Hindsight, Foresight, Insight

I'm a podcaster and one of the many podcasts I listen to is from Brian Houston from Hillsong. His latest podcast was a great message on how we need to be people that see in these 3 dimensions.

Hindsight recognizes the value of something after it happens. Hindsight has 20/20 vision. We utilize hindsight when we learn from our mistakes. However if we only live life with hindsight then we will have a life full of regrets and missed opportunities.

We must also have foresight to see the value of things before they happen. We must have a dream and a vision. Foresight shows you the way ahead. Foresight plans ahead.

Insight is the ability to see into something. It's wisdom. Insight is a God-given intuition that will enable us to live life to our potential that God placed in us.

Matthew 13:13; Proverbs 10:13; Proverbs 16:16; Job 32:7-9

Our Houseguest Wants a Room

Here's the little guy that has been appearing at our house. It looks like he's waiting for he opportunity to get in.

It's neat to think that God's eye is on this little guy.

Are Teaching Pastors a Good Option?

I think it is great when a pastor of any congregation opens his pulpit to an outside minister who will stretch them in new ways. I've seen too many pastors hoard their pulpit (now I know there are parameters to who you let preach to your people) and not allow themselves to be stretched or their congregation stretched.

Here are a couple of reasons I think pastors should open their pulpit up to other teaching pastors or ministers:

1. Multiple life experiences enhance message. A pastor only knows so much. We all are not "know-it-alls" nor should we appear to be. The different life experiences that each communicator draws from will touch different people in different ways.
   
   
2. Change promotes growth. The change of pace of a new speaker is good for a congregation who might be used to a certain style of preaching/teaching or a the same voice. Sometimes, as communicators, we have a consistent thread run through all our talks that people become accustom to. Bringing in a new speaker allows the congregation to listen to a different style and even though they might preach the same message, the way they see the scripture might be different than the Lead Pastor and bring out a new truth or new way of applying it.
   
   
3. Overall message quality improves. Allowing different pastors the opportunity to preach, whether they are staff pastors like a youth, associate, or even music pastor (represent!), or even staff teaching pastors, allow the load of communicating to be distributed among the team.
   
   This allows each speaker to delegate the needed time to one message/series at a time. For the lead/senior pastor, this relieves his time constraints and allows him to devote time to dreaming, developing, and delivering the vision of the church.
   
   With the distribution of speaking responsibility, each communicator can deliver a compelling message riding on the waves of revived creativity.
   
   
4. Increases expectation. With the creativity that can be release with each new message, the congregation's expectation levels rise. We all know that we get what we expect (you also get what you inspect... but that's for another time and another place). When our congregation comes and sits in the pew with anticipation, looking forward to the morsels that will guide them into their journey, knowing that what they hear can change their lives, then the overall impact of the message rises of the charts.
   
   
5. Develops Communicators. Communication is not a natural gift, but one that is developed. Leaders must release opportunities for others to grow instead of doing it all themselves. Who knows what John Wesley, Bill Hybels, or Billy Graham might be hiding in the pews of your church who might just need a practice field to develop his/her gift.
   
   
6. It might even make the congregation appreciate their Lead/Senior Pastor even more. (A bad steak makes the next one taste that much better)

I have felt the effect of multiple communicators while attending Westside Family Church in Lenexa, KS. They have teaching Pastors and their separate approaches to communicating offer a fresh view of the Bible each week. I can remember messages from weeks ago because of the creative energy that was devoted to each sermon. Keep it up Westside!

Hopefully, if you are a Senior/Lead Pastor and you stumbled across this blog that started off not going in this direction, please understand my deepest respect for your position and that from this deep respect comes this concern to keep you fresh and at your best to communicate the vision that God has given you. If you do have a staff member or lay person who can communicate 80% as well as you, then it might be in the best interest of the church's future to release others to develop their gift and multiply your influence.

And for those pastors who are not privileged to have a staff who communicates well, keep up the good work and make plenty of time for study for your weekend messages. Remember to that every time you say "yes" to something, you are saying "no" to something else. So if you don't have the ability to develop other communicators, then guard your time so you can study and delegate the responsibilities that you can to your different leaders. (ok... I'm done now)

Our new resident.

this little guy showed up today

Thanks Englewood!

I was able to pull my drumsticks off the shelf and dust them off this morning and play with the Englewood Praise team who obviously was in desperate need of a drummer, since they were scrounging around looking for me.

I haven't played in about 6 months, and the song selection... shall we say.. was on speed. We started off with "I Believe" by Hillsong, and for a drummer who hasn't played in a while, my wrists were killing me after service, so much that I actually had to take Ibuprofen, which for those who know me, I don't do medicine well (it knocks me a little loopy).

So thanks Ryan for letting me play, I hope it wasn't too bad.

We also were able to talk with Pastor Brian's wife, Jennifer, and she made mention of a new church that will be launching in the KC area in March of '08. You can see more info on it at reachoutkc.org. The church sounds interesting and I applaud them for taking the time to establish the foundation for their launch. Keep it up Troy.

Englewood has a great thing going for them. Here are a couple great things I noticed:

• Passion about the Great Commission (at least 8 people were saved this morning, how awesome is that!)
  
• Have a great staff, lead by Pastor Brian. (btw - my cousin is their youth pastor... tear it up tonight Brad)
  
• Good musicians spanning 2 generations, who do a good job of leading worship.

Kudos to Pastor Brian who is taking the lead in morphing this former traditional denominational church into a malleable congregation who can adapt to the times to reach people for Christ using innovative ideas with modern technology.

This past week he mentioned that Mark Batterson (I was at the service) and that they had David Hanley, creative arts pastor for the Dream Center in L.A. He came in on Friday night and Saturday morning to talk to the KC Dreamcenter team.

Pastor Brian is doing a great job of exposing Englewood to cutting edge innovators who are leading the global Church into a new era of ministry.

A lot of people do it.

My wife wanted room for the rte 44 so she put the cup that was occupying the cup holder in the driveway as we were heading out.

Chase the Lion

I received a phone call today from a close friend who said that they were hosting a special speaker tonight at their church. He hesitated as he thought of the speakers name and after a second mentioned that a pastor named Mark Batterson would be at Englewood Church tonight.

Mark Batterson is an author and Pastor of National Community Church in D.C. His most recent book, “In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day” is on it’s 5th print.

Tonight I was able to hear Mark share and his message is inspiring and motivating. It was based of Benaiah from 2 Samuel.

Benaiah is known as one of the 30 mighty men that King David surrounded himself with, and was famous for two different feats. The most extraordinary is that he killed a lion while in a pit with him.

The challenge was to take the offense and begin to chase the lions in our life. When we face the lions, we face our fears and confront the very things that hinder our future.

So now I’m on a mission to read this book and chase my lions.

Open Door Advertising

Okay, it’s not open door, but after you “open the door” to your car and step on to the grounds of your church parking lot that this idea takes off.

You know the little white strip that separates the two vehicles and provides a boundary that everyone but you seems to understand.

The idea is to advertise on this parking lot stripe. I saw an ad for a car insurance company at the Great Mall in Olathe, KS and I thought that this was a great way to get the “first word” into your congregation about an upcoming event.

As of this post, I’m not aware of a company that does this, so if you know of one then let me know and we’ll post it’s link.