Somewhere in the long line of Christian bookstores and greeting card shops, someone looked for another way to sell knick-knacks and gew-gaws and cards with syrupy sayings. And so were invented special days like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Grandparents’ Day. These are all good, and we ought to honor those on their respective days as a token of how we honor them throughout the year.

In the search for another way to sell a card, the researchers said, “Americans ought to love their pastors, and show it.” And so was born Pastor Appreciation Month (celebrated in our part of Christendom in the month of October).

The actual development of this time set aside for church-goers to tangibly display their appreciation and love for their pastors is unknown to me, and to move away from the more cynical tone which casts aspersions on the motives of those who give gifts to their pastors during this time, I would like you, my readers, to know that I have been the recipient of an outpouring of gratitude this very day.

On a table in the foyer of our church, members piled cans and bottles of that elixer of life, Dr Pepper, mixed with sweets of all sorts and cards and cash to let me know they care. I wish to make it also known that the members of the church where I am blessed to be the undershepherd are not in the habit of waiting for special occasions to express their appreciation. Periodically during the course of the year (holidays and non-special times alike) I find cards, or gifts directed my way. Sometimes from a known source and many times anonymously. And so I humbly utter, “Thank you” to them all for their support and their special efforts that bless both me and my family week in and week out.

If you are a member of our congregation, “Thanks.”

If you attend another local church, there’s still time in the month to shower your shepherd with love.

Blessings on you all.

Coming off of a fast-paced summer has always been part of my ministry experience–from youth ministry, to missions, to serving the church as pastor. This year has been no different.  We hit the ground running by taking a “vacation” in late June to help celebrate my parents 50th (congrats again, mom and dad), followed almost immediately with a gruelling, but energizing, week of Vacation Bible School; then a mission trip to Madison, WI, where our work was not exactly as we expected (for the uninitiated, this is common when taking mission trips). The Blushing Bride and I were ready for a moment of pause, a rest.

We knew ministry was like this when we started. We both grew in preachers’ homes. So, we purposefully scheduled a retreat with Shepherds’ Haven of Rest (SHOR) Ministries. We’d been looking forward to it for nearly a year now. Before I describe the days with SHOR, let me point you to Paul Littleton’s post that highlights the need for this ministry to exist.

So, here’s the scoop. About 8 years ago, Charlie and Suzanne Grigsby (Charlie was the Bride’s pastor when we got married), stepped out on an endeavor to “keep healthy pastors healthy.” What they discovered in the process of the first year or two was the kind of hurt that leads to the statistics Paul is quoting. And so was born SHOR Ministries. Through this venue, the Grigsbies (along with partners in the ministry) have been conducting approximately 20 (give or take) retreats of 3 to 5 days a year.

The week before my 46th birthday, grandparents took our three offspring and kept them at a condo (thanks again Mom & Dad) while the Blushing Bride and I hustled off to a serene setting to unwind.

Here’s what we encountered: four other couples (a total of five pastors and their wives) in a luxurious setting overlooking Table Rock Lake (just outside of Branson, MO), and our hosts (the Grigsbies) ready to serve us. Our responsibilities for the week: 1) find childcare so we could attend, 2) provide our own transportation, 3) relax.

Here’s the catch — participants were asked to enjoy the evening meal (served around 6:00 each evening) with each other, fellowshiping around the table, AND set aside about one hour (it turned into a bit longer, especially since we had a connection with our hosts) during the week to visit with Charlie and Suzanne and allow them to pray for us. All lodging — we spent the week sleeping in a bed that sported Wayne Newton’s headboard — and meals were provided, without charge. There was no set agenda, there was not special “teaching time”.

I got to spend some special time with my Bride, was able to begin work on a fiction that I’ve been trying to start for almost two years, and just plain refresh.

If you are a pastor/minister, I would suggest that you would do a great service for your spouse, your family, and your church by signing up for an upcoming retreat (space is limited at each of their locations — five couples was the limit at the house in Branson that used to be owned by Wayne Newton). If you are a conscientious church member, you should suggest such a retreat for your pastor.  I cannot emphasize any more enthusiastically that taking a retreat that takes you away from doing ministry or learning about the latest ministry techniques is just what is needed in a climate that chews up preachers and spits them out.

Several years ago a group of young(ish) Southern Baptist pastors/leaders got together to use the new(ish) technology of the blogosphere to voice concerns about the SBC. Certainly they were able to raise the bar on how Christ followers think about affecting our world. That project took some twists and turns that made it become, well, “ish”.

So they moved on, stepping back from the political fray that is the SBC but keeping a presence in the blogosphere. Some of these guys I know personally, and others have become my friends through the electronic medium. All of them have forced me to think about my faith and the practice of it. And now it’s time for their collective missional voice to try to challenge our thinking once again.

I for one will be trying to keep up, and you can too by clicking over to MissioScapes.com. I will not guarantee that you will always agree with what is proposed there. I will not guarantee that you will even want to read what they have to say. I will promise you that you will be forced to think about what you believe. And maybe you’ll be challenged to grow.

Joe Ball at Despising None is urging Baptists to take a long look at how we act. I think this one is worth your time (it won’t take much).

HT: Art Rogers

[Here's a re-post from my other blog, just to make sure I hit all the readers out there]

I just received word from Lulu.com that my sermon collection, So, This Is Church, has been selected for listing in their new Amazon Marketplace program. What this means is that I’ll get a little more exposure for that particular title, and perhaps more sales.

For the uninformed, So, This Is Church is a collection of sermons dealing with foundational issues of the local church and her practices. Chapters deal with the Foundation of the Church itself (Christ and His gospel), worship, evangelism, fellowship, and the like. Interested? Hop on over to Amazon.com and take a gander.

Issues with the program include a price hike to accommodate Amazon’s cut and still ensure Lulu gets theirs and they can still produce the book with a tad leftover for me (the author/publisher). If you want the best price on the book, purchase it at my Lulu.com store. And have a great day.

Pre-apology: Today’s post is pure rant–so, I apologize before I begin. Even so, I hope to achieve several objectives with this post:

1. Get it off my chest (once in awhile you just need to vent)
2. Introduce a series that will be actually more pertinent to this venue (so stay tuned)
3. Spark a conversation about the ethical behavior that is prevalent in our culture today.

And now, without further ado, LET THE RANTING BEGIN

In recent days, I have become more and more disgruntled with the common practice in the workplace–namely the advertising of a job, interviewing of hopefuls, then disposing of those hopefuls as if they are little more than yesterday’s refuse. The problem is that there never really was a position to begin with; yes, the position was there, but the person to fill the position had been chosen.

Part of the problem is the legal issue involved. In order for an employer to maintain “equal opportunity employment” status, they must advertise the job opening as if it is open. If said employer advertises an opening, they must then interview possible employees in order to give the appearance of actually considering people for the job.

Here’s the part I take issue with: the employer has already decided to offer the job to a particular party, but they go through the motions of interview, just for appearance’s sake. Then following the interview process all but the already chosen person receive a letter or phone call, “Thanks for your interest, but we’ve decided to go a different way.”

Granted, this description does not apply to ALL interviewers, but I see it happening more and more. My question then is this: If you have already decided on a candidate, is it really “fair practice” to interview others at all?

If I were on the prowl for a job (especially in this day when people are honestly looking for honest work), then found out that a position that I applied for and was interviewed for, had been awarded (in actuality) a week before my scheduled interview, I would be truly and utterly miffed. 

One person suggested to me, as I was waxing eloquent about this very subject, that interviewing well was good practice anyway. Perhaps when another position was available, you will be the first on the list of those considered. I, however, would like to know ahead of time if I really have a chance with the position or not. I would like to think that when the prospective employer called me for an interview, I really was being considered. My hypothetical self thinks that when I am called to set up an interview I would ask, “Is this a real interview? or are you just putting up the appearance of interviewing even though I won’t even remotely be considered because you’ve already awarded the job?” In other words, are you just wasting my time sending me on the emotional roller coaster of I think I did really well on this interview, I think I got the job, sorry but we went another direction (before we interviewed you) but thanks for playing our game. Of course, if I asked such a question I would destroy all possibility of a real position that might be out there.

I’m not referring to the common practice of cattle-call type interviewing where prospects are narrowed down through the process of interview and one finally is awarded the position. What I’m talking about is the growing practice of deciding on a person to fill the position, then going through the interview process knowing full well that you have already awarded the position and all other candidates are really not candidates at all. There is just something dishonest at the base of this practice.

Is it just me, or have we become increasingly dishonest in the way we approach one another?

Tony Kummer has developed another great idea. He’s the brain-power behind sites like SBC Voices and Devotional Christian. He has now birthed another brain-child called My Christian Blogs. It seems to be another clearinghouse site to feed the need for Christian thought. You’ll find feed from a variety of Christian bloggers such as Tim Challies and Al Mohler, as well as Internet Monk.

Why am I telling you all this? For two reasons: (1) It’s just nice to have another place to find “one stop shopping” when you’re looking for all that’s going on in the world of C’hristian thought. (2) I’m hoping to re-charge my blogging batteries and be a bit more disciplined about posting here. I need to think more, journal more, and converse more with those who can teach me. So check out My Christian Blogs; official “launch” details this summer.

Tony Kummer has started yet another informational site in the blogosphere. The new one is devoted to devotions. He links everything from “My Utmost for His Highest” and “Our Daily Bread” to video clips from Billy Graham and others. Check it out at Devotional Christian.

Lost and Found – Ed Stetzer, Richie Stanley, & Jason Hayes

©2009 B&H, Nashville

As much as I hate reading statistics and as hard as it is for me to search through research, I have been looking forward to this report/book for several months. Ed Stetzer and the guys over at LifeWay Research have been working on this compilation for a few years. The result is more examination of how to reach the younger generations. Lost and Found walks pretty much hand in hand with books like Simple Church (B&H, 2006), Essential Church (B&H, 2008), and UnChristian (Baker, 2007).

Divided into three parts, the authors use their research to introduce us to (1)what the younger generation looks like [younger generation is defined as the twenty-something crowd of which many have been identified as unchurched or even de-churched], (2)the mainstays (four pillars) of what it takes to reach this generation, and finally (3)a survey of the commonalities among the churches that are in fact reaching this generation.

Part I is filled with charts and graphs and tables and statistician-speak that is always difficult to muddle through for readers like me. However, this is the necessary groundwork from which the observations and suggestions throughout the book are drawn.

Part II is more interpretive and is built on the part of the research where all the responses to questionnaires are piled up in stacks of post-it note madness, reducing said responses to categories represented by a few key images (the graphics for these post-it mountains/key image categorizations is cool). The four areas discovered during the interview process that are important to younger adults (both within and outside of the church) as identified by the research team were Community, Depth (and content), Responsibility, and (Cross-Generational) Connection.

An interesting inclusion in the book is the on-going story of four representative twenty-somethings. The reader will find the fictional representation of how this research is lived out every day at the end of each chapter in parts I and II. I liked this part of the book because the fictional representatives of five different kinds of young adults helped to put some flesh on what goes on in the minds of those who participated in the research. The only glimpse of the characters outside of the first two parts of the book is the challenging conclusion that is in the (what else) conclusion.

Part III focuses on the churches that are getting it right as far as the younger adult generation is concerned. Mountains of interviews and reading are reflected in this section that identifies nine common traits found in those churches that are actually reaching this younger set of adults (creating deeper community, making a difference through service, experiencing worship, conversing the content, leveraging technology, building cross-generational relationships, moving toward authenticity, leading by transparency, and leading by team).

There are several bits of useful information in the book and some helpful hints as to how to build (or re-organize) your ministry to reach a generation that is quickly turning away from the church. One of the better moments is found about halfway through the book as the authors talk about the importance of building community. They suggest that churches should move from a behave/believe/belong model (which currently characterizes a majority of churches in America) to a belong/believe/become model. The former expects unchurched people to behave in the right manner before we even allow them in the doors of our space, then we teach them how to believe and finally we are free to invite them to belong to our number. The latter model suggests that we welcome people in (as they are) to then learn what we believe and then become with us as we learn to be more like Christ. (see pages 83 & 84).

I would recommend this book to anyone who is still trying to get a handle on the new generation. Those who are already getting it won’t benefit too much from this book except to validate what they are already doing.

I give Lost and Found 4 out of 5 reading glasses.

—Benjamin Potter, March 12, 2009

You’ve seen the news already. Sunday, tragedy struck in the form of a mad gunman. A church was devastated, a family ripped asunder, and still God can be glorified. In the midst of the ocean of prayers lifted up in behalf of First Baptist Church of Maryville (just down the road from us) and the family of Fred Winters, I raised the question “What do you say when there’s nothing to say?”

Today I want to pose an even more pertinent question: What do you do in light of faith?

Fred Winters (others would be much more qualified to eulogize him than I) was a man of great faith. He lived his life as the pastor of a church, the husband of a wife, and the father of two girls, in such a way that his faith was evident. Without having known him personally, I stand back and see the fruit of his life knowing that he walked with Jesus. So, how do you honor his memory? How can you let your faith be evident?

This morning I heard at least part of an answer. FBC Maryville was slated to host one of the concerts involved with the “Opening Act” contest sponsored by our local/regional Christian Radio Station. It seems that WIBI and the church have been in dialogue as to what to do about the upcoming concert (scheduled for this Friday night).

At latest word, it seems that the church membership has decided that carrying on for the Kingdom is the best way to honor their fallen pastor. The current plan is to treat this worship-filled service as a tribute to Christ in honor of Fred Winters. This I applaud. Dr. Winters would not want to stand in the way of advancing the Kingdom of God–in life or in death.

As we continue to pray for the church and for the family, let us keep on spreading the Word.