What qualifies someone to be a leader in the church? Can someone just announce to the rest of us that “God called me” or “God spoke to me”? How can we evaluate maturity and health in a person who wants to influence others in the local fellowship? What about a Bible school degree? Isn’t that enough? What if the degree has lots of letters and abbreviations after it? Surely that’s enough? Timothy had the same questions for the Apostle Paul and here is his answer as recorded in1 Timothy 3:2-7 (NIV),

“Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how he can take care of God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.”

Paul was clearly pointing out that the bar should be raised more for leaders of the church than for others in the fellowship. Paul was not giving a long list of impossible rules – that’s what the Pharisees were known for doing. No, Paul was giving a short list of reasonable expectations for a significant leader such as an elder or what we would call a pastor.

Paul was also saying that other people should evaluate potential leaders before they could lead. So often, I hear people say, “God is the only one who can appoint me” or “God is the only one who can restore me”. It’s true that God is the only redeemer of our souls, the giver of all our gifts and the only one who can forgive our sins, but God has always used delegated human authority to evaluate men and women who desire to lead a local church. Paul was writing to humans who were trying to choose human leaders. Paul did not say, “take everyone at their word and give leadership to whomever wants it.”

This same list of requirements is meant for those who have disqualified themselves from pastoral leadership and want to be restored. The same requirements that originally qualified us for leadership are the same for those wanting to start over. It also means that once again delegated human authority will have to recognize the work of God in a person’s life the same as in the beginning of their ministry.

Basically, the three areas mentioned in 1st Timothy 3 and again in Titus 1 involve faith, family and finances.  If a leader has a personal mature relationship with God that is evidently growing, has a vigorous, vibrant family and has healthy personal finances, then leadership in the local church should be considered.  If any of these three areas are unhealthy, it is a sign of either immaturity or a lack of character.

Let’s not substitute health and maturity for talent, charm or charisma. The local church is the Bride of Christ and she deserves and requires our best care, forever and always.

 For the past year, most of our conversations at New Life have centered on meeting the needs of our city and helping mobilize our church to become more missional. We believe our church has to become more focused on the world that exists outside our church walls and not continue our fixation on attendance at events on our campus. However, there is still a real need for the big event, especially in our culture.

 In two weeks, we expect around 50,000 people to come to our campus to watch the Thorn and the Crown. The Thorn is a spectacular portrayal of the Passion of Christ and the Crown is a children’s version of the same story. We will have ten performances of each show the weekend before Easter and the weekend of Easter.

 The challenge for us is to make sure this event advances our mission and does not distract us from our mission.  The investment into these two events is staggering – over a thousand volunteers, dozens of staff members, thousands of dollars. These two events literally consume us for at least two months every year. So what are we doing to do to make sure our investment of time and money bring a Kingdom return?

 First, we are praying diligently for those who have never surrendered to Christ to see and hear a clear presentation of the Gospel. We are going to give every person at each performance a simple opportunity to pray for salvation and we are going to diligently follow up with each person who responds.

 Second, we are dedicating an entire performance to our city’s military families, who can attend for free that night. Before the performance, we are hosting a dinner for military widows to honor them and encourage them. We are praying this opens the door for more ministry on the local military bases because we have a huge burden for our troops and their families.

 We are also going to do a better job of inviting people who do not have a church home back to New Life for weekend worship. We are not targeting people who already attend a local fellowship, but we do want those who are disenfranchised from church to feel welcomed into our family.

 So if we see people saved, military families strengthened and the prodigals return to a fellowship, we believe the big event has been successful.  I still believe the best ministry happens in our neighborhoods, schools and workplaces during the week, but there is still room in our culture for a big event as long as it has a strategic purpose that is understood and embraced by the church.

Over time, most local churches begin to take on the personality and reflect the values of their Senior Pastor.  It makes sense that this would happen since the Senior Pastor generally influences the congregation more than other leaders in the fellowship. It is a fact that most people attend a church because there is some connection with the Senior Pastor – they like him as a person or like the way he speaks. For sure, there are other, more important reasons, to attend a fellowship, but honestly, most people don’t stay at a church when they don’t like the leader.

So what am I supposed to do with all this influence? First, I am supposed to make sure the church is not built around my personality or my charisma.  In fact, I should be pointing people to Jesus and trying as hard as possible to not block the view. There are some practical ways to make this happen like sharing the pulpit with a team of communicators instead of feeling the pressure or having the ego that demands constant stage presence. This is why I speak at New Life only 35 to 40 weekends each year. It keeps me fresh and rested, and allows others with different gifts and viewpoints to teach and lead.

 A second responsibility that comes with my position is making sure my private world is in order. I really believe we can only impart who we are on the inside. I can talk to the church about any topic in the Bible with some degree of expertise, but I can only impart the values I am living in private. For example, I can teach on giving generously, but the church will never embrace generosity unless Pam and I are generous givers ourselves. I can teach on marriage, but it will sound less than authentic if my own marriage is not strong.

 I take this stuff pretty seriously and I want to challenge my fellow pastors to do the same. Let’s regularly examine our motives to make sure we are not building personal empires and are indeed, serving and sacrificing, to build His Kingdom. Let’s focus more on who we are becoming and not so much on what we are doing. Our churches will look like our homes over time so let’s make sure our own house is in order so His house can look the same.

 Influence is a powerful weapon that carries with it awesome responsibility. It can be used for good or evil and it can be taken away in a moment when not nurtured and respected. Let’s use our influence for the purpose for which it was given – to make Jesus famous and not ourselves.

 Mark 2:22 NIV

 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins.”

 Not many churches in America have experienced as much change and transition as New Life has in the past four years.  While some of the changes were caused by difficulties and trauma, some of the changes were normal and needed. In fact every fellowship needs changes from time to time or it will become increasingly irrelevant and ineffective.

 The problem with change is the old wine. We love the old wine. In fact, wine lovers will tell you that old wine is best. However, the old wine will one day be gone and only the prudent winemakers who long ago began putting new wine into new wineskins will have wine to drink when yesterday’s wine has been consumed.

 All of us want things to be the way they always have been. I mean, if things were great yesterday, shouldn’t they be great today. That sounds right, but that is not the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus used the winemaking analogy to make this very point. Only those who are willing to make new wineskins will get the new wine. Old wineskins were great yesterday, but today, they are of little value.

 The first two months of 2010, I have witnessed the birth of the new New Life.  It was not some master plan of mine to have it happen at this time, but God apparently had other ideas. To be clear, New Life still has at its core some of the same values it has had for 25 years – we love worship, missions, ministry to students and we still place a high value on prayer.

 New Life still feels like a growing family and not some religious monolith.  These are the core values I have tried to protect while at the same time, bring in the new wine that was so desperately needed. We changed the way New Life was governed, we became much better stewards of our resources and we raised the accountability and oversight for all of our ministry staff.  These changes only made us stronger and actually allow us to minister better than ever with fewer resources.

 The new wine we are about to enjoy is rooted primarily in our commitment to be a James 1:27 church, meaning we are serious about helping widows, orphans and keeping our hearts unspotted from the world.  We are also committed to the Great Commission by planting and sending church planters and missionaries around the world.

 I realize many long-time New Lifers have had a difficult time with all the new faces and the new values that direct the leaders. But to their credit, most of them have let go of yesterday and made room in their hearts for the bright tomorrows. I am thankful they have allowed me to bring some new wineskins so God can give us the new wine we so desperately need.

Note: This is part four of a four-part blog series on the core values of New Life Church

 We are strongest when we are living our lives with other people. Our enemy knows if he can separate us from our family and distance us from close friends, we are more vulnerable and prone to deception. That’s why the church must be a place where genuine friendships can be built and people are allowed to live transparent lives with one another.

 I despise church masks, including the one I wear from time to time. We have built church around the idea that everyone should be perpetually ok when, in fact, the church should be the safest place to confess failures and struggles.  Authentic community only happens when we give each other permission to be honest without fear of rejection. In fact, a big part of our healing should include confession and prayer for one another. (James 5:16)

 I am not a big fan of organized accountability groups where guys meet once a week and confess all their temptations. If you are in a group like this and it is helping you, then continue going by all means. I just don’t believe you can organize and administrate real friendships. These types of relationships take time and intentionality. Real friendships are not made in the microwave; they must be marinated.

 Sincere friends have blessed my life, but I have also felt the pain of being lonely. The first year I was at New Life, I felt alone, even though I was on a stage every weekend speaking to thousands of people. All my close friends were back in Texas and I had to start making new friends here in Colorado. I believe God reminded me during that lonely time to never take friendships for granted and to make sure New Life Church was a place where authentic community could be easily found.

 If you are not a part of an authentic community of friends, invite someone this week to eat a meal with you or meet for coffee. Come to church early next Sunday and stay late so you have time for conversations. Find a small group and bravely go to the meeting, even if you don’t know anyone there. It takes courage, I know, but the reward of having friends is worth the risk.

This is part three of a four-part blog series on the core values of New Life Church.

 I believe that everything rises and falls because of leadership. I also believe the church should be the best place to learn real leadership, but the church has to be willing to do two things well. We must be willing to give young leaders a place at the table and we should be willing to clean up some messes.

 Most churches have older, mature leaders in all the key leadership positions but very few churches are willing to trust an emerging leader with any real responsibility.  Many churches have interns and most churches have youth pastors and worship leaders that are under 30. But often, these young leaders are not brought to the table when the key decisions are being made in the local church. They can decide some issues in their department, but their voice is seldom heard on the bigger issues of the local body.

 At New Life, there was a culture of building young leaders when I arrived and I have tried to preserve and nurture this idea. New Life had actually moved too much toward young leaders and I needed to balance the core leadership teams with some maturity. This is not the case in most churches, though. Most churches need more some 20-somethings and 30-somethings at the table when decisions are being made.

 The reason churches don’t embrace young leaders is because they cause messes. So we choose ease and comfort over the inevitable mistakes that young leaders are bound to make. Young leaders will also challenge the cultural traditions of a local fellowship and we all know that churches like change as much as cats like water.

 If the church of 2010 is to march forward and take ground in this next decade, those of us who have leadership in the local church must embrace the ideas, strategies, innovation, mistakes and messes of this next generation. I challenge pastors to bring young leaders to the table when big decisions are being made. They may not have the bid idea that saves the day, but we will have a chance a to build leaders that will one day take the baton from us.

Note: This is part two of a four part blog series on the mission of New Life Church.

Equip means to prepare someone for a particular task or situation or to supply them with what they need to be successful. This is the primary role for those of us who are pastors at New Life Church. Our focus should be teaching, praying, leading and equipping the people of New Life for ministry.

The best way to equip people is to simply get them out doing stuff. We spend too much time teaching, lecturing, and talking and not enough time experimenting and allowing people to make messes.

Before sophisticated missile guidance systems, naval battles were often won by cannon crews who could adjust the quickest after a missed shot. It was pure luck if the first shot hit its target. I believe the church has trained people to not try until there is a guarantee of success. So we stand on the ship and tell them “Ready, ready, aim, aim, aim”, but we are reluctant to yell, “Fire”.

I do believe in teaching sound theology, and I believe there are some great leadership tools like Strength Finders that can help people. But people are best taught when they have a “hands on” experience, especially if a mentor or coach is with them when they minister.

Its the same model Jesus used to equip his disciples:

Watch me do ministry
Do ministry while I am watching you.
Go minister by yourself and report back to me later.

That is equipping the saints for the work of ministry. It is not complicated.

Note to reader: This is part 1 of a 4-part blog series describing the core values of New Life Church. Next week: Part 2- We exist to equip believers

New Life Church exists to love people. God sent his Son because he loved the people of the world and Jesus said in John 13:35 that our love for one another would be proof to the world that we are his disciples.

Love is what we want most. That’s why our songs, our art, our movies and our books talk about love more than any other topic. We want to be loved and we want to show love. Love covers all wrongs, love is patient, love is gentle and love is kind. When love is present, anger is squelched, strivings cease and hurt feelings are mended.

What does that really mean and how are we supposed to carry out this mandate in a world seemingly void of love and filled with anger, evil and trouble?

As a church, we will show love at every opportunity. We will meet any real need that we are able to meet and we will give our resources to those in the greatest pain. Widows, orphans, the poor, the lost, the hurting, the lonely, the disenfranchised and the despised will always be our primary focus. 

No one loves people they do not pray for often. Love has to begin from the inside out. We will ask God to give us sincere love for people and then we will look for opportunities to practically demonstrate this love. Our words will be kind, our motives will be pure and our actions will be sincere.

To be clear, love does not mean we have to compromise our core convictions. We can hold fast to the truth we know but still show love to those who disagree with us. Love means we will listen to differing opinions and respect those with different worldviews or political affiliations. This means we will love and pray for presidents, congressmen and governors we did not vote for on election day.

Love means we will not insult those who have insulted us and we will choose kindness over vindication or revenge. Love means we will assume the best about people and not engage in gossip or slander.

Only love will motivate us to serve and sacrifice for the long term. Love will direct our decisions and determine our mission. In the end, our sincere love for others will give us the opportunity to point people to Christ, the only source of any authentic love.

Christianity has done more than enough in the past 2000 years to earn a bad reputation, but when disasters strike, like the one in Haiti, authentic Christ followers have always been among the first to lend support and aid.  We may disagree on some minor theological points and we may not play well together at times, but we do tend to rally together when the need is the most urgent.

I heard a report today that 90 percent of the non-government aid coming to Haiti was from faith-based organizations.  As taxpayers and citizens, we have also contributed to the government relief and military support that is helping bring order and stability to Haiti.  I am grateful the church has responded with such generosity and is part of the solution to a seemingly insurmountable problem.

Christ followers are a hopeful people who love to serve and love to give, but sometimes it takes a disaster to remind us of our core mission.  In a season of economic instability and uncertainty, we gave generously, even when the need right here at home was great.

I pray we will continue to serve the people of Haiti after the media spotlight has dimmed and world attention has turned to some other global crisis. The problems in Haiti are decades old and the solutions are not simple or easy. We must not give up on these precious people. Jesus told us we would always have the poor among us. He did not tell us this as an excuse to ignore them but to remind us to never stop serving them.