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I just saw an article in the paper that the US Army has a new advertising slogan. No more will it be "Be All You Can Be." The slogan is now "Army Strong." Hmmm, maybe those advertising folks are on to something with the short, abrupt message. If churches were to adopt such an approach, we might get something like:
And maybe the idea will spread beyond the faithful:
Got
some additional ideas? Send them along! Michael
Duduit, Editor Click here to visit "I Was Just Thinking" (Michael's blog) for insights and observations about faith and culture issues. Recent topics: The glory of preaching, 300 million cars?
The ones who watch In his book Stewards of the Story: The Task of Preaching (Westminster John Knox), James Earl Massey relates this story: "Franz Kafka wrote about his vision of a large city at night in which just a few people were awake. Kafka likened it to a military encampment in which everyone is asleep except a few guards on duty keeping watch. Asked why the few are still awake when all the others in the city are asleep, Kafka answered, 'Because someone must be watching, someone must be there.' "We who preach owe it to those who hear us, and to our Lord, who called us to be that someone who watches, ready to speak a trusted word as a trustworthy person." (Click here to learn more about the book Stewards of the Story.)
Do churches encourage clergy burnout? In the new book Clergy Burnout (Fortress), Fred Lehr writes, "What congregation brags that their clergyperson always uses all his vacation and continuing education time? How many lay people think this is just wonderful and the sign of an effective ministry? What congregation offers a membership to the local gym as a standard perk to encourage their pastor to practice good exercise patterns? None that I know. "Clergy who are dependent on pats on the back in ministry will be on duty 24/7. They will go to extremes to keep everyone happy and never stir up any controversy, however appropriate that controversy may be. They will sacrifice time for self and family and do so without one single complaint. That's the way the system is structured these days. That's the norm. . . . It is a disease infused throughout the system. Good health and proper boundaries are rare." (Click here to learn more about the book Clergy Burnout.)
Developing the Vision How does a new pastor help a church develop a missional vision? In the book Direct Hit: Aiming Real Leaders at the Mission Field (Abingdon), Paul Borden says, "A pastor who starts a new ministry in a typical, dysfunctional congregation that is either on a plateau or in decline must realize that many (or all) of the congregants do not understand the congregation's mission and the pastor's role in that mission. Therefore, the pastor must think in terms of two zones, each with particular goals and strategies. "The first zone is a period of one to five years when the leader is preparing the congregation for systemic change. This time zone is the least understood and therefore most ignored by pastors who attempt to lead change, but ignoring this zone is a major impediment to systemic change. . . . "The second zone is the one that works best within one year, although it may take two. If it takes longer than two years, systemic change has been thwarted and the effects will inoculate the congregation against such change for the next decade or two. The goal in this time zone is to actually lead systemic change, which means that the leaders of the congregation are those who agree with God's missional purpose for the Church and can implement it without fear of being replaced. When this condition occurs, systemic change has occurred. The congregation now has more health than sickness, it can and will grow, and it will achieve its God-given vision. Success in this time zone will only be achieved after success in the first time zone." (Click here to learn more about the book Direct Hit.)
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ILLUSTRATION: Listening A story is told of a family that went into a restaurant. The waitress walked up and, looking at the young boy, said: "What will it be?" The boy eagerly shouted back: "I'll take a hamburger, French fries, and a chocolate shake." The mother immediately interrupted: "Oh, that's not what he wants. He'll take the roast beef, a baked potato, and a glass of milk." Much to the surprise of both the mother and the boy, the waitress completely ignored her and again asked the boy: "And what do you want on that hamburger?" The boy shouted back, "ketchup, lots of ketchup." The boy then turned to his parents with a big smile on his face and said: "Wow, she's something. She thinks that I'm real!"
ILLUSTRATION: Weakness, Resurrection In a recent sermon, Mike Ruffin observed, "The day will come when resurrection will be a reality and then we won't have to be weak anymore. But for now we live with the weakness and it is in fact our weakness that makes us realize how necessary the resurrection is. "The Baptist preacher Carlyle Marney visited a college campus. A student asked, 'Dr. Marney, would you say a word or two about the resurrection of the dead?' Marney answered, 'I will not discuss that with people like you.' When the student wanted to know why, Marney said, 'Look at you, in the prime of the life, potent -- never have you known honest-to-God failure, heart-burn, impotency, solid defeat, brick walls, mortality. So what can you know of a dark world which only makes sense if Christ is raised?'"
One-day
preaching conferences Three more Preaching Truth in a Whatever World events are still available for Fall 2006. These one-day preaching conferences explore strategies for effective biblical preaching in a postmodern world. Led by Preaching editor Michael Duduit and a variety of guest speakers, these conferences offer a valuable time of insight and refreshment for those who proclaim the Word. Preaching Truth conferences will be held in the following cities: Tampa
Bay, FL -- Nov 28 For more information or to register, call (800) 288-9673, or visit the website at www.preaching.com/truth
ILLUSTRATION: Suffering, Pain In a recent issue of his Tuesday Mornings newsletter, Tom Barnard recalls hearing a minister-and-wife team talk about the pain they suffered when their beautiful daughter died of cancer nearly a year earlier. "During the months of failed treatments they had been constant in their confidence that God would heal their daughter. Hundreds of their friends joined them in faith, believing God for healing. Healing did not happen. Putting their lives together again was not easy. They kept busy in their ministry. They traveled to places around the world, preaching and teaching to thousands. But they struggled to be positive in the wake of such a disappointing loss. Then God led them to the following passage of Scripture: "And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." (2 Cor. 12:7-9 NKJV) The New Living Translation renders that key verse this way: "My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness." The Greek word for sufficient means "to be content . . . to raise a barrier . . . to ward off that which pushes us to one side." Basically, "sufficient" means grace that is enough, but not super abundant, fantastic, huge, or incredible. Sufficient does not say to us, "Grow up." It doesn't say, "Get over it." It doesn't say, "You'll understand it better by and by." It just says, "My grace is sufficient for you." It says, "I am standing with you in this situation." That's really all we need to know." (to subscribe to Tuesday Mornings, send an email to barnard22@cox.net)
ILLUSTRATION: Repentance, Restitution Nicky Gumbel tells of a man who sent a check to the government for back taxes. The attached note attached said: "I felt so guilty for cheating on my taxes I had to send you this check. If I don't feel any better, I'll send you the rest."
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." (Thomas Edison)
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ILLUSTRATION: Praise In his book, The One-Minute Manager, Kenneth Blanchard recommends developing the practice of "one-minute praising," where the manager (or parent, spouse, etc.) tries to "catch someone doing something right" and then spend a full sixty seconds praising that person for the good deed. This is a lot more difficult than it appears. Where we might not find it difficult to criticize someone for even sixty minutes, many times we find it almost impossible to praise someone sincerely for a full minute. And this is true for the church as well. It seems that it can be hard for some people to praise God. Even in our prayer time, we can sure list off the prayer needs but I think we find it difficult to come up with praises. The more we praise God for everything that He has given to us the less we will criticize others. The more we praise Him in the church the more we will see His hand and Spirit moving through the church.
"An optimist is a man who, finding himself in hot water, decides he needs a bath anyway."
Top
ten reasons to be part of the The third International Congress on Preaching will be April 17-19, 2007, in Cambridge, England. Among the many reasons for you to plan now to attend, here are just ten:
David
Jeremiah and many more! What other reasons do you need? Registration is now available at an earlybird discount -- register today and save $55 off the normal rate. To learn more visit the website at www.preaching.com/icop or call (800) 288-9673 (outside the US, call 615-312-4245.)
Murphy's Law continues . . . Murphy's Technology Law #1: You can never tell which way the train went by looking at the track. Murphy's Technology Law #2: Logic is a systematic method of coming to the wrong conclusion with confidence. Murphy's Technology Law #3: Technology is dominated by those who manage what they do not understand. Murphy's Technology Law #4: If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization. Murphy's Technology Law #5: An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less until he/she knows absolutely everything about nothing. Murphy's Technology Law #6: Tell a man there are 300 billion stars in the universe, and he'll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it, and he'll have to touch to be sure. Murphy's Technology Law #7: All great discoveries are made by mistake. Murphy's Technology Law #8: Nothing ever gets built on schedule or within budget. Murphy's Technology Law #9: All's well that ends . . . period. Murphy's Technology Law #10: A meeting is an event at which minutes are kept and hours are lost. Murphy's Technology Law #11: The first myth of management is that it exists. Murphy's Technology Law #12: A failure will not appear until a unit has passed final inspection. Murphy's Technology Law #13: New systems generate new problems. Murphy's Technology Law #14: To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer. Murphy's Technology Law #15: We don't know one-millionth of one percent about anything. Murphy's Technology Law #16: Any given program, when running, is obsolete. Murphy's Technology Law #17: A computer makes as many mistakes in two seconds as 20 men working 20 years make.
And finally . . . Maybe all that controversy has caused the Pope to lose weight. According to an Oct. 20 Reuters story, the papal ring slipped off Pope Benedict's finger twice while he was shaking hands with the faithful at Verona's Bentegodi stadium last week. The well-wishers into whose palms the gold ring fell promptly gave it back each time. The papal ring is known as the "Fisherman's Ring," because it depicts St Peter casting a net into the sea.
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