Today in Blogworld 03.16.16

Mike Leake

Ben Franklin’s Secret To Becoming a Better Writer

This is an interesting idea.

Mom and Dad, Your Job Is Not Over

What do you do when your child walks away from the faith?

Can Non-Christians Comfortably Sing Your Songs?

In other words are your songs centered upon the gospel? If you could just as easily be singing this song about your boyfriend, it probably isn’t clear enough in the gospel.

5 Ways to Make the Most of Unemployment

Nobody wants to be unemployed. Here are five ways to make the most out of it, if you find yourself in that situation.

Will Ferrell is a talented dude, apparently he is also an exotic animal expert:

One Huge Reason Why I Don’t Like to Do Easter Giveaways

Mike Leake

We celebrate Easter because a man named Jesus was raised from the dead.

A man…

was raised…

from the dead…

Seriously. Let that sink in for a second. You could drop golden eggs from a helicopter and it wouldn’t compare to this. Give away a Lexus with wheels decked out in diamonds and it doesn’t compare to a man raised from the dead. Go ahead and promise ninja swords and a date with a supermodel for all the single guys, and it doesn’t compare to a resurrection.

And Easter isn’t just about any ol’ resurrection. It’s the resurrection of Jesus the Son of God! Which means that God the Father has accepted the payment which Christ made on the Cross. It means that “It is finished”. The Son takes assumes His rightful place at the right hand of the Father and sits down because He has done what is necessary to redeem His bride. The resurrection proclaims this.

This even assures your future resurrection. When Jesus rose from the dead on that first Easter he was doing something that is a precursor to what will happen with us. We too shall be raised from the dead. Death has lost its sting. It no longer has victory. Jesus does. His resurrection seals that.

So here is my position. When all of that becomes boring. I’ll do an Easter giveaway.

But it isn’t boring. And will never be boring! From now into all of eternity. And so I’m not about to cheapen the beauty and wonder of the resurrection and pretend like the best news I’ve got to tell you is that you can win something by coming to our church. If news of a resurrected man isn’t enough to get you to haul your dilapidating carcass out of bed in the morning to worship the risen Savior, winning a new television isn’t going to suddenly inspire you to cast down all your trinkets and follow a bloody-cross Messiah.

If this sole reason isn’t enough consider these ten other reasons Jared Wilson has put together about why Easter giveaways are a bad idea. They aren’t just morally neutral or cute little ideas they are antithetical to the gospel.

Just ask yourself, what have I come to believe about the gospel if news of a resurrected man isn’t my “hook” but I need something a little more jazzy to get lost people into my church?

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Photo source: here

Today In Blogworld 03.15.16

Mike Leake

5 Truths We’re Keeping From Our Youths

I didn’t shy away from teaching these things when I was a youth pastor and I don’t have an ounce of regret because of it.

Marital Intimacy Is More Than Sex

Josh Squires gives us five more ways in which we ought to pursue intimacy with our spouse.

The Doctrine of Election Saved Me From Depression

A doctrine which so often leads to arguments is a great help to those who battle the darkness of depression.

5 Distinguishing Marks of a Fruitful Church

Jared Wilson, with a little help from Jonathan Edwards, attempts to measure a church’s fruitfulness by these five marks.

I love watching Jimmy Fallon’s The Whisper Challenge, makes me think of my friend Mike playing Mad Gab:

Why Leaders Shouldn’t Let People Shape the Church’s Agenda

Mike Leake

The number of college basketball games that I have watched this season is directly proportional to the times that I’ve seen Sasquatch. But it’s March and the NCAA brackets are out so I’m going fill one out and pretend like I know what I’m doing.

Actually the above paragraph is only partially true. I did watch about 3 minutes of the Kentucky vs. Texas A&M SEC Title game on Sunday. Kentucky (UK) was the number two team in that tourney and A&M was the top seed. Kentucky beat them. But somehow UK is a #4 seed in the big dance and A&M is a #3 seed. If you don’t know what any of that means, it simply means that UK got messed over much like they have the last couple of years.

This morning I watched a video of the UK coach, John Calipari, expressing his frustration at their terrible seeding. At one point he said it feels like the committee keeps moving the target. One year it is road wins, the next year RPI, the year before its something else.

“They keep moving the target…”

As I thought about Calipari’s words I realized how much they apply to pastors and other church leaders. This is one reason why you cannot allow people to set the agenda of the church. If you take a poll and ask the people in your church what they want to accomplish you might get a consensus answer. But there is no guarantee that this consensus answer is what the people really need or that this will be their same answer two years down the road. Why? People keep moving the target.

Some leaders will read the above paragraph and completely misunderstand. They’ll read, “Don’t let the congregation set the agenda. Leader, you must set the agenda with the vision and mission statement that God has placed on your heart”. Of course, “God has placed on your heart” is often code for, “Great idea I had at three in the morning after eating way too much Taco Bell”.

It is not just the congregation who will keep moving the target. Leaders will keep moving the target. And that is just as unhelpful as

But there is one place where the target doesn’t move. God’s Word. It is eternal. There are principles that God has given us about who a church is supposed to be and what she is supposed to do that transcends culture and time. The target doesn’t change.

And so leaders who lead well must lead with the conviction that God’s Word is what sets the agenda. That is great for you as a leader and it is great for your people because God’s Word isn’t a waxed nose that keep shape-shifting. The target won’t keep moving. You as the pastor can keep plodding along, not having to worry about opinion polls or what the people think of what the church is doing. Because at the end of the day what really matters is that we are faithful to what God has called us to do. And that isn’t a moving target.

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Photo source: here