For the Church

Lead Where You Are

The most important leadership role you will ever have is the one you’re in right now. Or, to put it more succinctly, lead where you are.

By most any definition, I was a young man in a hurry. There is just something about being in your twenties that predestines restlessness. My mentor, Pastor Steve Lawson, sensed my restlessness and counseled me: “Jason, the most important job you will ever have is the one you have right now.” His words registered on my heart before they landed in my ear. I still remember where we stood, by his administrative assistant’s desk, when he spoke those words to me.

His instinct was right. I needed to hear his admonition. Not only did I need it, but in some ways I wanted it. I sensed that my unsettledness was unhealthy. I purposed that day, due to both the apparent spiritual principle and the obvious practical benefits, to live by those words. I encourage you to do the same.

Leadership isn’t just in your future. It’s in your present. Scripture teaches that we are not guaranteed tomorrow, and even the most assured plans should come with a deo volente—if the Lord wills.

Along those lines, do not romanticize your future or daydream about how to seize it. Give your best energies to the position you currently hold. In leadership you are called to a stewardship of the present. And, in a very real sense, you will never have a greater stewardship than the one you have right now. We must work to maintain this mentality. Our self-help, self-improvement generation teaches us to strive for, to even connive for, our own betterment. But that is not the way of the faithful leader.

As an example, some have noted my father’s generation viewed work like an escalator. You get on at a lower floor, remain faithful in your position and to your employer over the long haul, and, as the decades pass, you will ride the escalator up to higher floors.

My generation views employment more like a jungle gym, hopping from place to place, always scouring the horizon for self-advancement and never missing an opportunity for self-promotion. The leader’s strategy for career advancement ought not resemble American Ninja Warrior.

Thus, to lead in the future, make sure you lead in the present. Do not spend your time refining your personal leadership philosophy; go with what you know now. Pursue faithfulness in leadership, not success. The world does not need more hypothetical leaders; it needs more actual ones.

In fact, Jesus commended such faithfulness, promising, “The one who is faithful in a very little thing is also faithful in much; and the one who is unrighteous in a very little thing is also unrighteous in much” (Luke 16:10). Vocationally, your today is more important than your tomorrow. The fastest way to a higher office is to excel in the one you occupy now.

Generally, those who serve most faithfully—who prove themselves indispensable to their organization’s health—will not be overlooked. Such faithfulness is a rare trait, and employers work to retain such individuals. Indispensable employees usually do not have to fear pink slips and rarely must ask for pay raises.

I can assure you, if you faithfully lead where you are, it is unlikely you will be overlooked by man. And I can promise you, with the words of Christ in mind, you will not be overlooked by God.

The Need for Confession in a “Copy” and “Edit” Age

By Brett Fredenberg / Sep 13

These days, there’s a filter for almost anything. People can “edit” and “crop” their entire lives. Simply click the image, select from the endless options of filters that enhance the desired effect, and presto—the world is given the snapshot version of “me” that I want it to have. Unfortunately, the Christian life does not work that way. It was never intended to. God, in His infinite wisdom, has made transparency and confession a necessary component of spiritual health. If we are to grow in Christ, then we must allow someone, or a few someones, to see beyond the cropped and edited version of ourselves.

Given how much confusion surrounds the practice of confession, it’s essential to clarify what is meant by confessing sin. In hearing the term, those who come from a Roman Catholic background may think of the formal sacrament of penance (or the sacrament of reconciliation), in which a person regularly seeks out a priest so that their sins will be absolved. While protestants rightly protest the need to confess sins to or receive absolution from a formal priest, we must not be too hasty in dismissing the sacredness of confession. In confessing sins to one another, we engage in a spiritual endeavor, a holy campaign, against our insurrection. We are declaring war on our own rebellion. We need not go to any priest. Any Christian brother or sister who loves and speaks the gospel will do. And while we need not treat it like a sacramental ritual, we should let it become a sacred lifestyle. By confession, I mean a holy habitus in which a Christian deliberately exposes and confronts their own sin whenever it manifests itself so that others may restore them in the joy of the gospel.

One of the primary dangers of sin is not simply that it exists but that by its existence, it seeks to cripple a joyful relationship with the triune God. According to the Puritans, redemption not only seeks the eradication of evil (ademptio mali) but also the enjoyment of good (adeptio boni).[1] Sin rebuilds the malice that God has broken down and breaks down the good that God built. Sin is, in its very essence, a joy thief that is opposed to God’s good purposes.

Sin’s antithetical nature toward our good God is why confession is so important. Confession is much more than an embarrassing admission of failure, as people have often treated it. Quite the contrary, it is a desperate pursuit of restored joy in the Lord. Without confession, such restoration is impossible.

Confession means coming out of hiding. Augustine once wrote, “In failing to confess, Lord, I would only hide you from myself, not myself from You.” As it did with Adam, our hidden sin leaves us feeling afraid and shamefully exposed. A mere whisper of God’s approach sends us running for the trees. We hide. We deny and we even blame others. But redemption cannot happen until we come out of our hiding place. When God asked Adam, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9), it was not for God’s benefit but Adam’s. Being the omniscient being He is, God knew where Adam was. With His question, God “drew Adam from hiding rather than drove him from it.”[2] Confession answers the question, “Where am I?” It draws me out from behind the tree to acknowledge my sin and receive the good news of a serpent-crushing Savior who has and will overturn the evil I have committed.

Confession means leaving the dirty mudhole and coming back to the clean, refreshing waters of grace. In Jeremiah 2:13, God summarizes his people’s sins. They have (1) “forsaken me, the fountain of living waters” and (2) “hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” Sin tempts us to believe that there is better, fresher water outside God. It, then, tells us to start digging. In the end, all we have is a leaky mudhole. In confession, we see the dirty, leaky mudhole for what it is and return to the only stream that can satiate our thirst.

Confession means celebrating the gospel. 1 John 1:8-9—perhaps the most often quoted text when it comes to confession—gives both a warning and a promise. First comes the warning, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” For John, whether or not a person has the truth indicates the state of a person’s relationship with the triune God (for example, see 1 John 2:4).[3] As seen throughout the biblical storyline, proximity to a holy God unveils a person’s sin and guilt. The classic example is Isaiah 6. When Isaiah faces a holy God, he confesses that he is a man of unclean lips (Isaiah 6:5). Recognizing sin is an outcome of knowing God. A person might be absolutely sincere when he says, “I have no sins that I can see…no seriously, I can’t think of any weaknesses or vices.” Either this man is proof positive that perfection can be reached in this lifetime, or—more likely—he is looking at himself as man might look into a mirror in a dark room. It is only when the Lord comes in and turns on the light that the man can say, “Oh…now I see it.” Grace brings gracious exposure. Confession is a celebration that God is in our midst and, consequently, our sins have come into the light.

Following the warning comes a promise: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (v. 9). The word faithful (pistos) can mean reliable or trustworthy. In some cases, the word can describe someone who keeps a promise (Heb. 10:23). According to John, confession reveals God as both faithful and just. This claim is consistent with how God has revealed Himself throughout redemptive history. In Exodus 34:6-9, God declares that He is both just (by no means clearing the guilty) and gracious (forgiving iniquities).[4] It is a bit of paradox. How can God be at the same time both just in judging our sin and gracious in forgiving it? The cross solves the conundrum. There, God’s justice against sin is poured out on Jesus and the consequent result is forgiveness and reconciliation with God. Confession celebrates the gospel by declaring God’s justice and gracious faithfulness.

On the one hand, confession leads us to freely acknowledge that even in grace, God is still just. Sin is still sin and, therefore, it must be repented. On the other hand, by confessing, a person throws himself or herself upon the reliable mercy of God—a mercy given because Jesus has already paid for our sin on the cross (Colossian 2:14). In this way, confession makes us “living monuments and examples of His goodness and patience.”[5] By God’s own design, confession transforms a community into a gospel-centered community.

[1] Ralph Venning, The Sinfulness of Sin (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1965), 71.

[2] R. Kent Hughes, Genesis: Beginning and Blessing, Preaching the Word (Wheaton: Crossway, 2004), 78.

[3] Colin G. Kruse, The Letters of John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 68.

[4] See Exodus 34:6-9.

[5] Venning, The Sinfulness of Sin, 190.

Experience Kansas City During FTC 22

By Grace Pike / Sep 12

In two weeks, we’ll welcome pastors, ministers, and missionaries from across the country to our annual FTC National Conference, “For The Nations.”

We know you’ll probably have some free time, so we want to offer you our best suggestions for barbecue, food, coffee, and things to do while you’re in our wonderful city.

BBQ

– Q39 (Midtown)

– Joe’s Kansas City (State Line)

– Jack Stacks (Country Club Plaza)

– Gates (3 locations)

– Hawg Jaw Que (North Kansas City)

– Arthur Bryant’s (Near 18th & Vine)

– Slap’s BBQ (Kansas City, KS)

– Pigwich (River Market)

Food

– KC Taco Company (located in the River Market with excellent tacos)

– Summit Grill (just up the road from campus with great American food)

– Brown & Loe (high-quality comfort food)

– Il Lazzerone (Neopolitan style pizza in the River Market)

– Frank’s Italian (Parkville’s best Italian restaurant)

– LuLu’s Noodles (Thai food great for lunch or dinner in the Crossroads)

– Queen Sweets & Bakery (Middle Eastern cuisine in the Northland)

– Happy Gillis (a quaint restaurant serving local breakfast and lunch in Columbus Park)

– The Westside Local (great range of American style food in the Westside district)

– Piropos (this Argentinian restaurant is located in Briarcliff, a neighborhood close to campus)

– Bella Napoli (Italian food with a great porch located in Brookside)

– Taco Republic (street tacos with indoor and outdoor seating at the state line)

– Jerusalem Cafe (located in Westport, this Middle Eastern food is sure to satisfy)

– BRGR (classic burgers located in the Power & Light District)

– Nara Sushi (the Crossroad’s best sushi)

– Longboards (the Pacific coast comes to the Midwest in this Northland wrap restaurant)

– Vietnam Cafe (great Vietnamese food near the River Market)

– Wings Cafe (located close to campus, this place will serve you the best wings in the Northland)

– Betty Rae’s Ice Cream (you can find this in the River Market, this makes a great late-night treat)

– KC Soda Company (every flavor of soda you can imagine in the River Market district)

– The Distrikt Biskuit House (amazing breakfast sandwiches and biscuits located near Kauffman Stadium)

Coffee

– The Tomlinson Cafe

– Thou Mayest – River Quay (Industrial-chic, exposed-brick shop in the River Market)

– Post Coffee (Located in North Kansas City)

– Oddly Correct (one of the best roasters in town – excellent coffee in Midtown)

– Messenger Coffee (three-story building including a rooftop view of the city)

– Monarch Coffee (great espresso and aesthetic in Midtown)

– PT’s Coffee (located in the Crossroads Art District, a top-tier roaster in the metro)

– Second Best Coffee (South Kansas City’s humblest shop with nitro coffee)

– Vested Coffee (two locations in the Garment District and Beacon Hill)

– Goat Hill Coffee (smooth espresso in the Westside)

– Splitlog Coffee Co. (all-around good coffee with a location in Pendleton Heights and Strawberry Hill)

Things to Do

– Nelson Atkins Museum

– WW1 Museum

– Chicken N’ Pickle

– Prospero’s Book Store

– Union Station

– The Green Lady Lounge

– Country Club Plaza

– The Kansas City Public Library: Central Library

– City Market

– Loose Park

– Made in KC Stores

– The Blue Room

– American Jazz Museum

– Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

Jesus is the Older Brother Who Does His Job

By Jared Wilson / Sep 12

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
— Colossians 1:15

Paul articulately asserts the truth of the incarnation in Colossians 1, but his use of “firstborn” does not mean that there was a time when the Son of God was not (any more than John 3:16’s use of “begotten” does — as the Nicene Creed insists, Jesus is “eternally begotten”). But Paul’s use of “firstborn” here holds such a wealth of meaning: namely, as it applies to Christ’s sovereign authority and to his redemptive activity.

Biblically and culturally speaking, the firstborn son carried the weight of the family inheritance on his shoulders. The family name rested first with him. In the absence of the father, he is the head of the family. The firstborn son receives more honor, more expectation, and more authority.

This is Jesus, of course. The author of Hebrews tells us he is the radiance of God’s glory. Romans 8 tells us that he is the heir of God. Inheritance talk is big in Galatians and Ephesians and Titus and Hebrews.

As our older brother, Jesus is due the authority and the wealth he is owed. But unlike all other older brothers — and I am one, so I know — he walks in a way worthy of his honor. For our sake!

All through the Scriptures, from the murderous Cain to the sniveling tattletale in Jesus’ parable of the Lost Son, the older brother is consistently an utter and absolute failure. (So are most of the younger brothers, actually, but God consistently chooses them to make a point, I think.)

But not Jesus. Where disobedience and disregard ruled the roost of the firstborn, Jesus obeys the Father perfectly, submits to the eternal cause of the glory of the Father completely, and cares for and rescues and sacrifices his own well-being for his younger siblings to the utmost.

Jesus is the older brother who will not trade his birthright for a bowl of soup.
Jesus is the older brother who will not trade his siblings into slavery.
Jesus is the older brother who leaves the comfort of his Father’s estate to seek out his lost brother among the brothels and pigsties and actually rescues him from the degradation of the mud and dresses him in the Father’s robe of his own accord.

Jesus is the “true and better” older brother.

Jesus is the older brother who’s not ashamed of his siblings (Heb. 2:11)

Jesus is the older brother who does his job. Everybody else is the other guy.

More Than You Can Handle

By Brett Fredenberg / Sep 9

One Sunday morning one of my fellow pastors shared in his sermon this lie many Christians believe: “God will never give you more than you can handle.” He argued that God actually consistently gives us more than we can handle to show us and remind us that our faith must be in Jesus, not ourselves.

I couldn’t agree more with him. The idea that God will not give us more than we can handle is a prideful belief if you think about it. The idea is about us and our capacity to bear trials, struggles, pain, or whatever else needs “handled”. It limits God as a distant figure setting up life and then leaving us to our own devices to solve the issues He gives us. Just this idea alone points to the absurdity of this view, but let’s get practical. What happens when you cannot handle what God has given you? What happens when life is too hard and when you’ve had too much? Are you a bad Christian? Is God a bad God? Certainly not.

God often gives more than we can handle, and He moves the most in these seasons of our life. For me, my greatest growth in faith came in a time that was too much to handle. When I was 17, I was nominal in my faith. I wanted to live for God in the future, but in the present, I wanted to play sports and make people like me. I was not headed in a good direction. But thank God, He gave me more than I could handle.

The fall of my senior year my father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It was the most difficult thing I could imagine. I constantly thought, “Why me and my family God?” I didn’t think things could get worse, until they did. The following spring, while my dad’s health was rapidly declining, my grandmother suffered a major heart attack, I had surgery on a broken foot, and my 10-year-old brother was on life support awaiting a heart transplant. Later in the summer, my father passed away and my younger brother, who by God’s grace was given a new heart, had extensive brain damage. I originally thought the cancer diagnosis alone was too much to handle, but it was only the beginning. I can honestly say that God gave me too much to handle. I hit rock bottom. And while it sounds crazy, I am thankful for it and would not change this season of my life if given the chance. In this season, God drew me to Himself more closely than I ever had been before.

In the darkest moment of my life, at rock bottom, when God had given me way more than I could handle, it was not my strength that got me through, but His. He was right there with me. I learned to lean on and depend on him more than ever. I had a peace I could never explain other than God was with me and while everything around me – my life, my family, and my future – were crashing down, He was not going anywhere. One verse I clung to in that season was James 1:2-4:

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

This verse meant so much to me because it gave me hope that God was working in the worst moments of my life. It gave meaning to my suffering. It gave purpose to my plight. It reminded me that God was not abandoning me but strengthening me. I can honestly say that it was because of this season in my life that I am a pastor today. I thank God that He gave me more than I could handle.

Do not believe the lie that God will not give you more than you can handle. You will be severely disappointed or worse, miss out on a closer walk with Him because you constantly run from anything difficult. God works in the moments that are too hard for us to handle. It is in these moments that we realize how desperate we are for Him and how helpless we are on our own. God will consistently give you more than you can handle. Here are a few verses to hold onto during those seasons of life:

2 Corinthians 4:17: For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

Romans 5:3-4: Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

Psalms 119:7: It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.

Hebrews 2:10: For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

Philippians 3:10: that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

When life comes crumbling down, God does not. Run to him. Cling to Him. If you are struggling right now, know that God is working. You are not alone. He is with you. His church is with you. God will give us more than we can handle, but He will also see us through the other side with a stronger faith.

The Bondage of Absolute Self-Autonomy

By Brett Fredenberg / Sep 8

There is no doubt that one of the gold standard virtues of modern society is the pursuit of absolute self-autonomy. The gospel of “be true to yourself” and “look within yourself” attempts to promote and promise true liberty, ultimate purpose and meaning, and societal flourishing with no strings attached or any negative repercussions.

On the surface, it sounds like good news. From a distance, it appears to be pro-humanity in all its nonrestrictive, progressive creeds and confessions, replacing sacred liturgy with its own secular ones. In elevating human emotion and imagination over and above absolute truth, it ascribes more worth to human creativity than to the Creator of humanity. This is the gospel of absolute autonomy. After all, any worldview or religious practice that would minimize the absolute autonomy of the self must be anti-human happiness and goodness, right?

Only if we allow ourselves to be fooled by the fashionable guise of light and liberty (2 Corinthians 11:14). While on the surface absolute autonomy appears as freedom, there is further bondage below. Absolute autonomy is not good news; it is bad news. Not only is it bad news, but false news. Only the true, good news of the gospel can offer freedom. Only in Christ’s life, death, and resurrection can we hope to break free from the bondage, brokenness, and alienation that absolute autonomy promises to deliver us from.

Here are three gospel truths that can dispel the current cultural mirage of absolute autonomy.

CREATED IN HIS IMAGE

First, we are created in God’s image.

“So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (Genesis 1:27).” I can only imagine the expression and the gasps and whispers of the heavenly hosts in this moment of creation. God had created everything else by His word and now he creates man in His very image. What a high privilege to bestow on man. Not even the angels in heaven received this title: Image of God.

And so, from the start, our very being and nature is stamped with God’s being and nature.

One of the most glorious, mysterious doctrines of all of Scripture is the Trinity. One God, three separate persons. Or as Athanasius beautifully articulated: “We worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity, neither blending their persons nor dividing their essence.” In other words, God has eternally existed as one – yet not alone. And if we are made in this God’s image, then something of that nature finds itself in us and the pursuit of absolute self-autonomy proves blasphemous at worst and trivial at best. In doing so, we deny the nature of God and the nature of self.

CREATED FOR COMMUNION

Second, we were created for a person.

The Apostle Paul writes, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.” (Colossians 1:16) In other words, we were created by Jesus for Jesus. Our personhood is so inexplicably bound to the second person of the Trinity that attempting absolute autonomy frustrates our true nature

Deeply woven in the imago Dei is this longing to know and be known by someone. And not just anyone, for we all know the fleeting emotions that come with new relationships, or the inevitable moment when someone lets us down or fails to live up to our expectations. Or when someone does not handle our own frailty or short comings in a manner that they should have. We need not look any further than the woman at the well who seemed to go from husband to husband, seeking to know and be fully known until she came face to face with the man she was truly meant for (John 4:1-26). While we are created for fellowship with other people, no mere person is going to satisfy the deep well of our hearts except the person of Jesus.

This also means we were not made for philosophies, revolutions, or moral shifts, no matter how liberating or plausible they might appear to be. Anything or anyone less than the One who Thomas called his Lord and his God (John 20:28) will not do. Simply put, we were created to be in communion with our Creator. The missing puzzle piece to our human heart is not more of self, but more of the Son, whom God appointed the heir of all things (Hebrews 1:2). The One in whom all the fullness of God dwells bodily (Colossians 1:19; 2:9) and the One who fills and makes whole our fractured humanity (Colossians 2:10).

CREATED FOR FELLOWSHIP

Third, we were created to be a people. Being in communion with our creator also means being in fellowship with one another. I have had the privilege of preaching through the book of Ephesians over the past few months and one of the primary emphases of Paul’s letter is God’s people, the church. “So, then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.” (Ephesians 2:19)

Absolute autonomy not only alienates us from our Creator, but it isolates us from being in fellowship with other image bearers. It robs us of true gospel community. It facilitates a further divide and estrangement that the work of Christ on the cross healed and did away with. If each individual has their own truth; their own path; their own choices, then tragically, they are on their own. Loneliness is their only companion.

But Ephesians has a radically different vision for God’s people. It gives us a picture of a new society comprised of various individuals that can only grow into their true selves in Christ together. And only together, with all the saints, can this kind of self-discovery take place. This is what Paul means when he later writes “Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13) The gospel offers us a family that can perpetually remind us of who we are, what our purpose is, and what our final goal is: the measure and stature of the fullness of Christ.

Instead of leaving one another to ourselves to do what is right in our own eyes and figure it all out for ourselves according to the law of self-autonomy, Christ gives us one another according to the gospel of grace.

In the end, absolute self-autonomy is an empty promise that will leave us with an empty heart. Only an empty tomb and a risen Savior can help us find our true selves.

Episode 176: Raising Kids Who Love Jesus

By gsutton / Sep 7

On this episode of the FTC Podcast, Jared Wilson and Ross Ferguson talk about the discipleship of children, from family worship tips to church engagement and beyond.

Age with Joy

By Grace Pike / Sep 6

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” – 2 Corinthians 4:16

There is a precious book my daughter loves to have read to her, titled, The Lines on Nana’s Face, by Simona Ciraolo. It is a beautiful story that follows a little girl who asks her grandmother about every wrinkle on her face. The grandmother responds, not perhaps with the horror we might expect in having one’s multitude of wrinkles pointed out, but with delight in retelling stories from her past; of the joy, grief, sacrifice, and anxiety that led to the lines that now cross her aged face. It is full of beautiful illustrations and one of the most compelling books on the beauty of aging.

For aging is beautiful. On the one hand, aging is difficult, it carries with it its own sufferings: our aging body that seems to slowly betray us, forgetfulness, pain, illness, and the harsh reality that we are mortal. But on the other, for Christians, aging carries a promise. Aging reminds us of the contrasting reality of our finite bodies that hold eternal souls. As our hair grays and lines cover our features we do not lose heart, because our inner self is an inverse of this outward decay. Our outward self deteriorate, yes, but as it does, our inner self is growing in maturity, wisdom, holiness, and nearing the day we get to see our Savior face-to-face.

Just as Death has lost its sting, so aging has lost its ability to cheat us. We may momentarily lose loved ones or abilities, our outward self will waste away; but it is only a momentary loss, and as the Holy Spirit renews us day by day, our inward lives are strengthened, more robust and alive. Even as our flesh decays and we are nothing but bones in the ground, this is but a temporary reality. Because the grave is indeed swallowed up in Christ’s victory. We are laid to rest, yet we will rise again with bodies imperishable.

Perhaps your graying hair and wrinkles do not remind you of joy-filled memories but regret and tragedy. Nonetheless, in Christ, even those memories can be a source of joy, as they are evidence of the Lord’s work in your life to bring you to today wherein he makes you more like himself and less like the person of your past. Whether aging brings us out of suffering or into it, Christ is with us, and in the process of purifying us. By looking at the lines in our own face and remembering who we were in contrast to who we are today, we can see his work, like threads in a tapestry.

If this is true, Christians ought to in many ways celebrate aging. We ought to revere the elderly, and delight in hearing stories of their past that we might glean wisdom from them. We ought to embrace our gray hair as a crown of glory (Proverbs 16:31). We ought to look at the lines in our own face and remember the goodness of God throughout our life. Above all, we ought to face the grave–and all the aches and illness along the way–with hope, not fear, knowing that death is not the final victor.

In knowing that we will have victory over death, that one day our aged, earthly bodies will be transformed into immortal heavenly ones, we can look differently at our own graying hairs, and drooping skin. Instead of seeing gray hairs as curses or threats, we can see instead, evidence of the Lord’s sovereign care, as we are reminded that he lets not a hair fall–nor gray–apart from his will. We can allow the reality of our age to unfold on our features with joy, acknowledging God’s goodness in our life. We can use up our bodies laboring for the gospel, and let them show the signs of a life lived, not in pursuit of the fleeting beauty of youth, but in service to others for a kingdom that will never end.

As we observe our outer selves wasting away, we should not despair, nor long for the past, but with gratitude recognize the gift of the present the Lord has brought us to, and eagerly anticipate our future with him. May we let our face be traced with lines, and tell younger generations the stories that are evidenced on our bodies. How our gray hair is is evidence of the Lord’s sustaining work in our lives; how our crow’s feet are evidence of joy in the presence of the Lord; how the creases between our brow exist because we have studied God’s Word with persistence; how frown lines may have found their place through suffering, but a suffering that was always accompanied with the comfort of Christ. May we embrace our age as evidence of God’s goodness to us. May we not lose heart as our outer body wastes away, because we know that God keeps his promise to renew us day by day.

Don’t Sleep on Rural Ministry

By Jared Wilson / Sep 5

In a now-classic article on “The Country Parson,” Manhattanite pastor Tim Keller, wrote:

Young pastors or seminarians often ask me for advice on what kind of early ministry experience to seek in order to best grow in skill and wisdom as a pastor. They often are surprised when I tell them to consider being a ‘country parson’ — namely, the solo pastor of a small church, many or most of which are in non-urban settings. Let me quickly emphasize the word ‘consider.’ I would never insist that everyone must follow this path. Nevertheless, it is worth thinking about. It was great for me . . .

. . . Some will be surprised to hear me say this, since they know my emphasis on ministry in the city. Yes, I believe firmly that the evangelical church has neglected the city. It still is difficult to get Christians and Christian leaders to make the sacrifices necessary to live their lives out in cities. However, the disdain many people have for urban areas is no worse than the condescending attitudes many have toward small towns and small churches.

I have left out some meat in order to include the gist, so you should definitely go read the whole thing. Keller is touching on something huge here, this “disdain,” which really manifests itself in neglect and discrimination. This is on huge display in a 2009 Time Magazine article on the decline of rural churches. The article talks about young pastors reluctant to go to a place where there’s no Starbucks, and even of older pastors and mentors telling these young guys they are too talented or too creative to pastor in small or rural towns. You know, because those places are “wastes of time.”

I can’t think of sentiments more antithetical to real ministry.

When I left a three year old church plant in suburban Nashville to assume the pastorate of a 200+ year-old church in rural New England, a close friend of mine said, “You’re going to kill your career.” He was just (sort of) joking, of course, but it wasn’t the first time I’d hear something like that. (I should mention that since making that move, my “career” — if by that one means writing/speaking opportunities — actually increased.) But I told him, flatly, “Good.” The day I begin thinking of ministry as a career is the day my ministry career begins to be a big fat pile of FAIL. By God’s grace, I am what I am and do what I do, and this means going where I’m called and hoping he increases, not me.

We’re supposed to decrease, you know?

I am glad more and more pastors are planting churches in urban and surburban. Every place needs churches, and more of them in the gospel-centered variety especially. But count me in the fandom of all the guys nailing Starbucks and the corner pub and shopping malls and public transportation to the cross and going to plant and pastor where you’re more likely to hear a cow moo than a car honk. Country folk are real folk. And they need the gospel too. Especially in areas like New England, which has been the “new” American mission field for a long time now.

The Northeast, now officially the least religious and least churched portion of the nation, is the spiritual epicenter of the country. The Great Awakenings began there. The major American cults have their geneses there. The once theologically solid Ivy League schools are there. Christendom in America rose first and fell first in New England. Rural New England is hyper-spiritual (New Ageism, Wicca, etc. still flourishing) but under-churched and under-gospeled.

Because it’s not just New England or the rural Northeast who need church planters and evangelical pastors. It’s rural areas and small towns all over the country. A lot of evangelical churches in outlying areas are praying desperately that crop after crop of young pastors and aspiring church planters will grow up and show up.

I am increasingly encouraged by the number of my Midwestern Seminary students and Liberty Baptist Church ministry residents indicate a desire to go back to their little hometowns and pastor little country churches. Their big hearts for small places is something I think God big time blesses.

As professionalization captured the evangelical pastorate, churches in small town America began drying up. It’s where old pastors go to retire. It’s where the untalented go to do second rate ministry. Even the one or two conferences recently about ministry in small town settings were led by megachurch pastors and were predicated on how to build a big church in a small town.

Does anyone see the connections between Jesus’ mustard seed ministry and ministry in marginalized America? You almost don’t even have to contextualize all that sower/soil, house-building, sheep and field stuff! It’s plug and play Gospels in rural America. And the gospel is scandalous to the churched (who tend to be either liberal or legalistic) and unchurched (who tend to think Christianity means “being good,” which is an ethic they’ve already got, thank you very much, compliments of justification by recycling and letting gay people marry each other) in rural America. They are some of the rockiest fields to till.

There are lots of real men in rural and small towns, guys who have fought in wars and know how to fix and build things. It can be intimidating for young urbanite pastors who’d rather talk Radiohead than radiators. There are lots of women who don’t wear makeup. (Your “smoking hot wife” may feel conspicuous.) There are lots of old people in rural and small towns, which means you can’t turn your worship to 11. But we should go anyway.

Is God really calling more people to the cities and suburbs than to the outlying areas? Maybe. Or do we just think he is?

This is why I also appreciate this part of Keller’s post:

Young pastors should not turn up their noses at such places, where they may learn the full spectrum of ministry tasks and skills as they will not in a large church. Nor should they go to small communities looking at them merely as stepping stones in a career. Why not? Your early ministry experience will only prepare you for ‘bigger things,’ if you don’t aspire for anything bigger than investment in the lives of the people around you. Wherever you serve, put your roots down, become a member of the community and do your ministry with all your heart and might. If God opens the door to go somewhere else, fine and good. But don’t go to such places looking at them only as training grounds for ‘real ministry.’

Yes. Do not treat these mission fields like training wheels for “real” ministry. If that’s your perspective you shouldn’t be in ministry anywhere.

It’s true that God may call young pastors and planters into small towns and rural areas to prepare them and train them for ministries of Jabezian levels of “more territory.” But some he calls to come and stay. Many of us are praying more and more missionaries are listening.

The Compatibility Question: Churches Make Better Aquariums than Pantries

By Grace Pike / Sep 2

“Do you think you’re a good fit for this church?”

Nat’s heart rate increased and it became harder to swallow. Self-preservation kicks in at questions like this. The honest answer was, “No. No, he didn’t think he was a good fit for this church.”

But an honest answer might mean no way to pay his mortgage.

He’d relocated his wife and young children to be a part of this church. His wife was pregnant with his third child and they’d left a healthy church 300 miles away so he could begin his first full-time ministry role as a youth pastor.

THE PANTRY

We’re trying to integrate homeschooling with grocery shopping in our house. We haven’t figured it out quite yet, but in theory our kids will learn math while simultaneously putting it in practice in the real world.

Did someone eat the last of the Cheerios? Let’s replace them. The Triscuits are stale? “We don’t like Triscuits, dad.” Great, we’ll throw them out and their spot on the pantry shelf will be filled by Goldfish instead. After all, “kids loves the fishes ‘cause they’re so delicious.”

A similar philosophy was driving the church that brought Nat on staff.

We need a youth pastor. Our former youth pastor “had to be let go” leaving an empty slot on the pantry shelf. Let’s try and fill it with someone new. Take out the Triscuits replace them with Goldfish.

It works well for perishables that will be consumed, why wouldn’t it work for people in the church?

THE PROBLEM

The problem is, the Church exists so people don’t perish, and consumption of people is a damnable offense (Gal. 5:15).

This is a great model for organizing a pantry of items to be consumed, but an awful model for organizing a population of people in the church.

On the front end of hiring a staff member a church tends to ask questions revolving around the candidate’s character (is he godly?), calling (does she have a clear sense of direction from the Lord?), competency (can he get the job done with excellence?), and coachability (is she teachable?). Questions are asked to quantify whether they meet expectations in each of these areas, and likely some Bible verses are cited to show where each of these qualifications can be found in Scripture.

But are we missing a bigger piece of the puzzle? The intuitive (and as such, much less quantifiable) sense of whether or not the candidate is a “good fit” for the existing people within the church body?

The church is, after all, much more akin to an aquarium than it is a pantry.

The Cheerios don’t have to get along with the Triscuits because their shelf life is short-lived and they exist merely for consumption. Never the case with the souls of our people.

THE PEDESTAL

Thankfully, in Nat’s case, it all worked out (Rom. 8:28). But to quote the popular political trope: “mistakes were made.”

In retrospect the hiring committee would’ve served him—and, more importantly, their people —better if they’d taken more time to get to know him and ask more questions.

Introducing new people to a growing community—especially if they’ll be tasked with leading that community—requires patience, prayer, and personal investment. We’re not just replacing one item on a shelf for another, we’re cultivating ecosystems. While the church, like a pantry, requires organization, it is always an organism before an organization (1 Cor. 12:18). Before placing someone on the pedestal of leadership, proper time should be invested in making sure the candidate is a good fit.

Even a novice fishkeeper knows a lot of thought and intentionality goes into introducing new fish into an aquarium. Is it salt water or fresh water? Is it a predatory species? Aggressive and territorial? What temperature is required for the fish to thrive? These are just a sampling of the sort of questions asked when a fishkeeper increases the population in their aquarium. Disaster ensues if a predator is introduced.

Nat was no predator, but the process of bringing him on board didn’t properly safeguard its people from the possibility that he was. A few communal conversations and the congregation as a whole would’ve had an opportunity to get to know him on the front end instead of chewing up and spitting out one more well-intentioned young leader.

THE PRACTICALITIES

So what does this look like in the real world? It looks like wise shepherding (1 Pet. 5:2). The wise shepherd knows his sheep and knows how to care for them (John 10:27). By all means inspect the character (1 Tim. 3), the calling (1 Tim. 6:12), the competency (Deut. 1:13), and the coachability (2 Tim. 2:2) of your candidates. But go one step further and explore their compatibility with your current church culture.

Ask questions about their philosophy of ministry. Will he micromanage? Is she legalistic? Will he seek to prioritize people and relationships or programs and events? Which of these methods best describes your current church community?

In many cases, a church may be making a new hire because a previous staff person left a void. Are you hoping to see the ministry maintained and continue as is? Or are you hoping to see a change in direction? If the latter, slow way down, communicate to the new candidate exactly where you came from, where you are now, and where you’re hoping to see the ministry go in the future.

Like most situations involving people, Nat’s transition was messy and, at times, confusing. He felt like he failed to meet their expectations. Thanks to vulnerable relationships with others in ministry he was reminded that he was clear and upfront about his goals and vision for the ministry from the beginning. In other words, it wasn’t his failure to deliver, as much as it was their failure to communicate their own expectations and needs.

Let me repeat one last time: patience and prayer is invaluable in hiring outside staff. For their sake and the sake of your congregation. Just like an aquarium, consider giving them (and your people) ample time to acclimate to the water. I know of one pastor who waited eight months from his hire date to relocate to his new church, and as lead pastor, he didn’t preach until two months later! That slow process is much better suited to the aquarium like ecosystems of real people than the stale stock of a pantry. Over a decade later, he’s still serving the same church and both are thriving. If only these stories were more common.

For those on both ends of the church hiring process this sort of deliberate slowing down and open communication is sure to pay huge dividends in the end. Take the time to encourage the folks on both ends to make sure the water is just right before introducing a new species.

Perhaps the greatest irony with Nat’s story is that the analogy of church compatibility that borrows from the world of aquariums as opposed to pantries is one he first heard from the pastor that ultimately ended up terminating him. He could be bitter about this, but instead chose to believe God was teaching him how not to repeat the same mistakes.

There’s a real danger that in treating our churches like pantries we stock the shelves too quickly and end up with some junk food—or worse yet, we mix the metaphor, and introduce a predator—and someone gets consumed.