Let's raise our expectations of God

It is amazing how much can happen in three months. May was the last time I wrote a blog and it feels like a life time has passed since that day. Since May there has been political unraveling, social chaos, religious unrest and so much more. And in the midst of the all that has unfolded in the world I find myself more confident than ever that God is truly alive. That Jesus is very much making a difference in people's lives. And that God's Kingdom vision is becoming more real each and every day.

You may ask how I can see God's vision coming into reality in the midst of all that is taking place around us. And the answer is quite simple actually. I have come to expect much of God. This is in no way an arrogant expectation rooted in a self-centered desire to have more of myself. But rather, I am learning that my expectations of God's ability to bring his reality into our reality, to make our story apart of his story, to bring peace in the midst of chaos and pain, has greatly increased over these last few months.

There are countless people in the world, both now and in the past, who have accomplished amazing things in God's Kingdom. I think about Tim Keller and what God has done through him in New York and beyond. Or Billy Graham who had a vision of preaching in stadiums around the world. He eventually would preach to nearly 215 million people around the world. On a smaller, but no less significant scale, Elisabeth Elliot was a part of a mission team attempting to make contact with a tribe in Ecuador to preach the gospel. Upon making contact, the tribe killed five of the men on the team, one being Elisabeth's husband. Elisabeth later returned to the tribe who killed her husband, leading many to a relationship with Jesus. I think about people at Ethos who have committed their lives to creating companies, organizations, and ministries that are impacting people all over the world. And it makes me think about my good friends here in Nashville who are impacting their neighborhood with the power and presence of Jesus through consistent service and love.

The thing that all of these people have in common, the ones who have accomplished much in God's Kingdom, is that they expected much of God.

We often allow the limitations of our own reality to dictate our expectations of God's reality. This causes us to have very low expectations of what God will accomplish through us. However, God has never placed His action in the world on the limitations of His people. Rather, He has always placed His action in the world on the unlimited resources of Heaven given through his son Jesus.

This is quite possibly the most important thing we need to fully embrace. Our limitations will never limit the unmatchable resources of Heaven given to Jesus, by God, for the advancement of God's reality into the reality of humanity.

So much of my life has been lived in a reality of low expectation regarding God's action in the world through me. The way I would go about evangelism, ministry, pastoring, or simply any day to day activity, was hindered by my low expectation of who God is. I would try to compensate by doing more and more. By agonizing over how to craft the perfect sermon. I would make the most simple function an effort in futility because I felt like I needed to move it forward with my own strength.

What I have been learning over the past few months is that a low expectation of God typically leads to a high expectation of self. When we lower our vision of God and his action in the world we tend to raise our own ability, which always leads to frustration, burnout, and typically little fruit.

However, the more we raise our expectation of God the more simple our job becomes. Our preaching becomes about pointing people to the story of Jesus, knowing that people's acceptance of that story rests in God's hands, not mine. Our words in pastoring, in ministry, become fewer as we allow God's presence to soak into people's hearts rather than a beautifully crafted argument. We begin to have peace in our day to day lives because we realize that the transformation of neighborhoods and communities is not dependent on me alone, but rather, on the resources of Heaven being used by Jesus through me. It becomes about simply putting ourselves into the path of humanity and allowing the best of God within us to be given to the people around us.

As Laura and I work to build a foundation for our church that will be planted in Seattle, we are beginning to raise our expectations of what God will do in that city through us. But not simply Seattle, we are raising our expectation of how God will use Ethos to be a part of His work in Seattle as well. We are raising our expectation of how God will bring gifted people together to move with us to plant this church he is building. We are raising our expectation of God's ability to break through the barriers that a culture like Seattle has built to keep God out. We are raising our expectation of God to awaken an entire city to the Covenant he is inviting them into. We believe that God is planting a Kingdom seed in the heart of an entire city to one day rise up and be a catalyst for the redemption of the world. We believe God will release hearts that are captive. That he will bring peace to the hurting, to those whose lives have buckled under the pressure and oppression of life. And that he will reveal His word to be true, relevant to raise people's lives to freedom, and create the kind of community that attracts the world to it.

This is our expectation of what God will do through us in Seattle. There is no way we will ever accomplish this on our own. Praise God that His Kingdom is in no way contingent upon my abilities. But through Jesus in me I believe God will do more than I could ever ask or imagine.

Do have low expectations of God? Raise your expectations of God and watch as the majesty of his presence begins to shape the world around you into the world he imagines it to be.

Celebrating My Brother: 4 Years Later

I have often thought of myself as someone who is forward thinking and does not spend huge amounts of time looking back. Looking back can cause nostalgia which is not bad unless you live the entirety of your life wishing you could relive past experiences. Forward thinking people are always looking at how past experiences will shape their future. This is how I have tried to view my life experience, as limited as it may be at 28 years old. The things that have happened in my life up to this point should help propel me into the person that I am daily becoming.

Often when people look at their lives they tend to view their personal experience two ways: Resentment or celebration. We celebrate the day we were born or an anniversary because those life experiences caused joy. We tend to resent the moment where we lost a job or where we got into a car wreck because these moments caused pain.

So, today, this week, and really for the last four years, I have been asking myself a question. What do we do with death? Is it a celebration or resentment moment?

Four years ago, this weekend, my brother died. I have literally been in a fire that consumed my body, and yet the pain that I felt when my brother died went far beyond that day in the fire. I never wanted to be the person who wrote publicly about my brothers death because I didn't want that attention on myself. But the past year has shaped how I am perceiving this moment in my life and I must share.

Did you know that resentment will harden your heart. If you resent your neighbor because of a wrong they caused, your heart will be hardened and forgiveness will never be a reality. If you resent your boss your heart will be hardened to him as he leads. If you resent people who resent you then reconciliation will never happen. If you resent Jesus then peace will not take place.

I did not realize until this year how much I resented my brother dying. And in my shame it has caused my heart to remain in a place of brokenness that I have, until this moment, been unable to speak of. I have blamed God for so much and have not understood how it has effected every aspect of my life. My unwillingness to move beyond feelings of resentment have caused my heart to harden in ways that I am only now becoming aware.

See, resentment causes us to cling to our failures and disappointments. It causes shame. It causes pain. It causes us to say things like, "I should have done more." Or, "What if I had done 'this' differently? Then maybe it would be different now." And let me say with confidence and truth...resentment is not from God.

I didn't realize until this year that resentment is from Satan. And he is a master at using it to hold our hearts captive to the pain it causes.

But I have heard a sound, coming on the wind. Changing hearts and minds. Healing brokenness. And his name is Jesus.

Did you know there is a power greater than death? You thought that death was the thing that halts everything didn't you? Not true. There is a power that death cannot stop.

I am a life long believer in Jesus and I am only now beginning to comprehend the power of his Resurrection. Did you know that Jesus' resurrection gives us the freedom to look at our lives through the lens of Celebration? Its true! We no longer have to look at our story with resentment and pain. I am finally freed from the resentment my heart has been clinging to since my brother died. You wanna know why? Because there will come a day when I will get to see him again. And that is something to celebrate.

Three years ago Laura and I chose that when the anniversary of James' death came around we were going to celebrate his life rather than mourn his death. Every year this day would come and go without much celebration. Certainly we would talk about James. We would make ourselves feel like we were celebrating his memory. But my heart wouldn't allow me to fully celebrate. I was only able to fake celebration.

But here we are...just days away from that day that has been etched in our hearts. And I am finally free. Finally ready to celebrate the difficult, messy, strange, beautiful and crazy life my brother lived. See, I don't have to sugar coat his life. There were ugly moments. And there were unbelievably beautiful moments. But never again will I let this day scar my heart. The brokenness I felt is being pieced back together because I have a savior who has conquered the thing I feared the most. Death no longer has a victory in my life. Death no longer carries a sting. And that is something to celebrate!

Lessons From Leading Leaders

I am consistently blown away by people's ability to lead when they are given the opportunity, space, and freedom to do so. Over the past nine months Laura and I have had the great privilege of leading a group of thirteen House Church leaders. It has been a humbling experience as these leaders are incredibly gifted, talented, and fully engaged in God's Kingdom. And while I am sure these leaders learned some good things from us, I am certain that we learned far more from them. 

As the House Church season comes to end at Ethos I thought it would be fitting to share some leadership lessons that we learned along the way. Some of the lessons were learned from trial and error while others were learned because God has a way of using the people around us to teach us important lessons. This House Church season has been one of the most rewarding experiences we have had in ministry. I hope you enjoy reading these as much as we enjoyed discovering them. 

1. Leadership is Unique to the individual (or couple)-Helping leaders find their style is crucial.

Many people who have the ability to lead never try because of the perception that they will not fit the "mold" of a leader. Too often we have created prescribed leadership styles that people must fit into before they are allowed to lead. Not only does this limit who can lead, it also vastly limits what God can and will do through people who are given the chance to lead. 

This means that as we search for potential leaders, we must first break down the stereotypes surrounding Kingdom leadership. Lack of knowledge is one reason people give for not leading. This implies that a stereotype has been created that says people must have a certain education level if they want to lead. Stripping leadership of these types of stereotypes is important in allowing people to search within themselves to discern the ways in which God has gifted them to lead. 

God has infused all of us with gifts and passions that are meant to be used in all aspects of our lives. Helping people understand their giftedness and passions is crucial to opening up the vast possibilities of their leadership potential. When people realize that there is not a universal leadership style but rather leadership is birthed out of personality, giftedness, passions, hopes, dreams, and more, then they are freed to lead how God created them to do so. 

We have a couple in our Regional House Church (group of 13 House Church leaders) who have the gift of creating community, hospitality, and relationships. These gifts lined up with their passion for their neighbors who do not know Jesus has created a House Church fully committed to living life in a community of faith. Their House Church looks very different from others because they are leading out of who God created them to be. 

2. As a leader of leaders I must be able to cast a vision that we as a team can move toward.

I remember the initial feeling of intimidation when asked to lead a group of leaders. The intimidation only increased when I realized just how talented our leaders were. I knew I had to create a big vision for our Regional House Church if I was going to have anything to offer. I began praying asking God to give me a vision of what he wanted our House Churches to accomplish this year. Laura and I began discussing all that we thought God could accomplish through us as a body of 13 House Churches. Our imaginations ran wild as we began to see God creating a vision for us. 

But I knew that if I tried to lead a group of highly motivated individuals without a vision I would rapidly lose people's attention and commitment. So in our first Regional House Church meeting we began to cast a vision of a region of House Churches that were intimately connected to serving our city in big ways. We began sharing a vision of thousands of homeless being served and cared for through our Regional House Church. We shared a big vision and then moved into a time of helping them cast vision for their groups. 

Learning how to cast vision has been an amazing experience. It has enabled us to lead on another level than we had previously led. 

3. Leading leaders is a lot about helping them cast vision and holding them accountable to their vision.

Once we shared our vision we knew it was important to help them cast vision for their individual House Churches. We asked them to share their passions, the things that got them excited about life, the areas they felt gifted in, and from that to begin to see the vision God had instilled in them for their House Church. 

It was a fun evening for Laura and I as we shared our passions with our leaders and they shared their passions with us. It helped us focus in our vision for the entire group. We took the visions they cast for their House Churches and began to focus our big vision based on theirs. And once they had established the vision for their individual House Churches it was our job to help them keep working toward it with intentionality and purpose. 

4. Give them space, freedom and constant encouragement through prayer and personal connection.

One of the most important things we have learned is the importance of offering people the space for innovation and showering them in constant encouragement, prayer and personal connection. 

I think my favorite part of leading leaders is watching what happens after a vision has been cast and the space to innovate and create is given. It is amazing to see how people use their giftedness, passions, and personality to create amazing ways to build community, reach the lost, and serve the city. The ceiling on people's leadership is only limited when we squeeze them into a cookie cutter formula for leading. But when we remove the preconceived formula the ceiling seems to be limitless. When we allow people the space to innovate and create in their leadership sometimes they fail. But a lot of the time they do things we never thought possible. And all along the way we shower them in prayer, encouragement, and personal connection. 

These last nine months have been some of the most enjoyable months in ministry for us. What a blessing it is to live out the community that scripture talks of. We have learned so much from our House Church leaders this year that it is hard to capture everything in one blog post. The list above are just four areas where we learned a great deal. Each has a massive web of smaller lessons we learned about leadership which are too extensive to put in a list. But these capture the big nuggets we are taking away from this experience. What a joy and blessing it has been to be a part of God's work in Nashville with these gifted and talented leaders. 

To know Jesus or know About him. That is the Question.

Do you know Jesus or know about Jesus? Think about that question for a minute. I recently read an article where this question was posed and it had one of those impacts that makes you hate having spent the time reading. It forced me to look at my own relationship with Jesus to determine if I was falling for the lie that simply knowing about him would be enough. Have you been there? Have you found yourself saying that if you knew more about God then you would....be a better Christian, have your life together, live the way you are supposed to, etc?

This seems to be one of Satan's most effective lies he tells Christ followers. He tells us, "You don't know enough...and since you don't know enough, don't bother with it?" It causes doubt to arise which paralyzes people's ability to actively pursue what they do know about God. And Satan has done a masterful job of infiltrating the church with this subtle, but dangerous, lie.

So what is the difference between knowing God and knowing about God? Simply put, knowing about God is passive and does not require action. Truly knowing God requires action.

The last two weeks at Ethos we have been working through Jesus' initial calling of the disciples. It is striking that in both Matthew and Luke Jesus enters into the rhythm of Peter's life and immediately calls him into significant, transformative action. Luke describes a scene where Peter and Andrew had been fishing all night with nothing to show from their effort. Jesus approaches and immediately begins calling them into action. He first tells them to put out into water to cast their nets again. He then called them into an intentional life of following where he leads. Alternatively, Matthew's gospel portrays Jesus approaching Peter and simply saying, "Come, follow me."

Both times Jesus calls them to immediate action and as a result of their obedience to this call Jesus would make them into something that they were unable to become on their own. Both Matthew and Luke give a glimpse into the difference between knowing about God and knowing God. Truly knowing God implies obedience on our part which leads to our transformation at the will and power of Jesus. Knowing about God puts control in our hands and puts our transformation on our own might.

Imagine what would have happened had Peter and Andrew responded to Jesus by saying, "Jesus, I know you are asking me to follow you but first I would like to take a class or read a book which explains what it means to follow you."

I interact with a lot of people who tell me they wished they knew more about God so they can believe in him. It takes all of about 10 minutes to uncover the reality behind this kind of comment. And most of the time what they are actually saying is..."I am often made to feel bad that I don't know more about God. People at church know so much about God and make me feel inadequate because I don't know what ecclesiology, Christology, or eschatology mean. When I go to church I feel like there is a standard level of education which must be achieved before I will be fully accepted in." And as I listen to these people tell me story after story of their church experience I am drawn to the conclusion that a lot of us have misplaced the emphasis of our spiritual journey on how much we know about God. This misplaced emphasis has then created a false standard by which we measure people's abilities to enter into God's Kingdom.

Now, certainly, knowing about God is incredibly important. However, knowing about someone or something does not necessarily create a genuine lasting relationship.

Isn't this true with our dating relationships? I remember longing to be near Laura all the time when we were dating. All I cared about was being close to her. And as we grew closer and closer together we began to learn everything about each other. Now, having been married for 7 years, I know a great deal about my wife and the longing to be near her has only grown. This is typically how relationships are built. We see someone we are interested in and all we want is to be close to them. To be near them. And as the closeness grows, so grows our knowledge about personality, family history, likes and dislikes. There are few relationships, that I can think of, that are started by each person first knowing everything there is to know about the other person. Not even websites like E-Harmony can help you know everything about a person. All E-harmony does is give enough information about a person to peek interest. Then closeness and intimacy are required for learning everything else.

And this is exactly what Jesus is doing as he calls his first disciples to follow him. He enters into the natural rhythms of their lives and says, "Come, follow me. And I will make you into something that you could never accomplish on your own. Leave everything where it is and enter into this adventuress life I have planned for you."

It is amazing that Peter, Andrew, James and John didn't ask for Jesus' life story. They knew some about Jesus because he had just been at Peter's mother-in-law's house in Luke 4. However, these men saw the majesty of Jesus and it was enough for them to leave their lives behind to follow him with complete trust and faith. And since we have the rest of the Gospels, we get to see how the disciples constantly struggled to understand Jesus. It was truly a journey of discovering who Jesus was. But knowledge about Jesus came as their relationship grew closer and closer. And Jesus fulfilled his promise to them by transforming them into men who would spend their lives liberating men and women into the Kingdom of God.

Jesus never asked Peter and the others to "Go, read and learn about me and then you will be ready." He said, "Come, follow me. And I will make..." This part is really important because it is the crux of the whole matter. For much of my spiritual journey I was desperately clinging to a false reality that I could control how spiritual I was and how much God would use me. I had an idea of who I thought God should make me into and I was trying to get there on my own. I had studied, learned everything I needed to know in order to teach good classes, preach good sermons, and even lead a church if I wanted. But I was constantly met with frustration and bitterness because I was left feeling empty. And there are times where this is something I still struggle with. And let's be real...I know a lot of you struggle with this too. But there comes a moment where we begin to see Jesus for who he really is and we once again hear his calling in our lives. A calling not to know more about him, but rather a calling to actually know him in a way where we are willing to leave everything behind to follow him.

What do you need to leave behind in order to follow him? This is a question we all have to ask if we are going to actively participate in following Jesus. For me...I am choosing to leave behind the belief that if I know more about Jesus then I can somehow transform myself into his image. It can't be done. How freeing it is to follow Jesus and trust that he will do what he says he will do. He will transform me and he will make me a fisher of men!
Does this mean I will stop reading my Bible or studying to learn about Jesus? Of course not. Quite the contrary. But my study, prayer, Bible reading will be grounded in the desire to be close to my Savior. To hear his voice and to follow where he is leading. It is a change of posture from one of feeling entitled to be used by God because I know about him, to one where it is my daily goal to be in his presence because I simply love him. It is viewing my spiritual journey as a relationship and not a means to achieve a goal.

So let me ask the question again. Do you know Jesus? Or do you just know about him? I pray that we become a people who seek to know Jesus and through that intimacy with him, we will know more about him. I pray that we become a Kingdom of churches that is more interested in people knowing Jesus so they can follow him in this adventurous life he is calling us into. Knowing about him is simply not enough.

"He is Faithful"

Music has a way of breaking through all of the externals of life (job, family, finances, friends, sports, etc.), penetrating deep into the inner most parts of our soul, where the essence of who we are is most vibrant and alive. Watching the world move through the day is proof enough of this truth. How often do you see people connected to iphones bobbin their heads to the newest bands? How often do you have Spotify, Pandora or iTunes open at your home, work or car rockin out to the Beatles, Reliant K, or the music from the movie Frozen? The music we listen to has the ability to cut down deep inside us. It moves through all the baggage of life and, for a moment, allows us to see deep inside ourselves. Some of us use music to numb the outside world while some use music to fully embrace and experience the world around us. For some music makes you feel alive and gives you purpose and desire. While for others music brings focus, continuity and clarity. The endless ways that people engage music and allow it to connect deep within them is further evidence of the immense power music has to impact our lives in both big and small ways.

This is why I value, so deeply, music that is embedded with the truths of God. If you believe scripture speaks truth then you have to believe in the power that God has infused into this book we call the Bible. Hebrews 4:12 says the Bible is alive and active. It is a double-edge sword capable of penetrating deep into the soul of humanity. Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3:16 that all of the Bible contains the breath of God, the literal life giving breath of the creator of the world. It has the ability to not only let us see deep into the heart of God, but to enter it as well. Because the heart of God is what gives it life...not the words themselves. Scripture speaks the truths of God and when music and the truths of God converge, beautiful things can happen.

The beauty of music embedded with God's words is that it allows the heart of God to penetrate deep within us in a unique way. Music is not the only way God's heart infiltrates ours, but it is one way. And it is a powerful way. This is why the Psalms are such an important part of the Bible. They are a collection of songs that proclaim deep truths of who God is. The music of the Psalms carried with them the life giving breath of the living God which would penetrate through the brokenness of life and penetrate deep within the hearts of the people.

I have to admit, Sunday is my favorite day of the week. I love being with people who love God and are hungry for his presence. But my favorite part of each Sunday is when we sing songs together. The room is filled with people, all at different stages on their faith journey. But something about singing songs embedded with the words of God, the truths of God, allows all of us to stand beyond where we are individually on our own faith journey and have the living breath of God's word infiltrate our hearts, together. God's story begins to break through our collective baggage and work into our hearts, changing us From the Inside Out (great song by the way!)

Lately, I have been touched by one particular song that we have been singing at Ethos. The song is called "He is Faithful," and sounds like this. The lyrics are as follows:

I have heard a sound coming on the wind
Changing hearts and mind, healing brokenness
I feel a generation breaking through despair
I hear a generation full of faith, declare

And our song it will be 
Out of the darkness we will rise and sing

He is faithful, He is glorious
He is Jesus, all my hope is in Him
He is freedom, He is healing right now
He is hope and joy, love and peace and life

I have seen a light like the break of dawn
Giving blind men sight and letting lame men walk
I see a generation with resurrection life
We are a generation filled with the power of Christ

He has paid the highest price
He has proven His great love for us
We will praise Him with our lives
And proclaim our love for Him

The beauty of this song is found not in the melody but in the power of its truths that are able to break through the baggage of life and speak directly to who we are as a culture. Just think about the world around you. I look around me and I see a world living in the depths of despair. There is a catastrophic void that our world has fallen into. God has been pushed to the fringes of society and culture. Barriers have been set that are constantly being reinforced by the unbelief and denial of Christ.

But is that really all you see? We all have the ability to see things the way they are. But what if we began to see things the way they could be? What would happen if, when we looked at the world around us, instead of seeing despair we saw generations of people breaking through despair?

Several weeks back we had our 5th birthday at Ethos. We met in the arena on Lipscomb's campus. There were nearly 2500 people there that day. It was a wonderful Sunday worshiping God and witnessing people give their lives over to Jesus in baptism. But the moment that broke me the most was when 2500 people began singing this song together. In one voice they were proclaiming that they, as a generation, had broken through the grips of despair and unbelief and were living in the truth and reality of Jesus love and character. In one moment an entire church proclaimed that the externals of life would not define who they were on the inside. That Jesus would be the defining character, the power that would redeem who they were and where they were in life.

In that moment the vision for our church plant came into focus. Seattle is a place filled with despair and brokenness. But I hear a sound coming on the wind. It is changing hearts and minds. It will heal brokenness. And I feel a generation poised and ready to break through the despair and begin to proclaim that Jesus is Lord.

This is what God has called me to. This is why I plant churches!