I’m speaking at InterVarsity Christian Fellowship tonight here at Drake U. We’re doing a “Sunday School Remix” series in which we take the most famous stories of the Old Testament that you learn when you’re little, and dig out the adult themes.

I’m speaking about Moses. I’m quite excited. What follows is pretty much an outline of what I’m talking about.

Moses gets credit for being one of the most Godly men that has ever walked the Earth. And for good reason. He parted the Red Sea, delivered the Ten Commandments and even wrote multiple books of the Bible. He was very human though. We often miss that part. When God first approached him about setting free the Jewish peopl, he wanted nothing to do with it.

• Ex 3:11 “‘Who am I to appear before Pharoah?’, Moses asked God. ‘How can you expect me to lead the people out of Egypt?’”
• 3:13 “But Moses protested, ‘They wont believe me.’”
• 4:1 “But Moses protested again, ‘Look, they wont believe me!’”
• 4:10 “Moses pleaded with the Lord, ‘I’m just not a good speaker. I never have been and I’m not now. Even after you have spoken to me, I’m clumsy with words.’”
• 4:13 “Moses again pleaded, ‘Lord, please send someone else!’”
• 6:12 “Moses objected, ‘How can I expect Pharoah to listen, I’m no orator.’”

He doesn’t feel like a leader. He doesn’t feel like he has the right qualities to be effective for God. He says he’s not a good speaker. He says “Why would they listen to me?”. He tells God to send somone who plays the part better. What’s cool though is that God could care less. He’s specially chosen Moses for this task. Just like he’s specially chosen us to do His work here and now.

We don’t need to have “leadership” qualities. It’s bombared into our head though isn’t it? We have leadership conferences, leadership books, leadership mentor programs.. We obsess over this idea. All these things are theoretically teaching us how to gain the right qualities in order to lead effectively. Take these characteristics x, y, and z and boom! Leader. Do all this stuff and you’ll be impactful and successful and powerful.

That can be kind of intimidating. What if you’re just not a born leader? What if you dont have charisma? What if you’re not naturally a “people-person”? Moses’ mentor was God. That was it. The good Lord gives us this incredible promise in Exodus 4:12. “Now go, and do as I have told you. I will help you speak and I will tell you what to say.” God promises to be with us, and all we have to do is “go”. If we give just a little bit, He will blow it out of the water and split the Red Sea [excuse the pun ].

Moses didnt look like a leader. He didn’t feel like a leader. Honestly, there’s probably a lot of us that feel the exact same way. We think we dont have the right qualities. God is with us though, and He is the only thing we need to be a great leader and to do amazing things.

God will use you no matter what personality traits you do or dont have. It’s not just those people who are born preachers who are called to change the world. Moses was a very ordinary man who did incredible things because he put faith in God to overcome his lack of charisma and speaking ability.

“Seek first His Kingdom, and all these things will be given to you.” Matt 6:31.

Think about it.

I’d normally being doing some kind of book review here on Monday’s, but I’ve had very little time to read this last week with school and such. So, I’m just gonna post some cliff notes from the sermon on Sunday. Tony Morgan calls this “Perryisms” after head pastor Perry Noble. So maybe I’ll these “Richardisms” after pastor Richard Webb at Lutheran Church of Hope. 

• The best teachers aren’t just well prepared, they really care about people learning, and then live it out themselves. 
• Luke 7:22 – “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard…” Jesus lets his actions speak for him. 
• Disciple = someone who learns by modeling and imitating the master. 
• In the feeding of the 5 thousand Jesus says “you feed them” to the disciples. Jesus takes our limited resources and blows them out of proportion. 
• He then gives us even more back – there were 12 baskets of food leftover. 
• If we focus ourselves outwards we become healthy, and vice versa. 
• Paraphrase “If anyone wants to follow me [Jesus], you must stop focusing on yourself.” 
• When we focus on others our life gets bigger. Self-preservation is not Jesus’ goal. He spends himself. 
• Why are we stuck in a bad economy? People have focused on themselves and on hoarding “stuff”. 
• If you really want to live, dive into the mission of Jesus. 
• Jesus wants to instill a passion for people into his disciples. 
• Relationship with Jesus is one where He gives us a bunch of power tools [aka Holy Spirit] to change the world. And in the process, we change too. 

Bottom line: What kind of mission do you want to live? Yours? Or Jesus‘? 

Think about it.

I went to Mars Hill Church in downtown Seattle for the first time last night. It was a church experience unlike any I’ve ever had. 

The setting is an old bar. You know what that feels like. It had that basement/concert venue look about it. You walk in and notice the coffee bar. It’s not like most churches though. The coffee is actually delicious, and they use real cups instead of 7 oz. styrofoam cups. Next, you hear the music being played pre-service. It’s rock music. Top 40 rock music. When’s the last time you heard that? Never! Then you turn and see the main room. The entire back wall is used as the projection screen, and it works really well. The graphics are absolutely incredible. The band is laid back and dressed casually. The pastor is wearing jeans and trendy t-shirt. He even announced that they would soon be starting a doggie day-care type thing during services because in Seattle dogs outnumber Christians. 

This is certainly a bit different than the church I attend in lovely Des Moines, Iowa. The setting is auditorium style. The worship team and pastor generally wear suits. Graphics are very good, but not so… risky [I dont really know how else to put it]. It is generally a somewhat formal affair, in the sense that you know what you’re getting. Now, I’m actually going to be an intern at this church this summer, so that is in no way meant to be a degradation. It is simply a difference in culture and demographics. 

What I noticed is that the message of Jesus doesn’t change. The presentation of Him does change though. Seattle is a city that thrives on coffee, arts, trendiness, and individuality. Mars Hill very wisely has formatted church in order to be open and attractive to the main demographic of the city. One of the church’s tag lines is that they are “theologically conservative, but culturally liberal”. The delivery of our message of reconciliation must be adapted to the culture we are in. Church in Seattle versus church in Iowa isn’t better or worse, it’s just different, because it has to be. Who are the people you are trying to reach? What do they like? What kind of music do they listen to? What are their cultural values? These questions must be asked. My Lutheran church in Iowa would not have the same kind of success it is having were it in Seattle. I guarantee it. The same goes for Mars Hill in the middle of Iowa. 

It’s incredible to me that demographics and “target audience” [that is a public relations term that I hate using in this context, but it fits so well] will change and in fact must change the presentation of Jesus. Again, I must say that the content of the message cannot be changed, for that would  be blasphemy. How does your church reach out to your culture? To your city’s way of life? 

If there are ways you think your church can better reach your population, bring that up to someone in leadership that you know. In humility, of course. But it’s worth it to have a conversations about this! 

Think about it.

I’m gonna differ from the norm a bit today and just offer up some short snippets. 

First of all, I found this sweet techno version of Carol of the Bells. In my mind you’ll play this and read the rest of the post at the same time. [Ignore the background pic]. 

-I’ve recently become obsessed with Collide Magazine. It’s a magazine/website dedicated entirely to ministry and media. It is awesome. They have great articles, and a great blog. They also have tons of resources and links to check out. 

-I’ve also recently been digging into a lot of other church websites to check stuff out and steal ideas and also listen to sermons. A lot of megachurches [defined as over 2,000 weekly attendance] these days are going with multi-location video sermons in which the lead pastor will be at one location, and broadcast live to the other locations. The two I’ve been digging into most this week at least are National Community Church in Washington, D.C. and LifeChurch.tv located in Oklahoma. Play around with them a little! 

That’s all I got for now! 

Explore what God is doing in other churches apart from your own.. It’s fun to see new and innovative ideas in the world of ministry!

http://www.adventconspiracy.org/

Do you really need to buy a Christmas gift for every single one of your friends and family? For people who already have so much more than they could ever need? 

What if instead of spending hundreds of dollars on presents, you gave a little extra to the church?

Since when is Christmas so materialistic? What if we looked forward to giving as much as we looked forward to getting? 

I challenge you to make a decision to spend less on gifts, and more on those who have real needs. 

I’m sure your friends will understand. And if they don’t, it’s a sad dose of reality. 

Think about it.