants to become a writer.

On Writing by Steven King

I have never read a Steven King book and I have seen very few Steven King movies (the major exception being Shawshank Redemption, one of my all time favorites), but anyone who has sold as many books as King knows something about writing. This book is similar to Bird by Bird in that it is more memoir than writing guide, but it is a fascinating look at the writing process of an author who has sold over 300 million books.

On Writing Well by William Zinsser

On Writing Well is a very practical guide on how to make your writing not suck (or suck less). Zinsser hates adverbs and adjectives; he loves simple sentences and short paragraphs. Hemmingway would have loved Zinsser. I haven't finished the book, but I think my writing is getting better just by having it on my nightstand.

Eats, Shoots, and Leaves by Lynne Truss

The subtitle gives the true essence of this book, The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. Truss is a punctuation snob and a brilliant writer. She is able to take the topic I hated most in school and turn it into a very enjoyable read. I think I finally will remember the difference between it's and its. A myth of publishing is that the editor will take care of punctuation. The truth is that they will fix glaring errors, but most of the grammar and punctuation is up to the writer, making this an essential book for the writer's toolkit.