The first members of the first church birthed by God and led by the apostles in Jerusalem understood the idea of living in a tribe. Most of the first followers were Jewish and members of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. They understood tribal customs and traditions, most knew the land boundaries that had been established by Joshua, and most of them understood the importance of protecting the sacred distinctions and language given to them.

Tribe was a part of their ethos and that is one of the main reasons the early church survived and even thrived under intense persecution. Relationships, customs and the bond of family only grew stronger once they became followers of Christ and began living life in the tribe of the local church. After intense debate, they were even willing to include the Gentiles into their tribe which helped spread the message of Jesus around the entire world.

We tend to think that family and tribe are the same, but they are not. Tribes are made up of families who choose to live together, honor the same customs, speak the same language, and protect the interests of one another. Tribes are ruled by councils made up of trusted representatives from numerous families.  Families are definitely the cells, but the tribe makes up the total body.

I realize we have to fix the family or we will never live in a tribe.  Parents are supposed to teach us about God and about living in unity with each other and with other families.  If all the families are fractured, there is no hope for a healthy tribe.  Marriages must be strengthened, a biblical worldview must guide us in our homes and we must teach our children that no one person is the center of the universe. Only then can tribes begin to emerge out of the local fellowships we call churches.

I love the tribe that is emerging at New Life.  We are breaking free from our independent, self-focused existence and starting to live in tribe. We have declared our absolute dependence on God and our need to live in authentic community.  Our tribe believes Scripture is a light for our path and a lamp for our feet and we believe if we pray and live free lives, we can change the world.

Church talks are too safe and too sterile many times. I think pastors and leaders should regularly talk about the awkward topics that are mentioned in the Bible like money and sex.  For the most part, church leaders have avoided these matters and consequently, the two issues that wreck most marriages and most families are sexual issues and financial issues.

I announced this weekend that I would be tackling both topics in the next several weeks as a part of my new sermon series on Proverbs and even cautioned parents that the talk at New Life on Sunday, June 28^th would be rated PG-13.  The topic I will tackle on the 28th is one that many parents have yet to discuss with their young children, so I wanted them to know before they came that Sunday morning.

PG-13 does not mean that I will use crude language to communicate the Gospel or that I will use inappropriate illustrations or anecdotes during a Sunday talk. The rating is based on the subject matter. Scripture does not avoid the delicate topics of sexuality and money and neither should we as church leaders. The challenge is to discuss these issues in a public forum like Sunday morning without offending people with language or illustrations that could be viewed as salacious.

I will do my best to avoid the unnecessary clutter of carnality, but I am also determined to speak the truth of Scripture so that all of us can begin living free lives and enjoy all that God created for us, including blessed finances and healthy sexuality.

I don’t think every Sunday should be rated PG-13, but I am ready to talk about the issues we are all facing in our journey to live like Jesus in a world that looks less and less like Him. Money and sex will be discussed at New Life without apologies and with great grace for the listener.  Awkward moments can be learning moments if we have the courage and maturity to listen, discuss and change where needed.

I just read the sad news of another prominent pastor who had to resign because of a moral failure. The church website has the letter that was read to the congregation this past weekend. Those letters are becoming too common.

In November 2006, a similar letter was read at New Life and we are still feeling the pain today. I understand that leaders will always disappoint us to some degree and I certainly know I am not immune to the same temptations. I just pray I never have to write that letter.

There are three ideas that govern my heart and to date, have kept me from disqualifying myself as a husband, father and pastor. First, I love the God who redeemed me and I do not want to disappoint Him. The more I discover His grace for me, the less I want to sin.

Second, I love Pam and am grateful for the covenant relationship we have had for almost 20 years. She is a treasure to me and I cannot imagine having to tell her about my failure. It would be too painful to look in her eyes.

Third, I do not want another man to raise my children. One of the saddest songs I have ever heard is a Toby Keith tune called, “Who’s that Man Living my Life?” It tells of a man who parks his pickup across the street from his old house and watches another man play outside with his kids. The pain of watching Abram and Callie living with another man is enough to keep me from doing something stupid.

I hope we read fewer letters written by fallen pastors to disappointed churches. My prayer is that all of us live open and honest lives, submitted to real authority, so we can move the Kingdom forward and write fewer apologies.

In the movie, “Saving Private Ryan”, the German army has pinned down the Allied forces on the beaches of France and the soldiers are forced to hide behind anything that offers protection from the barrage of artillery fire. All around them, soldiers are being cut to pieces by machine gun fire and then the character played by Tom Hanks says something that is really profound. He tells them, “We cannot stay here. We must get off this beach! We are dead men if we stay here!”

At first that must have seemed odd to the soldiers who heard him. It is natural as humans to stay huddled in the safe place and not charge ahead in the face of uncertainty and danger. I think many of us are huddled on the beach right now, taking fire from our enemy who wishes to steal, kill and destroy us. God is giving us a clear command today – “Get off the beach! Take the land!”

I don’t see myself as a survivalist. I don’t spend much mental energy thinking about how to protect what I have. I like to see myself as the captain who is encouraging his troops to charge forward.  However, for the past several months as the economy has teetered on the verge of collapse, many of my conversations with friends have been about survival and not advancement. I am not sensing a great deal of fear in my friends and I have not discovered much fear in my own heart. What is missing is the raw faith to believe for God’s provision and blessing when everything around us is being shaken and in some cases, overtaken.

God needs us to reclaim the lost vision that has been taken from us. We need to start dreaming again and ask for the bold plans that will take us to the new ground. We cannot stay in neutral. We cannot stay hidden behind false shields on the beach! We must get off the beach and engage the enemy of our faith. We cannot make decisions out of fear. We must believe the truths of Scripture and put them to the test.

The soldiers in World War II did not stay on the beaches of Normandy. With great courage and tremendous sacrifice, they charged ahead and liberated France from the tyranny of the Nazi regime. As followers of Christ, we have all the weapons we need to rout the enemy and take the land. But first, we must get off this beach!

“Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10: 43-45 NIV

Serving is not natural for humans. We prefer to be preferred. We are born as helpless beings that need constant attention and care. Parents meet all our needs, photograph us more than presidents, and come running anytime they hear but a whimper. As we grow older, most of us believe we are the center of the universe and everyone else is paying rent.

It was no different with the 12 disciples. They were always clamoring for status and position. They wanted the choice seats at dinner, and to stand right next to Jesus as the crowds cheered him. Mark records the above conversation and with three verses, Jesus shatters the paradigms that had become cemented in their thinking.

Notice they were not scolded for wanting to be great or desiring to be first. In other conversations, Jesus encouraged them to lay up treasure in heaven and to do good works.  The disciples, like many of us today, were focused on what they could get from God and others and not what they could do for God and others.

This is completely counter-cultural because society tells us to get ahead at all costs and to promote ourselves at every opportunity. Instead, we are expected to do good things for people we may not like and expect nothing in return until we get to heaven.  The problem is heaven seems so distant and we want instant returns on our investment. This is why most people talk about serving but never become servants.

I have met true servants and I want to be one someday. Right now, I wrestle with selfishness, ego, narcissism, and an addiction to comfort. However, I am allowing the Holy Spirit to change my heart and I invite you on the journey with me. Servants can change the world but there are so few of them right now.

What keeps a leader from moving forward with the plans and designs God has given them? What are the forces that neutralize a leader? What schemes has the enemy devised to prevent leaders from leading churches, companies and families to the Promised Land?

I don’t have all the answers and I am no leadership expert, but I am experienced. More importantly, I am determined to learn from my experiences.  In the past 20 months, I have walked through transition, trauma, attacks, and victories. I have also discovered new levels of demonic attacks and subsequently, new degrees of God’s power.

Every leader who is a Christ follower is a target of the enemy. If leaders stop leading, the enemy wins and the Kingdom of God stops advancing.  The three strategies most often used against Godly leaders are diminishment, discouragement and distractions.

Diminishment

Diminishment is the overwhelming feeling that everything around us is weakening, being reduced in strength, shrinking and becoming cheapened. The enemy uses trivial evidence to convince us that our momentum is a façade and in fact, we are losing ground.  The truth is every healthy organism experiences loss. Our bodies shed millions of dead skin cells every day and are designed to eliminate waste. Our hair falls out while new hair grows in it is place – at least for most of us.

The enemy wishes to focus all of our attention on these losses while hiding our eyes from the remarkable growth that is also happening.  Leaders must be aware of everything that is happening around them but not become fixated on just the losses. Make sure there are people around you that point out both the losses and the wins. Keep a balanced outlook and you will not fall into the trap of diminishment.

Discouragement

If you are stuck in the dungeon of diminishment, you will then fall prey to a much deadlier foe – discouragement. This is when we have lost all courage and all hope. We simply stop dreaming and stop trying because the challenge seems impossible and the risks too dangerous. It seems the air has left your sails, never to return.

Throughout Scripture we see leaders who battled discouragement. Moses was discouraged because he led a rebellious and stubborn people. Joshua was discouraged because the walls of the cities were thick and guarded by giants. The disciples were discouraged because their leader had been murdered. But in each case, these leaders turned their hearts toward heaven, confessed their discouragement and suddenly a new wind of heaven filled their sails so they could move forward. It seems that God likes leaders who admit their human weakness and declare their absolute dependence on Him.

Distractions

If the enemy cannot convince us of diminishment or lead us into discouragement, he will try to distract us. He will try to convince us to do good things instead of God things. Recently, I became aware of a huge distraction in my life. I tried to do a good thing for the right reasons, but it caused me harm and hurt. I realized that I had become distracted by something that seemed noble, but in reality, it was a snare.

This requires leaders to be really alert and discerning. We must remember our primary purpose, and remind ourselves to stay the course and not divert off the main path. We must stop giving so much time to meaningless mental conversations about people we were not called to lead or problems that we were never called to solve. Our emotional tanks will be emptied if we continue with the distractions and that is not how God designed for us to live.

Leaders must lead and the enemy must be exposed. Go forward fellow leaders. Take those who are assigned to you to the green pastures God has prepared for all of us. Do not believe in diminishment, do not be discouraged and refuse to be distracted.

Power and Purpose

I spent a few days in northwest Wales this past week exploring the idea of a church plant. This region of the UK once had a number of flourishing churches and was a world leader for evangelism. In fact, the Welsh Revival of 1903 had a profound influence on the Azusa Street outpouring in Los Angeles which ignited the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements that many of us are a part of today. Sadly, most of the Welsh churches today are either closed or dying and the leaders are greatly discouraged.

From what I witnessed on my visit to Wales, it seems the church lost ground when it stopped praying for the power of the Holy Spirit and ignored its purpose of pursuing the lost. If a church loses these two ideas, death is certain.  These simple truths propelled the First Century church from an illegal group of ragtag Christ followers to a powerful cultural force that changed the world. Notice what happened in Acts 2 in the very first moments of the first church. The Holy Spirit baptized the believers with power and thousands of people were saved on the first day the church ever existed.

In Wales, the church became too formal and refused to change its ideology to reach a 20^th Century Welsh culture that was going through radical cultural shifts caused by two world wars.  The church became obsessed with chapels and steeples instead of people. The church’s theology did not emphasize prayer, the power of the Holy Spirit or a passionate pursuit of the lost. Therefore, the church lost its relevance and now the only ones attending are a few committed followers, most over the age of 60. If substantial changes are not made soon, the Welsh church could become extinct.

However, I sense something new and fresh is about to happen in Wales. There is a group of young leaders and mature visionaries who are leading a movement to plant life-giving churches throughout the land. They are committed to power and purpose and, therefore, I believe they will succeed.  They are realizing that stagnant days call for radical action and fierce faith. 

The church in America must learn from what happened in Wales or we will repeat the mistakes and find ourselves irrelevant and powerless.  I am leading New Life back to the fuel source – passionate prayer that brings power from heaven and a focus on the lost and hurting.  We cannot change what has happened in Wales, but we can pray for the fire to be reignited and for our own hearts to remain ablaze.

I wonder how much room we have made in our lives to love the fourth group of people. Most of us do a pretty good job loving at least three groups. We love ourselves, we love our families and we love our friends. The fourth group is a bit more difficult to love. They are people who are different than us by religious beliefs, social customs, skin color, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, and gender.

For the most part we have formed counter-cultural communities, called churches, and invited those people into our tribes who were willing to act like us, think like us, and behave like us. We do go out from time to time and attempt to reach the lost world, but mostly we are content to retreat to our safe circles and love the three.

To me, this is the very reason we are losing the culture wars and why the church looks more like the world than the world looks like the church. Jesus told us we are salt and light, but also warned us that we could lose our saltiness and we would be tempted to hide our light.  I am ready for a salty, radiant tribe of people called New Lifers to go find the fourth group and influence them for Jesus, using words only when necessary. That is the heart and purpose of the new sermon series I am calling “Change the World.”

But no matter how eloquent I am and how often I remind myself and the church that we are to go make disciples, we will never really change our city unless we love those in the fourth group. This is what Jesus modeled to us and this is what made the religious community of his time so furious. The religious community was convinced of their spiritual and moral superiority and had completely rejected the idea of loving anyone who was different. Jesus really loved sinners and spent a lot of time with people who were rejected and despised, even asking some of them to be his disciples and apostles.

I want to look more like Jesus and act less religious. I hope I make some new friends soon and I hope they are different than me.  I am going to take the challenge to be salt and light and make room for the fourth group of people.  I want to really love those who are different than me and I pray that New Lifers join me on this new journey that could literally change the world.