I Appreciate You, Pastor

I've been a pastor for a little over 16 years. I've told people in the past that I'm a pastor because, 1) I feel I've been called by God to be a pastor and 2) I don't know what else I could do (or would want to do) with my life.

I first served as a pastor in a rather small parish in rural Michigan. A lovely church called Christ Lutheran Church. The people there were very welcoming and the call came with a nice home for my wife and I and our dog Seamus - and a year after we arrived, our first son, Eddie.

After two years there, I received a call to serve as Associate Pastor at a larger church -with a school - in Mayville, Wisconsin. I served under a very experienced Senior Pastor who was soon to retire. It was made clear to me that I would succeed him as Senior Pastor when he retired, and that is what happened two years after I arrived. While there, my wife and I welcomed Kurt and Mark to our family.

After 8 years in Wisconsin, I was called to Southern California and served a similar parish for exactly four years. I was a sole pastor for two years, and a Senior Pastor for two years while in California -with an Associate Pastor of Indonesian Ministry.

A little over a year ago my family and I left California to return to Illinois where I grew up. I was helping out in a local church and within a year was called to be the Assistant Pastor.

I mean no disrespect to the pastors I was privileged to serve with in previous parishes, but for the first time I am serving in a church where I feel that I have a pastor of my own. I was the pastor or on a staff of pastors in previous parishes. But I never really felt that I had a pastor who I could talk with, pray with, and be counseled by, before.

I do now.

Pastor Tim is someone I've known for about 10 years. But now that I am serving in a church with him, I have gotten to know him pretty well.

And I am very glad to call him my pastor.

Pastor Tim prays with me. That's huge. I never realized before just how powerful it is to have a pastor pray with me. I've prayed with people, as their pastor, but I've never prayed with someone who was my pastor (again, no disrespect meant to the pastors I had when I was a young boy and young man).

Pastor Tim also gives me advice. He tells me when I've messed up - in a loving, gentle, but instructive way.

Pastor Tim also teaches me how to be a better man, a better husband, a better father, and a better pastor. He shares with me his own experiences in each of those areas. He gives me "back-up" from God's Word. He administers the Sacrament of Holy Communion and pronounces Holy Absolution when I confess my sins to him.

So, during this month of October - Pastor Appreciation Month - I want my pastor (and you) to know that I appreciate him!

Heavenly Father, we thank you today for your work in creation and the abundant blessings that we have as Your children.

We thank you for the glorious gospel; the gift of your Son Jesus Christ as the one mediator between God and man.

Thank you for the church, the company of the redeemed, and for the local church where believers gather to express their faith and obedience such as we do here at St. Matthew.

Thank you for the gift of pastor, which your Word says you gave to your church "to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:12, 13).

Thank you for Pastor Tim and his faithfulness to your cause, for the Bible says, "it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful" (1 Corinthians 4:2).

Thank you for his personal commitment to Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savoir and to the Word of God.
Thank you for the love he has for his wife and family demonstrating a stable and healthy family.  For the Scripture says of church leadership, "he must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect" (1 Timothy 3:4).

Thank you for his thoughtful exposition of your Word, as he heeds your call to "Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage-with great patience and careful instruction" (2 Timothy 4:2).

Thank you for his leadership in our church services and the orderly manner in which he leads us, seeking to fulfill the Biblical call that "all things be done decently and in order" (1 Corinthians 14:40).

Thank you for his interest in the flock under his care and the burden that he carries for your people.
Thank you for his wife Deb and her compliment to his leadership and her service and thoughtfulness as well.

May you continue to bestow your richest blessing upon this ministry couple as they seek to fulfill their call amongst the people of St. Matthew and thus bring You glory.

In the powerful name of Jesus Christ I pray, AMEN.

Wasteband of Brothers

I read this on the blog:  Some Wise Guy.

It was a guest post from Sonny Lemmons, who’s blog is Looking Through the Windshield.

Thanks to both Sonny – for writing it – and KC – for posting it.

Episode #23 of the Wise Guy Wednesday series features Sonny Lemmons (no, he’s not a bright citrus fruit).

Sonny is a stay-at-home dad, a writer of stuff, a receiver of grace, and a drinker of coffee. His wife Ashley loves him, but has been tempted to yank his boxer briefs straight up to his ears at times.

Disclaimer: I suggest you put down the coffee mug while you read this.

Wasteband of Brothers

We’ve all been there. We’ve seen it played out in a movie, bore witness during the glory that was middle-school gym class, or we may have been the unfortunate recipient of one ourselves (raises hand).

courtesy of Fox

That’s right: I’m talking about the bane of the existence of every prepubescent boy who was a band geek, A/V club member, or who ever played or talked about Magic: The Gathering while at school.

The wedgie.

That snag-and-tug maneuver that helps ensure high school choirs will always have a tenor section.

What’s interesting to note is that while the majority of physical wedgies may cease once all parties are old enough to have a learner’s permit, the spirit of the wedgie echoes on throughout many of our adult lives.

God knows if you put enough men in a closed environment, we will eventually revert to seventh-grade humor, ridiculing one another, throwing down “Yo momma” jokes – all in jest. Until. Until there comes the time when the waistband gets pulled a little too tight and gets looped over our heart.

I’ve been there and done that. I’ve crossed into that realm of Proverbs 26:18-19 where after offending or hurting someone, you try to cover it by saying “I was only joking.” I didn’t mean what I said. I didn’t mean for that to be as offensive as it came across. I didn’t mean to sound racist, sexist, homophobic, or to do or say something that could hurt you or make you stumble.

And certainly not to grieve the Spirit.

Now, this is not to say that we can’t sit around on the couch cracking wise to one another. But as believers, we are called to something more, something bigger. We are called to maintain a heart of Ephesians 5:4 and not get coarse in the course of our fun.

While many of us might not wish to literally greet one another with a hagios, that term for “holy kiss” found in Romans 16:16 refers to us acting to one another with our kiss (or, the administered wedgie) as being consecrated, as in devotion to service of our God. Kissing in spirit, not in actuality.

We can show the world – and make our moms proud – by demonstrating through our actions that our underwear is clean and holy, set apart.

Have you ever been on the receiving end of a wedgie?
Boxers or briefs? Hanes or Fruit of the Loom?

For more from Sonny checkout his blog or follow him on Twitter.

Guest Post: Christian Dealbreakers

I came across this blog post earlier today and it really caught my attention. I wrote to both the author of the post and the author of the blog it was on and they both said I could repost it here.

So here it is.

It was posted here: 

And was written by the author of the blog A Woman’s Guide to Women: A Blog for Men

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Episode #22 of the Wise Guy Wednesday series features Sharideth Smith, a humor writer who mostly ghost writes and has a lot work that appears on e-How.

She’s got two kids and a husband.  All of which she likes most of the time.  You can find her ridiculous advice to single men at A Woman’s Guide to Women: A Blog for Men. I guarantee you’ll laugh out loud and maybe even learn a thing or two.

On my blog I have a series of Relationship Deal Breakers. The idea being there are really very few things that cannot be overcome or compromised on when it comes to keeping a relationship in tact. No, loving vs. hating Good ‘N Plenty’s is not one of them. Though that may require some counseling.

The same is true for our faith and denominational boundaries. My being okay with wearing jeans to church does not negate my salvation even if you think a woman should only wear skirts with Keds and bobby socks. Totally not a deal breaker.

Real deal breakers only include how you define who Jesus is, whether you believe the Bible is that actual word of God and how salvation occurs.

There’s an easy test to figure out if you have crested a hill worth dying on. Ask yourself “Does this change who God is or the role of His Son in my life?” If the answer is no, you do not have a deal breaker. Which is exactly what I told my son when he asked what would happen if we found out aliens were real. Score!

Everything else falls into one or more of these 3 categories:

1. Preference

Skirts vs. my evil pants. Hymns vs. CCM. Cathedral vs. meeting in a bar. Pentecostal vs. would rather eat glass than raise my hands in church. These are preferences. We all have our comfort zones and there is very little more personal than how we choose to approach God. The important thing is that we do approach Him.

2. Discourse

Calvinism vs. Arminianism. Drinking vs. T-Totalling. Old Earth vs. Young Earth.

Democrat vs. Republican. These things are up for discussion. Talking good. Fighting bad. We should have open discourse about anything and everything. Iron sharpens iron and all that. We should constantly be increasing in wisdom and a good way to do that is to have open, non-hostile conversation with those who interpret things differently than we do.

3. Grace

Oh boy. I get in trouble sometimes by reminding my fellow believers that the only people Jesus ever got really mad at and condemned were those who professed piety while sitting in arrogant judgment over others. Yeah. Think about that. He didn’t offer the woman at the well judgment and conditions for His approval. He offered her grace. We need to stop sitting in judgment over those who find their way to Christ differently than we do.

If you ask Christians about who has hurt them most, the majority will point the finger at their brothers and sisters in Christ. How profoundly sad.

How do we fix this? Simple. Always choose to err on the side of Love God and Love Others. If those two things are most important to God, then shouldn’t they also be most important to us? Let everything else fall away like chaff.

Have you ever been judged for worshipping in a certain way or holding to a specific doctrine?

Is there someone you have sat in judgment over who you need to ask forgiveness from?

Would You Give Up Everything?

Image courtesy of
http://www.artrenewal.org

“If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions (Matthew 19:21-22).

Have you ever given any thought as to why Jesus tells us to give up everything to follow Him?

I’ve noticed that not too many Christians actually do this. They say they follow Jesus but they do not give up everything to follow Him. They still hang on to their “stuff” – iPads, iPods, iPhones, Xbox, Lexuses, 3000 square foot houses, yearly trips to the Caribbean, super mega-pixel HDTVs and on and on.

I don’t believe there is anything inherently evil with any of these things. That’s not my point.

My point is a question – one that I ask you and one that I need to find an answer for myself – are you willing to give up all of those things to follow Jesus?

Why did Jesus tell the young man in Matthew 19 to do that? I think the answer is found in the young man’s reaction. He chooses to not follow Jesus because he had “great possessions.” I suppose that could be read a couple of ways. “Great” as in many. Or “great” as in pretty cool stuff.

Why in the world would Jesus do this? Doesn’t Jesus know that He’ll get more followers if He doesn’t put these kinds of restrictions on people? Why would Jesus take such an awful chance of pushing someone away from Him?

I think that Jesus knew exactly what He was doing with this young man. The young man’s possessions were too great – they would get in the way of truly being a follower of Jesus. Jesus must have figured out that if He were to allow this young man to follow Him and keep all or even some of his “great possessions” that there would always be the chance that he would choose to rely on those possessions and not on Jesus.

“Jesus can’t be your all until all you have is Jesus.” – source unknown.

There comes a point – a crucial point – in the lives of everyone who hears the call of Jesus. Will you truly be willing to give up everything to follow Him or not?

Today's blog post comes from Rick Warren, pastor at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. I love the comment about being able to share the Gospel of Jesus with more people today than Billy Graham ever was able to in his lifetime - due to the technology available to us. What do you think? Pastor B. Use Every Available Method to Reach People for Jesus by Rick Warren

I become a servant to everyone so that I can win them to Christ. … Whatever a person is like, I try to find common ground with him so that he will let me tell him about Christ and let Christ save him. I do this to get the Good News to them. (1 Corinthians 9:19-23) Do we care enough about people to do whatever it takes to tell them about Jesus? Paul did. He wrote in 1 Corinthians 9 that he became “a servant to everyone [to] win them to Christ. … Whatever a person is like, I try to find common ground with him so that he will let me tell him about Christ and let Christ save him.” God wants us to love people that much — enough to reach out to them with the gospel in a creative way. We need to use every available method, at every available time, to reach every available person for Jesus Christ.  Creative outreach has been a regular part of what we do at Saddleback Church. A few years ago we began hosting Saddleback Civil Forums at our church on a variety of issues, including HIV, the presidency, and leadership. We’ve had world-class experts (including former presidents and prime ministers) on campus to talk on these important issues. People who wouldn’t have considered showing up at our church for a regular service have showed up for these forums. Why did we do it? We’re willing to do whatever it takes to reach people for Christ. As new technologies (like fax machines, the Internet, iPods and now social media) come along, we’re quick to use them in our ministry at Saddleback. Why? Like Paul, we want to do whatever it takes to tell people about Jesus. Just last week, I baptized a man and his family through a connection I made on Twitter. You might be scared to death to share your faith. You can’t imagine going door-to-door to tell people about Jesus. You don’t have to. Through the Internet, you — sitting at home in your pajamas — can reach more people today than Billy Graham or the Apostle Paul did in their days. You could write a message about the good news, post it through a blog or social media and send it out all over the world. Anyone can do that. Just use the tools you have at your disposal. Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., one of America's largest and most influential churches. Rick is author of the New York Times Best Seller The Purpose Driven Life.  His book, The Purpose Driven Church, was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th century. He is also founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community for pastors. © Copyright 2011 Rick Warren.

Our Blank Page

Image courtesy of Photobucket.com

Today was the first full day of school at Lake Zurich High School.

Yesterday was the actual first day of school, but it was only a half-day. That doesn't really count.

Today, each student and each teacher at the school had an opportunity to "make it count."

The first day of school is like a blank piece of paper and a newly sharpened pencil. So much potential. Nothing is wrong, there are not mistakes made. It is the proverbial "clean slate."

The blank page can be daunting. Like the song lyric says,

The writer stares with glassy eyes
Defies the empty page
His beard is white, his face is lined
And streaked with tears of rage
Thirty years ago, how the words would flow
With passion and precision
But now his mind is dark and dulled
By sickness and indecision

(Neil Peart, Losing It)

The challenge is to not let what has gone before have a negative impact on your "blank page" today. That isn't to say you shouldn't let the past influence your present. I'm not even sure you have a choice in that. But take what you've done (or has been done to you) in the past and use it to make this new, blank day as good as possible.

The first chapter of the New Testament (Matthew Chapter 1) was once a blank page. How St. Matthew decided to fill that page (inspired by the Holy Spirit) is very interesting to me. He fills that first blank page with a list of names - a family tree that begins with Abraham and ends with Jesus. 

In Jesus' past there is a prostitute, a couple of non-Jews, an adulterer, murderer, and several polygamists. 

And yet, despite that "checkered" past, Jesus is the perfect Son of God who lived, died on the cross, and rose again from the dead to save you and me from sin, death, and the power of the devil.

Jesus gives each of us a "blank page" every day. 

When we are sorry (contrite) and repent (change our ways) daily by the power of the Holy Spirit, the sin and our sinful past that filled our lives is gone (drowned and killed). A new person daily emerges and arises to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.

Think and pray about that tonight and see how your "blank page" of tomorrow turns out.

We've Always Done It That Way!

Lutheran are nothing if not traditional. A lot of what we do as Lutherans is because we've always done it that way.

And to some that's a bad thing. But it doesn't have to be! Here's an example from YouthMinistry.com about how doing something more than once can be a positive thing!