Borrowed Light

Is My Pen Out of Ink?

October 22, 2019Mike Leake

I haven’t written much in the past couple months. I thought perhaps today I’d explain why.

I love writing. I have loved blogging. But for awhile now I can’t seem to muster the energy/courage/desire (you pick which word). I think it’s a combination of two things. First, I absolutely loath the online climate we’ve created. Secondly, I absolutely love the local church in which I’m serving.

Long ago I decided that I didn’t want to generate traffic through controversy. I’d prefer to be gentle and reasonable. I’m convinced that gospel truth is best adorned with a gracious disposition. And I think we do far better getting people to adopt and see and own truth themselves than we do by banging notions into people’s heads and getting tepid subscription to our dearly held beliefs.

I don’t do so well in our current climate of yelling at one another. And I think I’m feeling a bit adrift without having much of an online tribe anymore. And when you firmly believe that “whoever meddles in a quarrel not his own is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears” the amount of topic for you to write about is going to shrink. Less and less of these quarrels feel like they are “my own”. And so I stay silent.

Now, I could (and I might) just continue plodding along and writing about the things the Lord puts on my heart. Maybe it’d be helpful to the kingdom to hear the ramblings of a local church pastor about topics unrelated to the daily scream-fest.

But I wrestle with that idea as well. I struggle there because in our climate when you don’t write on whatever controversy is brewing for that day you are either ignored, assumed to be “sub-tweeting”, or considered a coward who is complicit in all that is wrong with the world. In other words even if you choose to not talk about the rage of the day the megaphones are so ear-numbing and attention-grabbing that it’s impossible to speak with any volume about something else.

So, why bother?

I’m still trying to figure that out. And in the mean time I absolutely love our local church. When I see God using us in the soil in which he has planted us it makes me a bit hesitant to spend much of any time in the chaotic waters of social media. By God’s grace, my voice does matter in this local church where he has placed us. And so it’s especially hard to spend time on a voiceless endeavor, scattering seeds indiscriminately and hoping that maybe something will land, whenever in another setting I’m seeing hungry sheep actually desiring to be fed God’s Word. I want to give my time to feeding those I pastor. And I’m finding less and less of a drive for an online presence.

But I still love to write. I still believe that the kingdom can advance through this medium. And I believe God has given me a bit of an audience/platform in which to gently and joyously speak of the excellency of Christ. So it’s hard to walk away from entirely. If God is calling me to write, still, then I’m going to do it. But if my pen is out of ink—even if for a season—I’m content.

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Photo source: here

Read This! 10.08.19

October 8, 2019Mike Leake

How We Accidentally Planted a Church

I’ve always said I want to plant a church at some point and call it “Oops”.

On Being a Kwitter

I’m with Tim on this one. I’m not all the way there yet, but I’ve mostly disengaged from Twitter.

5 Reasons Not to Give Announcements in Worship Service

We are mostly doing away with them. Our goal is to highlight one big thing each week so it doesn’t distract from the one BIGGEST thing.

The Ministry of Presence

This is so huge. I don’t think people really understand how important it is for them and others to just show up on a Sunday morning.

Brothers, Shall We Weep?

A call for more pastoral weeping.

How Biblical Is Your Womanhood: Two Easy Tests

Great thoughts here.

A Legendary Publish House’s Most Infamous Rejection Letters

Encourages us not to give up. Also reminds us that people “in the know” can make mistakes.

Will Unbelievers Be Annihilated or Suffer Eternally?

I just love the way Tom Schreiner writes.

I really think Pedro Martinez was one of the best pitchers ever:

Wear Out Or Rust Out? What If There is a Third Option?

October 7, 2019Mike Leake

“You can either wear out or rust out”.

I had a noble, yet obviously exhausted, leader tell me awhile back that he’d rather wear out than rust out. It sounds so spiritual, doesn’t it? Nobody wants to rust out? You rust out because of inactivity. That’s what happened to the Tin Woodsman in the Wizard of Oz. Nobody wants to be that poor sap.

But I also don’t want to be the guy that looks like he hasn’t had a decent night of sleep in about a month. Harried isn’t a fruit of the spirit. I understand that sometimes we have seasons of busyness and sleep eludes us. I understand that sometimes we really are pressed and perplexed and the weight of the world is on our shoulders. But I also know that “wear out or rust out” is a fools choice.

There’s a third option.

Be poured out.

There’s a big difference between this option and the other two. This one means that you’re in the cup of another. The guy who rusts out gets to stand in a field and do nothing while it rains on his metal carcass. The guy who wears out gets to sweat until he passes out on the treadmill. But the guy who is poured out is firmly liquified in a vessel waiting to be put into action by another.

And that seems to be more the biblical idea. Consider Paul who spoke of being “poured out as a drink offering”. We’re servants. That means that on some occasions the Lord will put us into the game and it will require every bit of our being. In these moments we’re called to live it all on the proverbial court. In such a season our being “poured out” is synonymous with being emptied.

But there are some seasons when we’re in the cup. Some seasons you spend years in a cave learning from the Lord himself. Sometimes you stay on the sidelines. Sometimes rust is a bigger threat than exhaustion. But that’s not on you. You’re the liquid. You’re the clay in the potter’s hand. You just do what the master tells you.

This is actually really difficult. It’s tough, especially as a pastor, when the Lord puts us in a season of rest and healing. As Newton so aptly said, “the last idol to go is the often the idol of usefulness”. Suffering and laboring and being poured out in front of others will get you a few accolades. But it’s much more difficult to rest in front of others. A harried people don’t respond well to such a thing.

But I’m convinced our calling is to be poured out. Not worn out. Not rusted out. But fully in the Master’s hand no matter the season.

I couldn’t help but chuckle as I read these words from Dan Allender:

Obviously, many churches and organizations can’t afford to employ a truly bold and paradoxical leader. Such a leader is not bound to the pulse of busyness and, therefore, will, by how he lives, confront and expose the silliness of those who pay his salary. Why would a harried and exhausted congregation, for instance, pay to see its pastor live a focused and paradoxical life? The fact that he has time to read, pray, and weep is more than a driven and overworked parishoner can bear. Off with his head! (Leading With a Limp, 135)

I’m grateful that in this season when the Lord is encouraging my soul and healing my hurts that it seems Calvary (where I pastor) actually does what a leader who gives his time to reading, praying, and weeping. I’ve got deacons who’d be upset with me if I didn’t close my door. They want fed.

I’m a truly blessed pastor. God knew exactly what we needed. But even so, I’m just in the cup of my Master. He decides when seasons of pouring come.

None of this is to say that I’m not substantially spilled out every single time I preach and labor in the Word. It’s absolutely draining and I give it 110%. But I also know that at this particular time God has given me a season where the fires aren’t too hot. And I intend to respond fittingly to whatever season God has me in. I won’t wear myself out just because I think it’s noble. I’m choosing to be poured.

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Photo source: here