Tag: Church Issues

Christian Living, Ministry

Worship Followers

Chris

I watched a movie this afternoon about a small military unit trapped under enemy fire. When the officer in charge refused to follow the advice of a subordinate, she soon found herself in the middle of a mutiny. While she regained control of the unit, it wasn’t until after she was wounded, and her most trusted man joined ranks with the mutineers.

Afterwards I was going about my own business, getting ready for work, when my mind started to think about church and other matters floating through my head. (You don’t want to look in there, trust me.) I think that because I’ve been thinking about my next worship leading schedule, my thoughts were suddenly stuck on the worship track. This phrase came to mind, and I think it is something to think about for churches who have more than one worship leader on their teams.

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Christian Living, Ministry

Cheer `Em On

Chris

Isn’t it amazing how, regardless of the location, you rarely find empty seats in an Olympic venue? Here we are, a few days into the 2010 Games, and I can’t help but think of some implications the place we make for the Olympic Games versus some of the other elements of life.

Maybe it’s because football season is over, but do you take notice of the efforts spectators make to cheer on the representatives of their own countries? Thankfully we don’t see much of the shirtless, painted face variety that NFL stadiums attract. We do, however, see country colors, flags, and “official” Olympic gear. We hear chantings, screams of joy, and cow bells. We cheer on our favorite individuals and teams, and at times, we cheer on the other guys, too.

Because of “stuff” going on, I am reminded of a scene from a number of years ago. It holds a special place in my heart. It reminds us that sometimes the cheering of the “crowd” can motivate, encourage and breathe life into those in our church who often go unsung.

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Christian Living

The Right Thing

Chris

What criteria do you use to make decisions? Are they different between issues involving your family, your work life, or church and ministry? Some of us leadership often find ourselves having to make difficult decisions. In reality, the winning argument is often right in front of us. The difficulty is in the follow through, choosing the right path.

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Christian Living

A Sense of Urgency

Chris

When was the last time you were in the store, maybe a department, grocery or convenience store, and thought you’d pick the shortest line so you would have the shortest wait? If you’re like me, you often find yourself wishing you had picked a different line. It seems that whenever we have someplace to go or something to do, and even if we don’t, we tend stand and wait while the person ahead of us counts exact change, has to write out a check, or goes through a couple of different credit cards, all to pay for the three items that you guessed would get him or her through the checkout line in a hurry.

Today I found myself in one of those situations. Just before I started stewing, God reminded me of a truth that I often speak about in ministry and Christian living.

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Book Reviews

Book Review: “Real Church” by Larry Crabb

Chris

I’ve just finished Larry Crabb’s Real Church (Thomas Nelson, 2009). When I found it in the bookstore, I thought, “This sounds like it will encourage my thinking about the Church, modern Christianity, and what it means to be the Body of Christ.” Six weeks later, I realize how right I was, though the book took a far different path than I expected.

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Christian Living, Ministry

Searching for One’s Self – 4

Chris

This should be my last post on the topic of searching for one’s self. Of course, in relation to all of the self-help books, recordings, and seminars, and what seems to me as the obvious struggle to discover who we are and what we’re supposed to be doing, these posts are really just a drop in the bucket. (And you never know when it’ll resurface here.)

Think back to the post 2, where we talked about three traps that we fall into when it comes discovering and becoming who we are meant to be. We talked about how we get stuck by, (1) what we think we should be on account of the input we are constantly receiving, (3) what others think we should be, and (3) what we want others to think about us, true or not.

There’s one other perspective that we haven’t talked about yet that may have come to mind when you read this list. It’s the topic of this post, and you might be surprised by what gets unpacked here.

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