Introducing the New General of The Salvation Army…

I don’t mean to set you up for disappointment here. I am just as curious as you in this process. In just 10 days now those called to the High Council will officially gather. Some have already made the journey are awaiting the start of the High Council. Delegates will consist of our leaders, that much we already know.

Who will be our next General? Will it be a European? Will it be an American, Canadian or South American? Will the next General be from Africa or Asia? Male or Female?

I have been praying for this new leader…have you?

I have been praying for each leader who will be in attendance at the High Council…have you?

It will be a tough office to fill…that much is most definitely true. The international pressures from both position statements and mission within an ever changing culture is certainly mounting.

Here are some truths that I pray our next General will uphold:

1.The inerrancy of scripture.

2. Continuation of the Great Commission in God’s name.

3. Continue to meet human need, not because we’re a social service, but because we serve the Lord and we serve others in His name.

4. Brokering and working with nations to continue to the fight for social justice throughout the world.

5. Growing Saints and Soldiers in our Army…we need more forces for the war ahead.

So who will it be?

Who will our Next General Be?

Here’s my selection…the next General will be…________________________.

Who do you think it will be and why?

http://www.salvationarmy.org/ihq/highcouncil2013

https://s3.amazonaws.com/cache.salvationarmy.org/9e1b9751-2baf-49b4-8d42-a0daf465454b_High+Council+Members.pdf

July 19, 2013 2

July 19, 2013 0

Poem of Death and Life, Darkness and Light.

July 19, 2013 0

July 17, 2013 0

No one likes change.

Don’t believe me? You think you enjoy change? Everyone in one shape or form has a routine and/or a method of doing things. If that routine or method gets altered by anyone other than ones self we automatically become uncomfortable at a rate which matches the degree of change involved.

To illustrate my point, let me tell you a story. It’s a rather sad story but it paints for us an accurate description of what change can do to us and for our need/dependence upon things to remain the same.

A few years ago a nursing home in my local area began to work on a new property that would be eventually replace its existing residential site. This new location would be state of the art and include a lot of the modern day necessities that the old location simply did not have.

After much work, construction and interior decoration the new nursing home was finally completed. As advertised it had all of the new bells and whistles necessary to modernize the facility for years to come. When it came time for the transportation of the senior residence who had lived in the old unit and were now to embark on this relocation, the staff found resistance. They attempted to help the residence adjust to this change by having members of their families assist in the process.

It was tedious and difficult and yet finally all of the senior residence were relocated to the new location. At first all seemed well and the staff began to grow accustomed to their new work stations and surroundings. But over time something truly disturbing began to take place. One at a time many of the ‘original’ residence of the old facility began to pass away.

It might sound like natural causes but what actually took place upon further investigation was that these original residence of the old facility had grown comfortable in their old routines. They were used to each nook and cranny of the old property. Everything was very familiar to them. But when they were relocated to a new building, despite its modern conveniences, they simply could not cope with the change. Because of this change, many of them simply gave up.

It is certainly a sad tale!

I believe that there is a correlation here for us today as well. We may grow accustomed to our lives and routines. We find comfort in some of the mundane things of life. And when change comes we may appear on the outside as accepting, even embracing these changes, but on the inside we find ourselves a little panicked and afraid.

Change is not necessarily bad or evil mind you, and we can eventually adapt to things. But remember that change is an inevitability in this life. Like it or not. There are obviously changes that we welcome in life and then there are changes that we fear and avoid at all costs. When change does come to your door always remember one vital truth: though situations and circumstances change, God never does! Hebrews 13:8 says: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

-Just a thought.

July 17, 2013 0

Lost Passion in Ministry?

There’s an old joke that goes like this:

“A mother went to wake her son for church one Sunday morning. When she knocked on his door, he said, “I’m not going!”

“Why not?” asked his mother.

“I’ll give you two good reasons,” he said. “One, they don’t like me. Two, I don’t like them.”

His mother replied, “I’ll give you two good reasons why YOU WILL go to church. One, you’re 47 years old. Two, you’re the pastor!”

The problem:

There are, in reality, many pastors who feel this way. They’ve either burned themselves out by working long hours, or they have simply lost the passion. When some of us started out as young, vibrant, on fire for God pastors we could do anything! We could face giants if we had to…but little by little over time some of us are at that point where we just can’t seem to go on anymore.

No one enjoys faking it in ministry. No one wants to put up a front in our ministries and pretend it’s alright when at times it’s all wrong. Some pastors will get to the end of their rope and walk away from the ministry, burned out and disillusioned. While some others will hang on at the end of their rope but they are only going through the motions and passion is lost.

Can you identify? Have you been there? Are you there right now? It’s a very uncomfortable place to be indeed! Having no passion to get up in the morning and minister to people that you may find hard to love and lead. Many pastors who are here and try to gut it out by working longer hours and striving harder often find themselves in depression and marital troubles. Why? Because the balance of ministry and family has been altered to over compensate for lack of passion.

How do pastors who are in this situation recover? How do ministry leaders face their flocks when this personal crisis comes along? Some pastors have friends within their congregations but it is often very hard to divulge personal issues with a member of flock. Leaders who go to church goers with their issues can create separate troubles after all. It is very hard to find peers when in a ministry or ‘appointed’ to a location that isn’t home to the pastor in question.

The Solution: (or at least 5 of them)

Steps to Recovering the Passion:

Here are a few suggestions that might help a pastor who is in need of finding their passion and way again:

1. Take Vacation or a Sabbatical:

One of the top reasons pastors find themselves ministering without passion is because they have worked themselves to the bone. Some are working 50 or more hours a week, striving to be ‘Super-Pastor’. This passion over-compensator is very, very common within ministries of all kinds. It’s not that work is to blame, but when one fixates on tasks instead of the purpose of the tasks we polarize our ministries. Getting some perspective, collecting your breath is very important to reclaiming lost passion.

Someone once said that if God rested on the seventh day why do we think that we don’t need rest? And this is true! We as pastors need rest! We can’t work seven days a week and expect to not suffer from burn out or family issues. Ministry is requires a balance of pastoral and personal time and reflection.

Get away. Plan a vacation without cell phone attachments or laptop involvement. Do something that requires you to leave your work at home. Spend time with your family. Focus on improving these vital relationships. Your family is your lifeline and anchor. Without it in your ministry you might float away. Invest in your family by resting together on vacation.

If you are able to and vacation just isn’t enough, ask your church denomination or district for permission to take a sabbatical. Many times a sabbatical lasts between two months and a year. You might laugh at this notion, but which would you rather have a passionless ministry for the rest of your life or a concentrated holiday away for a relatively short period of time?

Rest is a vital component to recovering and reclaiming your lost passion once again.

2. Read

The topics of our reading may vary but here’s an important tip: Read both fiction and non-fiction books. We all need an escape from the tasks of life, and sometimes reading a good fiction novel is a healthy way to take a break. But don’t just stop in the fiction section; move on to challenging yet inspirational nonfiction. There are many theologians and pastors out there that write excellent books for pastoral demographic. Read up on their insights. Take notes, highlight pages, find topics that inspire you. Ask your peers and other pastors for some good books to read. There is even websites now devoted to the recommendation of good reads. Invest some time in reading more. This investment has the potential of reversing the course of a passionless ministry. Obviously don’t forget to consult ‘The Word’ as well in your search for good reads. God’s word can be a salve in times of need and the Lord can speak to us through its reading.

3. Join a Bible Study

Pastors and others in ‘the ministry’ often spend so much time shepherding and tending to the flock that they forget that they themselves have to be fed spiritually. Even Jesus got away from time to time to be fed by His Father in Heaven. Many pastors suffer from burn out and a passionless ministry because they haven’t taken the time to sit under someone else’ ministry. We need to be fed like any other sheep in the pen. Finding time to do this is difficult, of that I know! But when we allow the time to find a fresh source of spiritual nourishment for us, we possibly reinvigorate our passions.

Perhaps there’s a church in your local area that conducts a bible study that fits into your schedule. If nothing fits, then again look at your schedule. Perhaps you’re so consumed with ‘the ministry’ that you are headed down the road of burn out…and that is not healthy! Find the time! Get to a group that you don’t lead!

Another danger in finding a bible study group as pastors is that we can either want to take control or become overly critical of the leader. Be careful you don’t attend an ‘outside’ bible study solely with this attitude of ‘take control’ or ‘criticism’. You will not be fed within this context and you will undoubtedly cause resentment either within yourself or others attending. Instead enter a bible study group under someone else’ leadership with a humble heart and mind and listen for God to instruct you through these lessons or small group ministries. Finding inspiration and passion in ministry has to have a source of fresh water and life, so to speak.

4. Find a Pastor’s Group/Accountability Partner

Don’t pick a friend, or one who will say ‘yes’ to everything to share with them. Find a mentor or another pastor who is possibly longer in the years of ministry than you are. This may not always be the case, but it helps to create a disciple/discipler atmosphere.

Pastoral associations are okay sometimes…other times they run the risk of becoming a gossip group or a whine session. Avoid these scenarios if you desire to restore your passion in the ministry. Find not only one who challenges you but will pray for and with you as well. We need to be challenged and listened to. Being able to share our struggles with some in a confidential setting is also a vital must!

A Pastor usually can’t go to church member with issues. It just doesn’t work. Pastors, don’t neglect your times of being shepherded! Allow others to come along side you in your times of need. Seek out mentors on your own and learn from them. Share and pray together as well.

There are times when pastors possibly need more than mentor as well. Don’t be fearful of finding a counselor or a Christian therapist either. It’s not a sign of weakness to seek out professional help, many people do. Don’t let old stigmas of counseling keep you away from finding help in the midst of depression or other psychological needs!

5. Pray

Do not underestimate the power of prayer in your lives and in your ministries! Prayer shouldn’t be a ‘last resort’ tool, but rather a primary weapon utilized in our daily lives. Jesus prayed. We should also! Remember the only source and power that will keep us going in our ministries is the power of God. In order to be connected to the power daily and even moment by moment we have to be in constant contact with Him through prayer. It’s our conversation and relationship to Him that ought to keep us going; our love and devotion which propels us onward. This Christian life isn’t easy, and when we add the responsibility or leadership to that we find ourselves facing even more challenges.

Don’t live in a passionless ministry! Don’t simply go through the motions when you get burned out or burned up. A passionless ministry usually indicates something in life is either missing or out of place. Face it. Address it. There are obviously more remedies than the five that I’ve listed but begin here, and my prayer for you is that you find your passion once again!

Additional Reads:

http://www.churchleaders.com/youth/youth-leaders-articles/145294-a-leader-in-crisis-i-ve-lost-my-excitement.html

http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2012/spring/losingedge.html

http://www.redpointmag.com/2012/02/28/keeping-your-passion-for-ministry/

http://www.ministryhealth.net/mh_articles/234_twenty-five_ways_passion.html

LOVE THIS SITE:

http://soulcare.com/

And the ministry of Mindy Caliguire

http://www.soulcare.com/bio

July 15, 2013 0

Loss & Resurrection (Poem)

Tears…
The rain falls
To the ground
Pooling
Drowning
Taking our
Breathes away,

Sorrow…
Hearts rending
Holes needing mending
Sending these
Broken pieces
Down
To bleeding sides.

Questions…
No words to fill
Lifeless lamb
Killed for no good reason
This waking season
Bleeding into
These empty graves.

Healing…
Taking time away
Not tomorrow
But today
Praying for direction
While living
In hopes of this
silent
Resurrection.

July 14, 2013 0

Sermon Podcast: “Living Courageously pt.2 – Joshua and the wall”

Joshua 5:13-15 (NIV)
¹³Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” ¹⁴“Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?” ¹⁵The commander of the LORD’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

Sermon Podcast Link:

“Living courageously: Josh and the wall”

Also you can download our podcasts from itunes/podcasts/brainerdcorps

July 14, 2013 0

Real Discipleship, Real Problems…

“Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

Luke 9:23 (NIV)

Discipleship is NOT easy!

When Jesus came to call His disciples he turned tradition on its head. Rabbis didn’t go to their ‘would-be’ disciples. Rabbis waited for the disciples to come to them. Jesus was a revolutionary! Those who actually became disciples of a Rabbi were deemed ‘good enough’. These were the cream of the crop. Those who had studied and excelled at memorizing scripture and also at discerning those scriptures. A disciple would eventually, if things progress as planned, replace the Rabbi. So the disciple would emulate all that the Rabbi did. They would walk as the Rabbi walked. The would speak as the Rabbi spoke. They would apply the same lens and perspective to the Torah that their Rabbi would apply. Being a disciple was not an easy task. Every waking moment was spent living in the shadow of the Rabbi that they followed.

When Jesus came to call His disciples, He called those few individuals who had moved past their formal education in the temple and back to the vocations of their fathers. They weren’t the cream of the crop. They weren’t the best students, and they weren’t deemed worthy to be disciples by other Rabbis. Yet Jesus came to them. That alone should tell us something about Jesus. He came to get them. To call them. His mode of discipleship was vastly different from other teachers. He essentially picked working class people to become his proteges. He was telling them that though they hadn’t been good enough by the ‘professors and scholars’ of the law that they were good enough for the Son of God.

Think of it. Jesus, God’s own Son, tells a group of rough edged fishermen that they were worthy to become like the Christ. How can this be? One who is perfect, who will eventually take upon Himself the sins of the world and die to save mankind says to a group of imperfect, dirty fishermen; “You can be like me“. It blows the mind. It’s not how it is done in Jesus’ world. Yet He does it His way.

There’s a very real application for us today in this. Jesus still calls the ‘unworthy’, and He says to each of us, “You can be like me!” It doesn’t matter where we’ve come from. Or where we’ve been. It doesn’t matter if we even flunked out of school or lived with addictions. Jesus comes to us and tells us that we can be worthy to be like Him. Can you picture that?

Jesus is essentially telling us that no matter how badly we’ve failed in life. No matter how difficult an upbringing we’ve face; no matter what junk we have in our lives that He believes in us. He believes that we can be like Him. Now perhaps some are thinking ‘there’s no way I could be perfect like Jesus.’ And you know what? You would be right. We can’t be perfect in our own power and strength. We can’t be ‘godlike’ in our own good deeds or our goody-two-shoes attitudes. We won’t ever be good enough to be perfect. Yet God in the form of His Holy Spirit wants and can transform us if we let Him.

To be a disciple of Christ we have to decide that not only He is worthy of following but that we are worthy enough to follow Him. This is the real problem of discipleship. Many just don’t believe in themselves. Many have doubts that they are indeed good enough or worthy enough to be called a disciple of Christ. Here’s the solution to that problem: Jesus believes in you! He believes that you can do it! You are worthy of becoming His disciple because He says so.

I’m sure those fishermen on the shores of Galilee had their doubts in themselves too. I’m sure they too felt unworthy. And yet Jesus called them and said, “Come follow me.” Today He still says that to us. The journey will not be easy. Much will be lost along the way, but so much will be gained in following Him. My prayer for all of us is that we begin to realize that Christ believes in us. And because of that we might begin to have confidence in not only Him but ourselves as well.

“He who began a good work in you, will carry it on into completion!” Philippians 1:6

-Just a thought.

July 13, 2013 1

Introducing the New General of The Salvation Army…

Lost Passion in Ministry?

Loss & Resurrection (Poem)

Sermon Podcast: “Living Courageously pt.2 – Joshua and the wall”

Real Discipleship, Real Problems…

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