Author: Brady Boyd (page 25 of 35)

Marinating vs. Microwaving

September 27, 2010 / / 9 Comments /

Jesus was brilliant. I know I sound like Captain Obvious, but Jesus knew how to build something that would last for millenniums. He invested three years in 12 men and then left them right when the church was about to be birthed. The 11 that remained as followers plus a small group of committed women then changed the world.

Why is this idea so hard for modern church leaders to grasp? Why do we continue to use Western marketing principles that ultimately fail instead of using the simple methods of Jesus, which are rock solid?

I am building a ministry to men at New Life and I have decided to spend the next three years building a group of leaders emphasizing relationships and not events or classes. We will have some events and some classes, but we will focus most of our effort on living our lives in authentic community. We are going to go deep before we grow wide.

Most people looking from the outside may think we are not that successful because I cannot point to big attendance numbers as proof. Please pray for me that I will not give in to the temptation to simply get a big crowd to come to an event. My goal at the end of the three years is to have around 200 men from every generation who will help me pastor the 5000 or so men who call New Life home. My goal is not to get the 5000 to show up at some meeting.

Crowds do not multiply, but disciples do. The challenge will be to marinate and not succumb to the microwave mentality that plagues the American church world. We want instant “success” like we want instant rice. We want to be on Top 100 lists even though Jesus would have never made it himself.

Only 120 were in the Upper Room and they were tired, scared and immature. Then they changed the culture of the evil Greco-Roman world in which they lived. They had depth because they had been built from the inside out. The crowds ultimately abandoned Jesus, but those who were in relationship with him stood firm.

I am returning to the ancient because it is the hope for the postmodern world in which I pastor and lead. Come marinate in deep relationships with me. Let’s go deep before we grow wide. Let’s change the world one friendship at a time.

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The Top Ten Worship Tunes in My World

September 19, 2010 / / 7 Comments /

I love songs that help lead me into worship and I have a list of 10 favorites that are special to me right now.

1. Overcome – written by Jon Egan of New Life Church. It’s the song that’s the anthem of New Life Church and will forever be one of my favorites because of what happened when we sang it on the Wednesday night after the shooting on our campus. Favorite line – “Everyone, Overcome”

2. You Hold it All – New Life Worship, written by Jon Egan – Favorite line “I will not fear!”

3. How He Loves – written by John Mark McMillan, but best sung by Jared Anderson. This song still wrecks me when I sing it. Favorite line – “I don’t have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way that you love us.”

4. Revelation Song – best when sung by Kari Jobe, although she did not write it as most people believe. Jennie Riddle wrote it. Favorite line – “Filled with wonder, awestruck wonder, at the mention of your name.”

5. The Great I Am – a brand new song written by Jared Anderson, not published yet, but it will be soon. This song is sung to God about God, which I believe is the purest type of worship tunes.

6. This I Know – a brand new song written by Jon Egan and Daniel Grothe, not published yet, but it will be soon. Ditto from my explanation of #5.

7. The Stand – From Hillsong United. Favorite line – “I’ll stand, my arms high and heart abandoned, in awe of the One who gave it all.”

8. Tears of the Saints – a killer song from the band, Leeland, that talks about the church helping the poor. The first time I heard this tune, I had to stop walking around my neighborhood because of the tears.

9. From the Inside Out – From Hillsong United. My favorite line –  “Your glory goes beyond all fame.”

10. In Christ Alone – no song so clearly communicates the entire Gospel message as this one. Written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townsend, but best sung by Brad Parsley. Favorite line – “No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me.”

What are the songs that God is using to draw you closer right now?

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Dream Centers Update

September 10, 2010 / / 0 Comments /

We are really close to experiencing a huge miracle for the Dream Centers. There are several possibilities looming for us to get really large buildings donated that would allow us to pastor our city for decades. Remember, we are praying for buildings bigger than we think we need, ones that are better than we deserve and we are praying for them to be donated.  The aforementioned buildings meet all three requests.

Right now, we are meeting with the owners behind the scenes, asking a lot of questions and trying to do due diligence. One of the big issues is actually operating such a large building once it is given to us. It will require thousands of dollars and hundreds of volunteers to even get rolling, but I am full of faith that God is directing our steps.

I am also meeting with leaders and pastors in the city who can serve with me on the board of the Dream Centers. As I have said before, the Dream Centers will not be owned by New Life, but will be operated under a separate 501(c) 3. I want to partner with other churches, business leaders and military leaders because the needs in our region are simply too big for us to tackle them alone.

Keep praying with me and be patient in this process. I know it seems like we have been waiting a long time, but believe me, once we open the Dream Centers, it will be all hands on deck to pastor our city. It is about to happen and God will get all the glory. Selah

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Live from New Life

August 30, 2010 / / 8 Comments /

The Sunday morning gatherings at New Life will be broadcast live on our website starting September 12th. This means people can join us live around the world and experience worship with us via some really cool and really inexpensive technology. There are lots of positives and some negatives about live-streaming that we have discussed as a team.

CONS:

  • Watching on the web is not an equal substitute for attending live. Face to face, person-to-person interaction at church is super important and cannot be dismissed in favor of watching from home.
  • The technology is great, but it is really expensive to make the sound quality on the web equal to the live gathering. Lower your expectations in that regard.

PROS:

  • Live streaming is a great opportunity for people who are looking for a new church to preview our service before actually attending.
  • It is a great resource for our missionaries and military members stationed around the world to stay connected to their local church.
  • On heavy snow Sundays, the three of us who make it to church can sing and speak while the rest of you watch. I promise I will not sing unless absolutely necessary.

What do you think about the services being live-streamed? How can we take maximum advantage of this great technology?

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Twitter Wisdom

August 26, 2010 / / 7 Comments /

Twitter and Facebook provide huge opportunities to have conversations, to share ideas, to promote products and events, and to share the random thoughts of everyday life. Pam and I are realizing more and more, though, that we have to be super careful about our posts because they can be misinterpreted and misquoted.

Not long ago, I posted a comment about the number of tattoos on the Denver Nugget players. It was just a little late night sarcasm, but it prompted a lot of angry responses from people who also have tattoos. I regretted sounding judgmental because that is not who I am.  Last fall, after the Cowboys lost an early season game, I made a derogatory remark about Head Coach Wade Phillips and a wise man in our church kindly corrected me.  Since those two posts, I have tried to use a bit more wisdom and discretion in what I put online for all to read.

Since Twitter allows for only 140 characters, we often cannot fully explain what we are thinking, thereby leaving a lot of room for misinterpretation. Here are some rules I try to follow.

1. Don’t post about things that happen in the bathroom. Enough said.

2. Don’t post when you are angry or hungry, especially when you are both.

3. Don’t post stuff that points out physical or mental deficiencies in others.

4. Don’t post stuff about movies or songs that contain material that others may find offensive.

5. Don’t overhype an event. Promotion is fine, but hype is not classy.

I cannot tell you how often I have had to delete something I was about to post because it broke one of these rules. I have never regretted a deletion, but I have regretted a number of posts. I love social media and have made a lot of connections with people that I would have never met otherwise.  Like any good thing, it can become a snare if we are not wise with its use.  What are some of the rules you follow with social media? What are some of the mistakes you have made that the rest of us could learn from?

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I Love Church

August 22, 2010 / / 1 Comment /

I love church. I always will. Call me an idealist, but I still believe that Jesus meant for us to live life in a big messy family, to love one another when we are not that adorable and to be in covenant relationships even at the risk of our own hurt.

For me, church is not a gym membership to be used whenever I feel motivated and abandoned as soon as the new, more modern gym opens up down the street. Church is family. It is not a building, a corporation or a weekend meeting that we are compelled to attend out of habit. It is grandparents hoping to leave a legacy, families trying to thrive, single moms hoping to survive, students searching for truth and children being in awe.

Pam and I have belonged to five churches in 21 years of marriage and each time we left one, it was to move to another city to serve another body. We don’t church hop because we don’t hop from one family to another. If we become a part, we stick and we serve, even when things get tough.

We believe the local church is the best expression of God on the earth, so we give our time, our talents and our money to help the church. We complain to each other in private, but at the end of the day, we are loyal to the bride Christ left behind. We are convinced that lovers of the bride will get the chance to heal the bride. Cynics will never be a part of the solution.

The church will be here long after I am gone and has endured a lot more pain than I have encountered. Miracles, redemption, forgiveness, hope and healing happen in church. Even when she is broken, the church is still the product of men and women who have sacrificed much and surrendered more. Jesus gave everything for her. I love church. I always will.

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Dream Centers Update

August 19, 2010 / / 5 Comments /

Last week, the elders agreed to move forward and secure a building for phase one of the Dream Centers. We are actively meeting with local commercial realtors and ministries and should have some space soon to open a medical clinic and maybe space enough to begin offering ministry to our military families who are struggling. There are still several large buildings that could be donated to us, but while we pray and wait, we want to take a small step to launch.

Also, I want you to know that the Dream Centers will not be an exclusive ministry of New Life Church. It will be led by a coalition of churches, ministries, business leaders and military officials, all who have a desire to pastor our city. New Life will certainly lead the way, but it has always been my desire to see a group of people work together to meet the greatest needs in our city with no one caring who gets the credit.

Notice that I mentioned Dream Centers, plural, not singular. Many people are under the impression that only one big building will house all the ministries, but that is not the case. There will be multiple sites around our city with multiple outreaches all operating under the umbrella of the Dream Center board.  One central location is not sufficient to meet the staggering needs of our city.

So pray that we will launch soon, even if it is a small space. Pray for the resources, both financial and human, to begin well. Pray for a coalition of servant leaders to rally around this God idea. Most importantly, pray for thousands of people to rediscover the dream that God has placed inside of them.

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Pray Until You are Skinny

August 10, 2010 / / 1 Comment /

People sometimes quit praying for the same reason they quit a diet. It is really difficult and it seems to take too long. No one starts a diet and wakes up two days later able to wear their skinny clothes. The same is true oftentimes with prayer. Sometimes there is an immediate answer, but most often it takes weeks, months and even years to see the breakthrough.

I was reminded this morning in our prayer time that it is easy to get discouraged and tired after praying for such a long time without the big miracle happening.  This is why the psalmist wrote:

 “My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music.

Psalm 57:7 NIV

This is my prayer today – “Father in heaven, help me to remain steadfast, unmovable, and unshakable. Help me to pray and believe and not lose heart or grow tired. Help all of us to keep praying until we are skinny.”

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How is Everyone Doing?

August 6, 2010 / / 1 Comment /

It’s amazing how little I know about what is happening at New Life and I am supposed to be the leader. I think this is true about a lot of leaders, not just me. It is easy to encase ourselves in our office and forget to look below the water line of the ship. So, from time to time, I ask a few people on the staff how everyone is doing. I’m not asking for them to relay the latest gossip, but I do want to know what I don’t know.

This week, I asked someone about the morale of the staff. This trusted person told me there was a concern we were going to lay off some people because another local ministry just laid off some of their staff. I would have never known this if I had not asked.  We are not considering lay-offs, instead we are preparing for a season of growth and increased ministry. I’m sure this rumor would have died a slow death on its own, but I got the chance to kill it quickly because I asked the right question.

I am not a proponent of chasing down rumor fires and putting them out. That would exhaust me and keep me from my primary purpose. I realize there will always be a handful of misguided opinions on a staff our size. What I do suggest is that from time to time, we peer below the water line to make sure we have not run aground on something that could have been avoided by a more attentive captain.

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Are you a workaholic?

July 20, 2010 / / 2 Comments /

Workaholics have damaged and destroyed more families than alcoholics, especially among leaders in the local church.  I meet pastors all the time who work incessantly at building God’s house while ignoring their own. All the while they justify their long hours with phrases like “this is just a season and will not always be like this” or “God has given me a big assignment”.  Meanwhile, back home, their spouses and children get what is left over at the end of the day.

How do you know if you have become addicted to work and performance? What are the signs that you may be out of balance? Here’s a few to consider.

•1. You have not taken a full day off from ministry in more than a month.  When was the last time you turned off your phone and refused to check work emails for an entire 24-hour cycle?

•2. You have not taken more than five days of vacation in a long time. Five days is what it takes for me to detox from the demands of ministry. I cannot even rest and regenerate until the sixth day. If all you have taken are a few days here and there, your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual tanks will eventually run dry.

•3. You feel guilty for not attending every event at the church.  When was the last time something significant happened at your church and you stayed home instead of attending? I know this will be shocking news to you, but your team is capable of doing stuff well without you looking over their shoulders.

•4. You have a high turnover on your team. Workaholics demand the same performance from those around them as they do of themselves. Typically, workaholics hang around each other, like alcoholics, and enable each other to continue their destructive behaviors. All those who cannot keep up with the frenetic pace are quickly discarded.

•5. You are constantly frustrated that you are not growing fast enough. Workaholics are obsessed with numerical measurements of growth. Even when attendance is growing, it is never fast enough for workaholics. Their identity is wrapped up in performance and results, instead of the internal spiritual maturity that is most important to God.

I was once a workaholic and it almost cost me everything. I am guilty of all five symptoms listed above, but I have been restored to a balanced life that allows me to work hard at the church I love while not sacrificing my family on the altar of ministry.  Be diligent at your job, using your time wisely, but remember to rest well, stop feeling guilty for the occasional nap, and spend time alone with God. Talk to Him about stuff in your heart instead of what is happening at the church building. It works, believe me.

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