Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.

Colossians 3:23

Growing up, I heard my parents speak of working hard and putting in a good day’s work. I watched my parents end most days tired, but content at what had been accomplished. It was not necessarily ambition that drove them, but a desire to be productive and useful. Working hard was honorable, more akin to worship than duty. It certainly was not optional.

What does it mean to work hard with all your heart, to put in a good day’s work? How can we tell if we have honored God and really been productive with our time and talents?

We cannot assume those on our teams share the same values for hard work and productivity. Frustrations are often a result of unmet expectations or expectations that were never clearly communicated in the first place. Many times, a team is annoyed when others are not working as hard or some are not seen as carrying the weight assigned to them.

When was the last time your team sat down and agreed on the definition of a good day’s work? Here are some thoughts to consider at the end of each workday:

1. Did we pray for our work?

2. Did we arrive on time, ready to work?

3. Did we know our assignments?

4. Did we ask for help when we needed it?

5. Did we stop and help others when they needed it?

6. Did we solve problems proactively?

7. Did we communicate well with our team?

8. Did we handle our frustrations with a good attitude?

9. Did we prioritize our time for the most valuable things?

10. Did we finish what really needed to be done today?

I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes from someone who was fairly productive.

“We often miss opportunity because it’s dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

Thomas Edison

As one calendar year comes to a close and a new year is approaching, we pause to reflect on how faithful God has been and to anticipate that same faithfulness moving into the new year. In a recent meeting with our NLC Elders, we spent time thanking God for all that he did in 2016 and praying for clear direction for New Life Church in 2017. Because of God’s goodness and your faithful tithes and generous offerings, we are able to celebrate these extraordinary accomplishments in 2016:

• We baptized nearly 400 people.
• We doubled the number of single moms and their children at Mary’s Home.
• We have served over 4,000 women and nearly doubled our appointment hours at the Women’s Clinic.
• We launched a New Life congregation in Manitou Springs, led by Pastor Joe Kirkendall.
• We began the process of merging with Nueva Vida, the largest Spanish speaking church in Colorado Springs, led by Pastor Jeremias Tamarez. We now have five congregations meeting across our city.
• We partnered in planting Radiant Church in Kansas City, MO, with Pastor David Perkins. We have now partnered in planting five churches across the United States.
• We were able to give a substantial gift to the Springs Rescue Mission to help them open a state-of-the-art homeless facility in Colorado Springs.
• We gave financial assistance to numerous New Life families in crisis.
• We supported and partnered with 28 Missionaries and 56 Missions/Ministry Organizations.
• We sent nearly 200 volunteers on 17 missions trips to 13 countries.
• We renovated our 25-year-old bathrooms.
• Our New Life Friday Night Congregation raised the funds necessary to update our 1500-seat Theater.

While we celebrate these extraordinary accomplishments–and they are extraordinary–we also recognize that God is very aware of the ordinary things that happen day in and day out in our church and in our city because people like you love so well. God sees every time you welcome someone in the parking lot, pray for someone at the altar, disciple one of the children in KIDs Ministry, prepare meals for a grieving family, visit someone in the hospital, share a meal with a neighbor…he sees it all. Jesus said, Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me. (Matthew 25:40)

So much has been accomplished, and so much remains to be done. As this year comes to a close, if you would like to consider a special year-end gift, you may drop it in the offering prior to December 31^st or give online here.

There are so many in our city that need to hear the message of hope that we share from Isaiah 9:6, For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Please invite someone, maybe the overlooked or ignored, to come and sit with you during one of our Christmas services. We will have four identical Christmas Services at our North Campus only at 2:00PM, 4:00PM, and 6:00PM on Christmas Eve and at 11:00AM on Christmas Day.

Pam and I and the staff of New Life Church are praying for you and those you love to you to be filled with great joy during this beautiful Christmas season.

Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.  2 Timothy 4:2

What exactly qualifies as good preaching? When we walk away from our churches, do sermons really change the way we live or treat others? Can we even remember the message the next day, especially with all the competitive noises of our culture? What responsibilities do pastors have besides dismissing us in time for kickoff?

For centuries, sermons and homilies have stood apart in the minds of Christ followers from other oratory traditions such as lectures, lessons or speeches. Certainly, lectures and speeches can challenge us, inspire us to change, cause us to feel and send us out to change the world. So what’s different about sermons?

The difference is the source and origin. Speeches are prepared and practiced, like good sermons, but sermons are birthed from a spiritual source. Sermons materialize to pastors through prayer, study, reflection and sometimes travail. Sermons speak to us deeply because they arrived from the deep. It’s the Holy Spirit’s work through the preached Scriptures that changes the hearts of men and strengthens the souls of saints.

Notice, though, the three charges in the passage of Scripture above – correct, rebuke, encourage. It seems Paul was telling a timid Timothy not to shrink back from telling people how they should live. In a culture where popularity is prized, that is risky stuff. It seems the best sermons are birthed in prayer, but fleshed out with a courage to confront behaviors in those listening.

Doesn’t Paul know that cute and funny performances build crowds? It seems gathering a crowd was not the point. Paul knew even Jesus had trouble holding onto the crowds, especially when he talked of sacrifice and suffering. Those sermons even made Paul nervous when he first heard of them.

Prophetic sermons call us to a life that is different, but better. Because pastors love their flock, they tell them of greener pastures, still waters and a Shepherd who cares for their frantic souls. Pastors protect them from wolves who wish to devour and idols which steal their worship. Sermons jolt us into a better reality. In the end, we are encouraged, strengthened and comforted.

Yes, sermons can change us. Pastors will do well to remember the tremendous responsibility that comes with the stage and pulpit. With great patience and careful instruction, disciples can be shaped by the foolishness of good preaching.

I post a lot of stuff on social media – scriptures, photos of my kids, updates on the church and funny things I see. None of that bothers most people. When I post about theology or complex social issues like immigration, things can change quickly. That’s probably why most people avoid these two topics, right?

Some pastors, including myself, post random theological and ecclesiological viewpoints on social media. Some of these posts are considered complex ideas which can confuse or concern people. Before social media, these ideas were presented in long-form books, magazine articles or in classrooms. Today, we have 140 characters as an option to explain soteriology or the differing viewpoints on eschatology.

First, pastors have the right to post about theology as much as plumbers can post about pipes. We work with theology every day and it’s our trade language. Naturally, these meanderings and musings will spill out to social media, primarily for conversations with other pastors and theologians. Social media reaches everyone, though. That’s where the problems arise because pastors who bring up thorny issues can confuse or aggravate people in their congregations.

So, should pastors stay off social media except to post cat videos? Of course not! We should, though, be careful that our posts are wisely crafted and carefully explained so that our theological contemplations are not tripping hazards for the people who look to us for spiritual formation. At the same time, most pastors are hungry for conversations with other pastors who are learners and thinkers. Social media sometimes feels like overhearing a conversation that was not meant for you.

What about disagreeing online with your pastor? What are the boundaries? Obviously, honest questions and respectful disagreements are the strengths of social media. I have had thousands of conversations on social media that would have never happened in the limited spaces of my daily life. That is a good thing.

My friend asked a good question about the boundaries of such disagreements. We should not accuse our pastors online of wrong motives or even hint about heresy. If that is a concern, call them and make an appointment. Talk to them and express your feelings. Do not attack on social media. Social media is a poor platform for serious dissents. Looking someone in the eye, being present, is always best when discussing hot button issues. There are a lot of brave souls on a keyboard who are as tame as ducklings when present with you. Keyboard cowards, I call them.

Most pastors I know love Jesus and are trying valiantly to make disciples in a world that cares less and less about discipleship. Certainly, we can post unwise thoughts like the rest of the populace, but rarely is it because of a motive to harm or confuse. Let’s assume the best from one another and have the courage for a personal conversation. That will clear up most of our misunderstandings and build unity in the church.

I enjoy reading about church history, and if I were to peg the central characteristics of church gatherings in the first century, it would be non-hyped, non-frantic, unrushed. Worship was their lifestyle, not an overly promoted activity occurring one hour, one morning a week. Things were simple. Prayers were meaningful. People were fully dependent on the Spirit of God.

It’s the polar opposite of how we operate today, in our infamously glitz-and-gratification culture. We favor microwaves over Crock Pots and sex-appeal over substance. We like it fast and easy and now…and preferably at little cost to us. As it relates to the church-going experience, we rush in on a Sunday morning—fifteen minutes late at best—we scurry to find a seat, get antsy after sixty minutes, and rush right back into our day. We sing songs with lines like “wait upon the Lord” and bob our heads in apparent agreement, even as we silently wonder how much longer the song-set will last.

We’re moving far too fast to hear it, of course, but still God whispers, “Be still.”

Relax.

Linger.

Drop the hype, please.

Let me show up and do my work.

It would be easy to blame church congregations for the madness that has consumed our gatherings these days, except that from what I see from their pastors, we’re conditioning them to behave this way. We hype and promote and position and tweet and inadvertently create pews full of consumers instead of devoted worshipers of God. I once heard it said that leaders who don’t teach their congregations to worship must entertain them week in and week out. So true. We hype-ers are setting up our people to expect an experience, instead of teaching them to encounter their Lord.

My prayer for us in this season of Advent:

Father in heaven, may we be still and know you are Lord. May we put aside our desire for spiritual hype and find your Holy Spirit in all the quiet spaces of our lives. May we be fervent in our prayers and mature enough to know loud and exciting are not always synonymous with revival. May we repent of our sins and admit we need your grace. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

When was the last time your team really evaluated the weekend services at your church? It is not easy to ask why things are done they way they are done, but change happens best when the “why” is more important than the “how”.

Here are some questions we ask ourselves regularly:

Are we making disciples who participate or just attracting consumers who attend?

Are we challenging people to follow Jesus or just providing a form of spiritual entertainment?

What are people discussing after the services? Are they talking about us or about Jesus?

Can someone who is hungry for Jesus find him in our services?

When we gather at New Life, we pray and plan for five things to happen every week.

1. We want Jesus to be worshipped

Christology is paramount in all we do.  The person, role and nature of Jesus is the predominant focus from beginning to end. Without a biblical framework of Jesus, all worship falls apart, but when Jesus is central, the saints are strengthened and the prodigals are welcomed home. Jesus is every stanza of every song, and every syllable of every prayer. Everything. He is God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father. Through him all things were made.

2. We want people to recognize and welcome the Holy Spirit

When Jesus is central, the Holy Spirit is always near. We welcome the powerful person of the Holy Spirit to meet with us, to show us Jesus and empower us with the grace and means to follow Christ. We pray for the Holy Spirit to reveal Himself to us and for us too make room for Him. We pray there is not one second of the service that the Holy Spirit is absent or missing. He is The Lord, the giver of life.

3. We want truth to be taught in love

It is truth that sets us free and love is our greatest gift. When the sacred texts of Scripture are taught with truth and love, our hearts are awakened, and sin is confessed and vanquished. We are built into a living body of believers, ready to be ambassadors carrying salt and light. We want the Scriptures to be taught with practical applications, but not void of mystery. We want to show people the big story of the Bible – the story of a God wanting to speak to us, to redeem us and to live with us.

4. We want authentic community

If the church is a colony of life living in a world of death, then we must carry one another’s burdens in prayer, confess to one another, encourage one another and serve one another. This is work that cannot be done remotely and requires physical presence.  We must see one another and hear one another. Church is an unhurried gathering where stories can be told and listening ears can be found. When we dedicate babies, support and cheer for those in the waters of baptism, and eat together, our hearts are knit together in a bond of peace. Our love for another is proof to the world that we are followers of Jesus. (John 13:35)

5. We want to be connected to a bigger story

When the early church gathered for worship, the climax was a celebratory meal of remembrance, an agape feast. The Eucharist was the reason they gathered, the center of their worship and the reason for their hope. In a world where absolute truth and sound theology are under attack, the table centers us again on a foundational stone and returns us to the mysteries of a deeper place of worship. For us, communion is the bridge between a miraculous, resurrected past, a hopeful present and a prophetic future. It connects New Life to the church around the world and gives us space in a story that was already being written even before we were born.

It gives me great joy to announce that New Life Church is merging with Nueva Vida Church on January 1st! After months of prayer and conversation, Nueva Vida will become an official congregation of New Life and will help us reach the city we all love. Pastors Jeremias and Ana Tamarez will continue to lead this great church and will become a part of our New Life staff, along with their amazing team.

Nueva Vida is the largest Hispanic and Latino congregation in our city with over 500 members and is actively involved in meeting the needs of their community through food distribution, evangelism and discipleship.  In fact, their beautiful church building is less than two miles from Mary’s Home and will allow us even greater partnerships in the surrounding neighborhoods.

We are thrilled to see the body of Christ come together in unity and our elders and I believe this a partnership that will help both churches fulfill their missions. In the next few weeks, I will be sharing more details and we will introduce the Tamarez family to our New Life congregation during our weekend services. In the meantime, rejoice with me and pray for our churches. This is a huge blessing for us to join hands with a dynamic church who loves our city.

Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.

2 Timothy 4:2

I am writing this on a Friday with a Sunday sermon not yet delivered. I woke up this morning thinking about my text, about the stories I would tell and the appeals I would make to my congregation. As a pastor, I carry the weekend homily like a crockpot simmers a well-crafted stew. It is a slow cook with the hopes of a Sunday meal that is rich and nourishing. I’m also thinking this morning about three groups of people who will hear and receive the message in completely different ways.

1. The Saints

… to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up …

Ephesians 4:12

I love the phrase “his people.” These are people that already belong to God but they need help, strength, teaching, and lots of encouragement. When I preach, I think about the grandparents who have faithfully followed Christ for 40 years who just need some wind in their sails. I think about the young college student who is trying to be a faithful witness at her school. I think about the saints who need some hope and sometimes, some rebuilding. The saints know they are to be salt and light, ambassadors and witnesses. They feel the deep call to worship God and serve their neighbors, but they need strength for the journey. They need their pastors to think about them when they preach.

2. The Cynics

When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.

Acts 17:32

The crowds of people who heard Paul preach in Athens, Greece were a tough bunch to convince. They had heard the great philosophers of their age discuss the latest trends and fads. They were not moved by emotional diatribes or tirades about morality. Discussion and questions led to more discussions and questions. There are cynics sitting in my congregation every weekend who want me to be passionate, but thoughtful. They want to see proof that my life has been transformed by the messages I bring. They will not accept cheap Twitter slogans or emotional hyperbole. They will listen to me only if I care about their questions. They will not be coerced into an immediate response, but they will return to hear me again, sometimes with an entirely new list of questions.

3. The Prodigals

The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

Luke 15:22-24

Is there any better redemption story than this one? The son was a punk, who had really messed up his life. He imagined that dad would be angry and dismissive, but he had no other choice but to come home and risk a shameful reception. Instead, his dad ran toward him, kissed him and welcomed him home. Every weekend, my building is full of prodigals wanting to come home. They want to believe that God will forgive them, receive them in all their messiness and call them sons and daughters. It all sounds too good to be true. But it is true. Every time I preach, on any topic, I think about the prodigals and what they will hear. When it is time, I try to make it easy for them to find their way home.

In Luke 4, after we read of Jesus’s temptations in the wilderness,
we see him returning to Galilee “in the power of the Spirit”
(v. 14). News about him began spreading throughout the countryside.
He began appointing apostles and teaching in synagogues
and ministering to people in need. He went to his hometown of
Nazareth, and on the Sabbath, he spoke those famous words we
looked at earlier from the book of Isaiah about who he was and
why he’d come:
The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the
prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
(vv. 18–19)

And then, with everyone’s eyes “fastened on him” (v. 20),
he rolled up the scroll on which that prophecy was printed and
sat down. After which everyone spoke well of him, saying how
“amazed” (v. 22) they were by his words.

What I want you to catch is that after Jesus made it successfully
through his trials and temptations, he was able to join
his heavenly Father in kingdom-oriented work. The same is true
for us. As we stand firm against the schemes of Satan, choosing
truth instead of fallacy, kindness instead of anger, and forgiveness
instead of revenge, we free ourselves up to move ahead with what
God has called us to do. Not to steal the next chapter’s thunder,
but that mission has a lot to do with love. It’s tough to love people
we can’t find room in our hearts to forgive, after all, which is why
the sequence is what it is.

When we walk around eager to extend forgiveness, we
become the most loving versions of ourselves we’ve ever been.
Why? Because we’ve released the burden of putting people who
hurt us in their places. We’ve turned that burden over to God
and are trusting him to take things from there. We don’t have
to join the Enemy in his mission to divide and destroy our lives,
a mission that’s destined for destruction in the end. We can go
a different way.

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The most concentrated advice on how to communicate well shows up in Ephesians 4. We are told there to “put off falsehood and speak truthfully . . . for we are all members of one body” (v. 25), and we are also advised “In your anger do not sin” (v. 26). We are told not to “let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (v. 29).

We are also instructed not to “grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (v. 30). The apostle Paul ends his spiel by packing the biggest punch: “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (vv. 31-32). When we use our words the way God asks us to use them, Paul essentially says, we can speak life and peace and joy. When we don’t use them well, we speak chaos and death, revealing that once again, we’ve jumped the fence.

The funny thing about that Ephesians passage is that any rational person would say, “Yeah, that all sounds good,” even as we fail to implement it in our own lives. What we really mean when we nod our heads in agreement of Paul’s words is, “Yeah! That is exactly how people should talk to me.”

Therein lies the rub: we’re not asked to help keep everyone else within the fences of God’s commands, we’re asked to keep ourselves there—preferably every day. If we do so, we’ll know relational freedom like we’ve never known before; if we don’t, we won’t. It all comes down to what we will do with exhortations like those in Ephesians 4. Will we choose to get rid of bitterness? Will we choose to put away lies? Will we forgive as Jesus has forgiven us? Will we choose to build others up rather than tear them down?

If you want to read more, my new book is available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.