We have a mouse problem!

This past November the Nelson family welcomed our 4th member, a beautiful baby boy named Nehemiah. It was a crazy time in our family as we began trying to switch from 1 child to 2 and balance the oncoming finals for my last semester at Midwestern. Honestly, we could have planned it better but our Father provided immensely in that time.

and then the news came…..

One morning I came home from the hospital to attend to our child who was being cared for by a good friend and she, being as sweet as she could be, said the words “I think you have mice”. She went on to explain the experience that she had the night before with “our [little] friends” (this is a name my wife and I use to refer to our mice). Once my wife found out her fear of mice, that I was not aware of, became very apparent and as I husband I went in to action. As soon as I had time I went to the closest hardware store and quickly became overwhelmed with the diverse selection. In the end I decided on 4 “no-touch” or humane traps, my thinking is both my wife and I could dispose of these without seeing the mouse inside. I will just tell you now they are [absolutely] useless!

2 days after we found out this news my mother and father in-law came into town to help us as we transitioned home and my Father in-law went in to overdrive. We went back to the hardware store and went old school, snap traps, steel-wool, and peanut butter (I will not do poison); needless to say it worked! Quickly, we began to catch and dispose of multiple mice and figure out there points of entry and where they were going for food. In discussions around our house I described my tactics of mice hunting as precision strikes whereas my father in-law carpet bombed our house. After they left I continued the war and have become worse (or better depending on how you look at it) than my father in-law. I went to my neighbors to inform them of our problem, since our houses are conjoined. Much to my chagrin they let me know that they have had the problem for a year or so. My neighbor explained there infiltration, destruction, and frustration that they have brought. We spoke about the humane traps and I tried to stay calm (blood boiling) knowing that they have had this problem for so long without informing us. The hunt continues, we have killed 15 mice to this point and I sure that there more to come.

[So] Why did I write this?

All of us have [lil] friends in our lives that the Bible calls sin but most of us do not have the correct approach to dealing with it. We replicate my neighbors (and most professing Christians) actions by:

Not communicating the problem
Hiding the issue (for whatever reason)
Diminishing the affect on yourself and others around you
Letting the sin eventually overtake you and just giving in.

You could replicate my initial actions (and many well meaning Christ followers) by:

Put some safeguards into place
Try to deal with the problem using my limited knowledge.
Become embarrassed by something that so many people deal with.
Not believe that there is a solution to my problem [the Gospel]

Finally, you could take the correct action like my Father in-law and eventually I adopted by:

Destroying the [sin] in anyway we could (notice the we)
Keeping focused on the problem [sin] at hand without becoming myopic
Consulting others that have overcome this problem
Staying vigilant

Ultimately, we all have to make this decision and I realize that these friends of ours do not affect only me in a vacuum but so many other people as well.

What do you think?

Please checkout: “Be killing sin or it will be killing you”

Book Review: Shepherding the Church

Dr. Joseph M. Stowell III, D.D. is best known for his long-standing presidency at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois where he served from 1987 – 2005. Currently Dr. Stowell serves as the president of Cornerstone University where he began his current tenure on February 1, 2008. Prior to accepting the presidency at Cornerstone University, he also served as a Teaching Pastor at Harvest Bible Chapel in Elgin, Illinois. Additionally, he continues to serve on the Board of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and works with RBC (Radio Bible Class) Ministries in Grand Rapids, partnering in media productions. As of 2010 Dr. Stowell has written over 20 Christian books and is an outspoken advocate for evangelicals worldwide. Dr. Stowell received a Master of Theology. in New Testament studies from Dallas Theological Seminary and an honorary doctorate of divinity degree from Master’s College. He completed his undergraduate work as an English literature major at Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio. Amongst all of the honors and achievements Dr. Stowell is first and foremost a faithful Christ follower, husband, father, and grandfather.

“…we who are called to spiritual leadership need to expect more of ourselves and hold ourselves accountable to scriptural standards rather than societal opinions. The biblical perspective on effectiveness in leadership consistently regards character as the essential prerequisite.” This statement b y Dr. Stowell shapes the overall direction and heart of this book written to those within Christian leadership. Throughout this 12-chapter book Stowell deals with both heart and practical aspects of ministry and attempts to address basic questions that most Pastor/ Elders ask at some time in their ministry. Many times the questions asked include (but are not limited to), how do I prove to my congregation that I am trustworthy? How do I lead by loving? How do I overcome insecurities? How can I transform lives with my preaching? How do I lead my flock by the way I live my life? How do I persevere? These questions, and many more, plague the pastor and in this book Dr. Stowell begins to address the foundations which lead many pastors into fruitfulness or could lead them to stray.

In order to touch on each subject matter Stowell breaks them into 4 main sections:

Part 1: Perspective: Perplexities, Priorities, and Platforms
Part 2: Personhood: Character still counts
Part 3: Proclamation: Transformational Preaching
Part 4: Proficiency: Finishing Well

In doing this Stowell is able to take a look at what it takes to be a truly effective leader from the inside out. Throughout the book he continually encourages today’s leaders to focus on their own character, spiritual growth, and spiritual gifts. Given the current climate of clergy within our context Stowell encourages spiritual leaders to be more concerned with their character. Additionally he states, “This is a world where it’s not what you are as a person that counts, but it’s what title you hold, what floor your office is on, and what your business card looks like.” Overall, the book deals with what the author calls “the core of ministry” while addressing the type of person one must be to shepherd and what areas they must be proficient.

In order to truly focus on issues with ministry Stowell immediately begins the book by dealing with the intrinsic change of our culture and the decline in doctrine within the church. Stowell says no matter what the culture may like, the shepherd is to lead the church in three functions: evangelism, identification, and discipleship. If a shepherd strives to do this – the “best things” – then he is truly successful. Although this is a great beginning to a text on pastoral leadership Dr. Stowell overlooked the opportunity to show how contextualization of the Gospel message is not something that cannot be directly contributed to the decline of the overall culture. In leading church, central to one’s calling is the proclamation of the gospel in words and works of grace. Leaders within the church context are called to represent Jesus, do the things of Jesus, and tell others about Jesus but to do this in culturally relevant ways. While one can see Dr. Stowell trying to appeal to a larger audience by moving around the contextualization of the Gospel he unintentionally lends weight to the argument of not doing that same work. A clear and orthodox understanding of the Gospel is essential, when it comes to the Gospel a pastor will not innovate, but when it comes to culture, however, a pastor seeks to continually be innovative in their means of communication. A Pastor/ Elder not leading his congregation in a way that is orthodox yet contextually relevant or vice versa ultimately leads to the skewing of the foundational message of the church. In turn the church is ever so slightly lead away from her mission and subtly turned towards one of many non-essential focuses. Dr. Stowell’s very life and ministry shows that the Gospel must always be delivered into a specific cultural context thus showing that his intentions were not to lend weight to said argument. The Pastor/ Elder’s call is to be culturally relevant while taking the unchanging Gospel into ever-changing cultures. One does this by listening to and understanding the culture, learning to speak their language, connecting the Gospel to the idols of the culture, and showing the beauty and supremacy of Jesus.

In the next major section Dr. Stowell acknowledges that most pastors will feel wholly inadequate for the task at hand. Stowell says, “when He gave us the task of carrying out the work of His church, He also graciously supplied supernatural enablement for us to carry out the assignment. In the midst of all of our insecurities, we must remember that He empowers us with enabling gifts of ministry.” A huge part of this assignment is what Stowell calls “Target 1”: to prepare people for works of ministry. In one of the strongest portions of this book Stowell relays a truly wonderful story about how a good shepherd will make an impact for Christ. He tells the story of how D.L. Moody brought a man named Wilbur Chapman to the Lord and Chapman eventually led baseball star Billy Sunday to the Lord. Through Billy Sunday’s thriving ministry, a man named Mordecai Hamm came to a saving grace, and through his obedience to preach he led a young man named Billy Graham to Christ! The amazing thing about this story is how a shoe clerk named Edward Kimball in a stockroom saved Moody. No one knows the name of Kimball’s pastor, and that was not the point of Stowell’s story, but this chain illustrates how Pastor/ Elders are simply called to be effective shepherds by means of our consistent faithfulness, not by seeking to build a fiefdom through numbers and/or accolades.  

The next section of the book is shaped around one central question. How do we show our faithfulness to those we serve? In asking this question Stowell is assuming faithfulness to Jesus and submission to the Spirit as one serves in ministry. The answer that emerges was simple yet complex to implement within our culture. Stowell’s answer is: We show faithfulness by modeling the truths we preach and by serving our congregation. In his opinion this is the essential work of a true shepherd. Stowell gives some warnings of some of the things along this path there are great dangers to avoid, and like every good preacher and major section of this book there is alliteration, work, women and wealth. These temptations, along with a myriad of others, act as potential blights on a shepherd’s character, and character is absolutely essential. Character includes maintaining loving relationships and Stowell calls this “leading through loving”. Thankfully, Stowell dedicates a whole chapter to the issue of purity within the ranks of Pastor/ Elders.   

Section Three is entitled “Proclamation: Transformational Preaching” is a very important section for shepherds in the modern era to understand. Unfortunately this section was glossed over as far as depth. In Stowell’s defense there are innumerable subjects to tackle, yet he did name three in particular materialism, individualism, and pragmatism. Though he does state that we must overcome these aspects of our culture the praxis was sorely missed. Africa is currently dealing with an export of American Christendom; namely prosperity theology/idolatry. This erroneous teaching states that the truly holy and faithful will be blessed with financial prosperity. The epicenter of this error is American greed, materialism, and consumerism, and the proclivity of some to present Jesus as the one who gives us our idol of Mammon/Money. Further, confounding this theological error is promoted around the world on “Christian” television and radio. The effects in the U.S. are damaging, and that damage continues around the world, particularly plaguing poorer nations where uneducated promise a hundredfold return on investment to their impoverished flock because it is what they learned from American preachers. Additionally, we look back at the idols of the Enlightenment: the elevation of human reason, the belief that reason/science will solve all the world’s problems. Today we see the idol of individualism. Enlightenment philosophy, while not completely evil, has taken the human gaze off of the divine and focused on us. We attack Western individualism, but in many traditional cultures family is an idol—so you have honor killings, women treated as property, etc. In individualistic cultures like our own, the individual is an idol. No one can tell anyone else they are wrong; no one can impose their beliefs about God on anyone else. Any ideology can be an idol: free-market economics, communism, socialism, democracy, liberalism, etc. and individualism is ours. Lastly, many churches in North America have given in to the sin of pragmatism. They have a pragmatic approach to ecclesiology that focuses on church growth more than on church health, and on cultural accommodation rather than biblical faithfulness. Some churches have either adopted a hierarchical structure that resembles a corporate business, or they simply have no church structure at all. The result is that many churches produce consumers and not radical disciples of Jesus Christ. The truth is that church structure is extremely important for the overall health of a local church and the discipleship process. Church leaders can use church growth principles to add people to the church; however, only the gospel can grow people into disciples of Jesus Christ. While Dr. Stowell would agree with these assertions, the exclusion of the depth of ideals was curious within a book that is focused on pastoral leadership. Understanding that Dr. Stowell can not cover all aspects of this subject but is trying to touch on what he sees to be the main things within leadership.

In the last section Dr. Stowell touches on a subject that is not covered much within Christian circles, unless someone is arguing the five points of Calvinism, and that is the subject of finishing well. This is by far the most important and powerful part of this text. Statistically only 30% of leaders in the Bible finished well which means that 70% fell short of God’s plan for their lives. This fact should jolt any present day leader who desires to count for God. These leaders will either end up

Running: Abraham, Joshua, Daniel, Paul and Peter enjoyed deepening intimacy with God throughout life.
Walking: Other leaders were slowed down in their ministry because of sin. They fell short of what God intended for their lives. The ramifications of disobedience to God at some point in their leadership continued to plague them, even though they may have been walking with God at the end. Such persons may include David, Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah.   
Limping: These leaders finished the race in poor shape. They were on a decline in the latter phase of their ministry. Leaders in this category include Gideon, Eli and Solomon. 
Disqualified: Some leaders were taken out of the race prematurely. They were removed from leadership by assassination, killed in battle, denounced or overthrown. God removed leaders such as Samson, Absalom and Ahab because He was not pleased with them.

A Pastor/ Elder must lead with the end in mind. As a leader one must expend a lot of thought into how one will finish the work God has entrusted. Most people are only worried about how we are going to get to the next phase of our life, when the concern should well be how God is honored.

Overall, the wisdom included within these pages is hard to find and rare in this shallow culture. In beginning to read this book one my think it would denounce church growth concepts and advocate a return to ineffective methodologies of a by-gone era, given the background of Dr. Stowell it would be easy to expect it. Instead, what you will find within the pages of this book is a very helpful, relevant and insightful work that offers practical tips for the 21st century pastor. Though it my not reach the level of “Lectures to my students” by Charles Spurgeon, Dr. Stowell’s book does a great job of addressing some of the needs of this generation of shepherds. In the end, this book should be commended to anyone looking to enter the Pastoral ministry as a great reference resource that deals cultural trends in a biblical, refreshing and concise manner.

Is this true???

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I am a nerd in many different ways and one of my absolute favorite is reading research, journals, and studies. On December 13, 2010 The Barna Group (which includes its research division, the Barna Research Group) published research that was not a surprise to me, but the extent and depth of the opinion was. The Barna Group is a private, non-partisan, for-profit organization that conducts primary research pertaining to spiritual development, and facilitates the healthy spiritual growth of leaders, children, families and Christian ministries. In other words this is right within my wheelhouse. I would love for you to read this and give me your opinion below:

Change usually happens slowly in the Church. But a review of the past year’s research conducted by the Barna Group provides a time-lapse portrayal of how the religious environment in the U.S. is morphing into something new.

Analyzing insights drawn from more than 5,000 non-proprietary interviews conducted over the past 11 months, George Barna indicated that the following patterns were evident in the survey findings.

1. The Christian Church is becoming less theologically literate.
What used to be basic, universally-known truths about Christianity are now unknown mysteries to a large and growing share of Americans–especially young adults. For instance, Barna Group studies in 2010 showed that while most people regard Easter as a religious holiday, only a minority of adults associate Easter with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Other examples include the finding that few adults believe that their faith is meant to be the focal point of their life or to be integrated into every aspect of their existence. Further, a growing majority believe the Holy Spirit is a symbol of God’s presence or power, but not a living entity. As the two younger generations (Busters and Mosaics) ascend to numerical and positional supremacy in churches across the nation, the data suggest that biblical literacy is likely to decline significantly. The theological free-for-all that is encroaching in Protestant churches nationwide suggests the coming decade will be a time of unparalleled theological diversity and inconsistency.

2. Christians are becoming more ingrown and less outreach-oriented.
Despite technological advances that make communications instant and far-reaching, Christians are becoming more spiritually isolated from non-Christians than was true a decade ago. Examples of this tendency include the fact that less than one-third of born again Christians planned to invite anyone to join them at a church event during the Easter season; teenagers are less inclined to discuss Christianity with their friends than was true in the past; most of the people who become Christians these days do so in response to a personal crisis or the fear of death (particularly among older Americans); and most Americans are unimpressed with the contributions Christians and churches have made to society over the past few years. As young adults have children, the prospect of them seeking a Christian church is diminishing–especially given the absence of faith talk in their conversations with the people they most trust. With atheists becoming more strategic in championing their godless worldview, as well as the increased religious plurality driven by education and immigration, the increasing reticence of Christians to engage in faith-oriented conversations assumes heightened significance.

3. Growing numbers of people are less interested in spiritual principles and more desirous of learning pragmatic solutions for life.
When asked what matters most, teenagers prioritize education, career development, friendships, and travel. Faith is significant to them, but it takes a back seat to life accomplishments and is not necessarily perceived to affect their ability to achieve their dreams. Among adults the areas of growing importance are lifestyle comfort, success, and personal achievements. Those dimensions have risen at the expense of investment in both faith and family. The turbo-charged pace of society leaves people with little time for reflection. The deeper thinking that occurs typically relates to economic concerns or relational pressures. Spiritual practices like contemplation, solitude, silence, and simplicity are rare. (It is ironic that more than four out of five adults claim to live a simple life.) Practical to a fault, Americans consider survival in the present to be much more significant than eternal security and spiritual possibilities. Because we continue to separate our spirituality from other dimensions of life through compartmentalization, a relatively superficial approach to faith has become a central means of optimizing our life experience.

4. Among Christians, interest in participating in community action is escalating.
Largely driven by the passion and energy of young adults, Christians are more open to and more involved in community service activities than has been true in the recent past. While we remain more self-indulgent than self-sacrificing, the expanded focus on justice and service has struck a chord with many. However, despite the increased emphasis, churches run the risk of watching congregants’ engagement wane unless they embrace a strong spiritual basis for such service. Simply doing good works because it’s the socially esteemed choice of the moment will not produce much staying power.

To facilitate service as a long-term way of living and to provide people with the intrinsic joy of blessing others, churches have a window of opportunity to support such action with biblical perspective. And the more that churches and believers can be recognized as people doing good deeds out of genuine love and compassion, the more appealing the Christian life will be to those who are on the sidelines watching. Showing that community action as a viable alternative to government programs is another means of introducing the value of the Christian faith in society.

5. The postmodern insistence on tolerance is winning over the Christian Church.
Our biblical illiteracy and lack of spiritual confidence has caused Americans to avoid making discerning choices for fear of being labeled judgmental. The result is a Church that has become tolerant of a vast array of morally and spiritually dubious behaviors and philosophies. This increased leniency is made possible by the very limited accountability that occurs within the body of Christ. There are fewer and fewer issues that Christians believe churches should be dogmatic about. The idea of love has been redefined to mean the absence of conflict and confrontation, as if there are no moral absolutes that are worth fighting for. That may not be surprising in a Church in which a minority believes there are moral absolutes dictated by the scriptures.

The challenge today is for Christian leaders to achieve the delicate balance between representing truth and acting in love. The challenge for every Christian in the U.S. is to know his/her faith well enough to understand which fights are worth fighting, and which stands are non-negotiable. There is a place for tolerance in Christianity; knowing when and where to draw the line appears to perplex a growing proportion of Christians in this age of tolerance.

6. The influence of Christianity on culture and individual lives is largely invisible.
Christianity has arguably added more value to American culture than any other religion, philosophy, ideology or community. Yet, contemporary Americans are hard pressed to identify any specific value added. Partly due to the nature of today’s media, they have no problem identifying the faults of the churches and Christian people.

In a period of history where image is reality, and life-changing decisions are made on the basis of such images, the Christian Church is in desperate need of a more positive and accessible image. The primary obstacle is not the substance of the principles on which Christianity is based, and therefore the solution is not solely providing an increase in preaching or public relations. The most influential aspect of Christianity in America is how believers do–or do not–implement their faith in public and private. American culture is driven by the snap judgments and decisions that people make amidst busy schedules and incomplete information. With little time or energy available for or devoted to research and reflection, it is people’s observations of the integration of a believer’s faith into how he/she responds to life’s opportunities and challenges that most substantially shape people’s impressions of and interest in Christianity. Jesus frequently spoke about the importance of the fruit that emerges from a Christian life; these days the pace of life and avalanche of competing ideas underscores the significance of visible spiritual fruit as a source of cultural influence.

With the likelihood of an accelerating pace of life and increasingly incomplete cues being given to the population, Christian leaders would do well to revisit their criteria for “success” and the measures used to assess it. In a society in which choice is king, there are no absolutes, every individual is a free agent, we are taught to be self-reliant and independent, and Christianity is no longer the automatic, default faith of young adults, new ways of relating to Americans and exposing the heart and soul of the Christian faith are required.

A few quick questions:

Do you believe that this research is true and accurate?
Do you agree with all six themes or is there something different?
What do you think about them?
Does this reflect your church?
What can [Christ-followers] do?

Running from an open door

**Note from Jon: Sorry I have been missing lately, there has been much going on in our lives and I will (hopefully) update you soon on everything God has been teaching me and showing me.**

I’m not one to kill an animal if there is no reason (unless my wife request it). Honestly, I hate killing just about anything if I don’t need to and I really don’t do well with death, it’s just not natural. For example, when Heather and I were first married she had a beta fish named “Boaz” (a story for another day) that decided to die, but I digress.With fall upon us I have noticed the annual onslaught of bugs into our house seeking a warmer climate. I hate this but I know it is natural so we try to prepare as much as we can. I sprayed a “bug barrier” around our house, our landlord pays for a service that treats our yard, and when needed we with war face to face.

Over and over I run into this scenario. The other night I was leaving work and while walking out through the security door I noticed something. A small cricket was jumping up and hitting the door, repeatedly. I stopped for a second and looked at the situation and decided that someone after me would kill this bug so I decided to just help him out. I walked over to the door that lead to the outside and opened it. As I opened the door the funniest thing happened… the cricket jumped the other way! “Seriously!”, I said out loud and watched the scared creature bound away, I was confused. So I tried to pursue it and I honestly must have looked like an idiot, i mean a 250lb man chasing a fingernail sized creature trying to do what is best for it. Finally, I caught the little booger and carried him outside and released it. Did I get a thank you? Ha, nope! Actually, if it would have spoken I would have freaked out but I watch this scene happen over and over with bugs in all situations. We’ve all tried to let the stupid buzzing fly out the window of your car while driving only to have it fly at you away from the open door.

I walked to my car and jumped in, through the keys in the ignition, took a deep breath…, and then had this message overwhelm me. “Jon, that scenario you were just in, I have doing that with you for years”. It is so frustrating to know that God just used this tiny thing to teach me something about my unwillingness to submit to Him but He did and so I ask you what He asked me.

Why are you running from the open door that God opened?

Spreading the Gospel

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to speak at the chapter meeting of Beta Upsilon Chi, a National Christian Fraternity, at the University of Kansas. The fraternity states that it exists for the purpose of establishing brotherhood and unity among college men based on the common bond of Jesus Christ.

“Beta Upsilon Chi was formed at The University of Texas at Austin in the spring of 1985 by a handful of Christian men who desired an alternative to the present fraternal lifestyle. The members of Beta Upsilon Chi choose to unite in fellowship and edify Jesus Christ on campuses around the nation.”

After beginning at the University of Texas, the vision of Brothers Under Christ has spread to 25 campuses in Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Kansas.

Needless to say that I was both happy to be invited to speak there and at the same time encouraged by their presence. Enjoy!

Right-click here to download audio file.

I want you to be known in Hell

This is recording of me speaking to a High School group at Blue Valley Baptist Church for the 2nd week in a row on August 29, 2010.