When only the best will do

Former President Jimmy Carter was a Lieutenant in the Navy when he decided to apply to the nuclear submarine program. He was required to meet with Admiral Hyman Rickover who was in charge of that program. During the interview Carter was asked about his grades at the US Navy Academy. Carter proclaimed he was in the top 10 percent of his class. Rickover then asked Carter, "Did you do your best?" Carter truthfully answered no, to which Rickover responded "Why not?" and then turned back to his desk. The interview was over, and Carter, shaken, left the room. He was selected for the nuclear submarine program, but he never forgot that question and the impact it made on him. 

I doubt that few, if any, of us could truthfully say we've always done our best at anything. I can see many times in my own life when I've been satisfied to just complete the task. Forget about doing my best, I just want to get it over. Good enough is good enough.

The problem with that is that good is often the enemy of the best. We sometimes think that we have to choose between the good and the bad, but that's not the case. The real option is often between the good and the best. We settle for good when we should be striving for the best.

In what I consider the best leadership book, Good to Great, Jim Collins writes in the first chapter

We don't have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don't have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just easy to settle for a good life. The vast majority of companies never become great, precisely, because the vast majority become quite good - and that is their main problem.

In the margin beside that paragraph I wrote, "The same is true of churches." The vast majority of churches I've worked with over the years are satisfied with being good. They are content to offer the same ministries they've always offered without giving any thought about doing something different. Preparing the budget is easy because they only have to add a little to the line items to reflect projected utility increases and any increase in the pastor's salary. Little thought is often given to budgeting for new ministries that might reach new people. Most self-identified highly evangelistic churches do not reflect that mindset in their budget.

Most churches are satisfied with doing good things without ever reflecting on if they are doing the best things. Without a fresh, clear vision of God concerning their ministry, they have no way of identifying the best things they should be doing, and most churches lack such a vision. Without a roadmap taking the church to a new place, they remain content to repeat what they've done for the past few generations. As Dr. Phil might ask, "How's that working out for you?"

I do not challenge churches to be perfect, but to do their best. Do everything with excellence. If you want to do something, but it cannot be done at this time with excellence, then don't do it. The timing is not right. You cannot build a church on mediocrity. 1 Corinthians 10: 31 tells us, "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." God asks us for our best in all we do.

Let's refuse to settle for the good. Pursue the best in everything. Maybe, in an attempt to do everything with excellence, you will find you have to do fewer things. That's OK. Just do what you do with excellence. If you do, in time you will be able to do more.

The joy of ministry

 The title of this post may have caught some of you off-guard. So much has been written lately about the struggles many pastors have and how many are leaving the ministry because of these struggles. I get that. For years now we've known that about 50 percent of pastors leave the ministry within five years of graduating from seminary. Studies have found that many pastors believe that going into the ministry has been a hardship on their families and on their own health. I have met many of those pastors, and I understand their pain and frustration. I've been involved in ministry since 1981, and I've had my share of difficult situations as well. That does not change my opinion that there is joy to be found in ministry.

Regular readers of this blog know my story. I began in 1981 serving a small, rural church as its bivocational pastor. I served that church for 20 years until being called to be a Region Minister with our region. I served that role for 14 years before retiring. After retirement I served three churches as Transitional Pastor, and last year, at the age of 76, accepted the call to be the pastor of the last church I  served as Transitional Pastor. As a Region Minister, I saw it all. Before retiring I was responsible for 133 churches so I saw the good, the bad and the ugly. I've often said that if you like churches, do not look behind the curtain. You may see some things you don't like.

I've seen pastors afraid to speak out on things they knew were wrong because of threats from powerful lay leaders in their churches. I've seen church leaders fire pastors who then offered them severance pay if they never told anyone they had been fired. They were just supposed to announce they felt led to seek another place to serve. I do not talk about the joy of ministry wearing rose-colored glasses and having a Pollyanna view of the church.

Maybe it's my age. After all, what can a church do to a 76-year-old man? Maybe it's because I've always been bivocational with income from other sources of work. Like I told my first church, if you fire me today, tomorrow morning I'll go into the factory, clock in, and on Friday come home with my paycheck. Being bivocational did give me some freedom that fully-funded pastors do not always enjoy. The same is true of being older. I have rods and reels hanging in the garage; I can always return to retirement. And, I'm still bivocational with my auctioneer business.

Actually, it's not either of those things. I have been blessed beyond measure by serving in wonderful churches, without exception, and serving in a region that appreciates bivocational ministers. Yes, there have been the occasional problem in the churches I've served, but we've always been able to rise above those issues and move forward. My family and I have felt loved and appreciated by everyone involved in every ministry I've had.

However, this is still not why I talk about the joy of ministry. God has called me to this work. God, the creator of heaven and earth, the Almighty, saw fit to call me, with all my flaws, to serve Him in this work. Those who focus on the negatives of ministry have lost sight of their calling from God, or they were never called by God in the first place. Some were called by Momma and sent by Daddy. God had nothing to do with it. But, when God calls you, it touches something deep inside of you. You realize that you have been given a privilege not given to most.

What else can you do that gives you such access into people's lives? We are with them in their mountain-top experiences and in their deepest times of despair and hurt. We have the opportunity to touch people in their deepest needs and speak words of encouragement and healing to them. As a pastor, I have the privilege of sharing with a congregation the words of Almighty god, and I have an even greater privilege of seeing persons make life-changing decisions when they invite Jesus Christ into their lives as their Lord and Savior.

Yes, ministry can be messy and sometimes tough. But, the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. What God calls us to do, He equips and enables us to do. He walks with us and refuses to abandon us. I have always known God was with me as I served Him in this work He gave me, and that knowledge alone is enough to bring me joy.

The beauty of small churches

Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY is a large multi-site church that provides exceptional ministry to that community. When I was pastor of Hebron Baptist Church I went to several area minister gatherings there. I always took one of our lay leaders with me so they could see what a mega-church was like. My wife and I attended their Easter pageant one year. It was a magnificent portrayal of the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior. I have great appreciation for that church and the wonderful ways it ministers to the Louisville area.

At the same time, I have tremendous respect and love for the smaller churches. I have spent much of my life attending, pastoring and serving these churches. I have seen some struggle and close their doors, and I have seen others struggle and continue to serve their communities. Those who serve as pastors of these churches, many of them bivocational, are my heroes. Having been bivocational my entire ministry, I know the price these men and women have paid. Their faithfulness to the calling God has on their lives is an inspiration.

The theme song for the television show Cheers had a line that said it was a place where everyone knew your name. We all need places like that, and the smaller church often provides that. When I was pastor at Hebron I knew the people, many of their family members and much of their history, both good and bad. We knew one another, and we deeply cared for one another.

Many larger churches do that as well, but they have to form small groups for that to happen. Nothing is wrong with small groups, in fact, much is good about such groups. However, smaller churches do not necessarily have to form small groups because they are already a small group! In such churches, everybody knows your name.

I am currently serving as pastor of another smaller church. I can remember when this church was much larger, but after Covid and some issues that arose in the church, it is much smaller today. There is much work to do to bring this church back to where it needs to be, but I love this church. We laugh, we tease one another, but we also pray for one another when folks are going through rough times. Our worship service may not always go as smoothly as I would prefer, but the worship is genuine and, I believe, pleasing to God.

Smaller churches have fewer resources for ministry than larger churches, but it seems God always provides what is needed when it is needed. There is a certain beauty in that as these churches have learned to trust God as their provider and not some endowment that has been left them by previous generations.

Smaller churches rely on volunteers and not paid professionals to lead their ministries. None of the churches in which I was raised had paid staff except for the pastor. Everything else was led by volunteers, and these men and women richly blessed my life through their service.

I have nothing but respect for the mega-churches God has raised up, but I also continue to love the smaller church. Some predict the end of the smaller church. I do not believe that for a minute. There is a beauty found in smaller churches that cannot be duplicated in any other church. Those smaller churches that follow the will of God will continue to flourish, and I will always be in their corner cheering them on. 

Ministry in a changing time

 I accepted my first pastoral position in 1981. As I've written elsewhere, I went to that church with no education beyond high school and no pastoral experience. It was truly on-the-job training, and I'm thankful for the patience of that church. That ministry lasted 20 years until I accepted a call to become a Resource Minister with our judicatory. That ministry lasted 14 years before I retired. This past summer I accepted the call to serve as pastor of another church. Man, have things changed!

Last week I began to clean out file cabinets, something I should have done years ago. One drawer had my sermons for those 20 years of pastoral ministry. I looked at some of the earlier ones and realized just how bad I was. They all went to the trash can. On New Year's Eve I sat in front of my bookshelves and realized how dated some of my books are. They will also need to be pitched. I'm a firm believer that you cannot fix today's problems with yesterday's solutions.

Of course, many churches attempt to do just that. Many congregations remember when their sanctuaries were filled every week, and, despite their dwindling numbers, they believe they can recapture those glory years by doing the same things they've always done. Their order of worship never changes, they continue to sing the same songs and repeat the same prayers, and wonder why people don't rush in to fill the pews each week.

We are repeatedly told that while many Americans have little faith in the church, they continue to have great interest in God and Jesus Christ. Numerous studies have found many hunger for spiritual truth, and just as many studies show that a majority do not believe that hunger will be met in the traditional church. This should create a wake-up call for the church, but that doesn't seem to be happening.

As a pastor, I know I have to approach ministry differently than I did in 1981. That model doesn't work any more. As churches, we have to do the same thing. People are not looking for religious social clubs. If they are interested in a church at all, they will look for churches that have doctrinal integrity rather than one that tries to appease the politically correct crowd. They do not want a watered-down gospel; they want a faith upon which they can build their lives. They want a church that is actively ministering to the real needs that people have. It's OK for churches to support missionaries overseas, but they also want to see a church that is also meeting the needs that exist in their own communities. They want to have real relationships with real people and not feel they have to wear a "happy Christian" mask all the time.

We are beginning a new year, and for some of us in church leadership, we need to take this time to reflect on beginning a new way to approach ministry.

Accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior

 One of the most important decisions anyone can make in life is what to believe about Jesus Christ. Is He simply a great prophet as some claim, is He a great teacher or is He truly the Son of God Who came to offer forgiveness of our sins and the promise of eternal life? Every person must make that choice. Some want to straddle the fence on this one, but a non-decision is a decision. It is a decision to refuse to accept Him as the Son of God and to refuse His offer of eternal life. No one can opt out of this decision.

A few days ago I mentioned Pascal's Wager. That wager states that if it is 50 percent possible that Christianity is true, then a person would be wise to become a Christian. In such a scenario a person has nothing to lose. If Christianity is true, the person who accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is prepared to enter eternity when this life ends. If Christianity is not true, the person who lives as a Christian will enjoy a much better life than those who reject Christianity. This has been proven to be the case in many studies. However, if Christianity is true, and the person lives as if it is not, when his or her life ends, that person has lost everything.

In the late 1970s I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Up until that time I had lived my life on my terms, doing mostly what I wanted to do. Although I was raised in church as a child, that early teaching had little influence on the choices I was making as a young adult. It wasn't until certain events occurred that I realized I needed to return to what I had learned as a child. Alone in our mobile home, I asked Christ to come into my life.

Two years later I was licensed by our church to preach, and about a year after that I became the pastor of a church I served for the next 20 years. I graduated from Bible school and then went on to earn a bachelor's degree, a master's and a doctorate. God led me to publish eight books on bivocational and small church ministry which led me to speak to dozens of conferences and workshops across the US and Canada. I was called to serve as a Regional Minister who was responsible for 133 churches when I retired. Today, I am privileged to serve once again as the pastor of a church. I know I have a lot more years behind me than I have before me, but I also have the confidence that when my time here on earth ends I will spend eternity in heaven, not because of all the things I've done, but because I accepted what Jesus Christ did for me on the cross and asked Him to be my Lord and Savior.

If you are not a Christian, may I ask why? What is it that you are unwilling to give up in order to accept Christ in your life? What possible reason is good enough for you to refuse to receive the gift of eternal life that Christ can give you? If you would like to talk about this, please contact me. If you do not have a church home, I want to invite you to join us at North Madison Baptist Church, 1906 Orchard Street, Madison, IN this Sunday at 10:30. We would love to have you.

Preparing for a new year

We are at the final day of 2024. It has been an interesting year. Since retiring as a Regional Minister with our denomination I've had the privilege of serving three churches as Transitional Pastor. I never thought at 75 years of age I would return to serve as the pastor of a church, but this year I accepted that role. I have not served as the pastor of a church since 2001, so I feel I have a lot of catching up to do. I sure hope an old dog can learn new tricks because a lot of what I knew as a pastor in 2001 isn't necessarily helpful in 2025. If nothing else, becoming a pastor again has helped my prayer life!

I spent some time last week cleaning out file drawers. One drawer was full of my old sermons. They have all gone to the dump. I looked at a few of them before pitching them, and they were pretty bad. They certainly were not suitable for today. I wanted to make sure that I forced myself to prepare new messages that would be more timely today than these would have been. Of course, that means I have to work on sermon preparation again, but, fortunately, that is one of the things I enjoy most about ministry.

Part of my preparation for the new year is another commitment to read through the Bible in 2025. I've purchased a new version I've not read before so I'm ready for January 1. I have also encouraged my church to join me, and several of them have told me they will do so.

Our church got a new website in 2024, and we plan to begin streaming the sermons as quickly as we can get the right camera to do that. No one in our congregation has any experience in filming a service or putting it on social media so we will have a learning curve as we learn how to do this. 

On a personal level, our youngest grandchild turned 18 last weekend. Talk about something that will make you feel old!

My auction business is doing far better than I ever thought possible. We took most of December off to catch our breath and relax a little. We do an online auction every two weeks, and we only missed one auction in 2024, and that was so we could set up for a live auction we were doing. Our building is full again, our trailers are full and people are wanting to bring us more. I'm very thankful we are able to serve people in this way. As I've written elsewhere, I see this as an extension of my ministry.

I don't make New Year's Resolutions. I set goals based on the priorities I believe God has given me. Despite our busy schedules, one of my goals is for my wife and I to spend more time doing things we enjoy doing. There are some places she wants to see, and I plan to make that happen this year. 

2025 can be an exciting year for anyone who is willing to open themselves up to the opportunities it offers. I want to experience everything God has for me in this coming year. I hope you want the same thing, but it takes intentionality, preparation and work on our part. 

Those who do not believe

 I am currently reading another book that looks at the thinking of atheists. The author has debated a number of the so-called New Atheists and has studied their books and their thinking for some time. It is an interesting look at their thinking and their absolute refusal to accept the concept of God despite the overwhelming evidence for His existence.

For the past few years I have been very interested in apologetics and have read quite a bit in that field. In that reading, there are many references to the thinking and arguments presented by atheists. Their circular reasoning makes it almost impossible to believe that they actually believe what they claim to believe, and their lack of logically thinking is astounding. Many of these are scientists from various fields who seem to hold philosophy in contempt. They continue to make statements that are self-defeating, contradictory, and circular. They seem unable to see that their beliefs would lead to a world that would be chaotic and could not last.

Take just one argument that is sometimes the topic for debates between atheists and theists. Does objective morality exist? The theist believes that because God exists, objective morality exists. There is a standard of right and wrong that is not subject to vote or to personal beliefs. The atheist, believing there is no God, also does not believe that any objective morality exists. Each person decides his or her own moral code. Some believe that culture determines right and wrong. But, whose culture? As the writer of this book asked in one debate, are you talking about the culture of the Nazis or the culture of Mother Theresa? Are you talking about a culture that cherishes it's babies or one that sacrifices their babies to their god? Such a belief in subjective morality would lead to chaos and would lead to the destruction of our society.

Why do they not see that? These are brilliant individuals, but they appear to be blind to their refusal to see what countless millions have seen over thousands of years. There is a God who desires to be known and worshiped. Why can they not see the many prophecies foretold in the Bible that have come to pass? Why can't they accept the archeological evidences that demonstrate the truth of the Bible? 

Perhaps their reason is financial. Some of these individuals have made a great deal of money from their books and the speaking opportunities these books have provided. It's pretty hard to sing a different tune when the one you've been singing has made you wealthy.

Some atheists refuse to accept any concept of God because to do would force a change in their moral behavior. The well-known atheist Aldous Huxley once said, "I have motives for not wanting the world to have meaning, and consequently assumed it had none, and was able without any difficulty to find satisfying reasons for this assumption...For myself, as no doubt for most of my friends, the philosophy of meaningless was essentially an instrument of liberation from a certain system of morality. We objected to the morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom."

Others might refuse to believe in God because they believe that the arguments for God are weak and lack scientific credibility. This is a common complaint from many atheists. But, what about the credible scientists in many fields who do believe in God and point to science as the foundation of their belief? How do they ignore their colleagues who profess a strong faith in God?

In the 17th century Blaise Pascal argued that if Christianity has a 50 percent chance of being true then it would be rational for a person to live a Christian life. This has become known as Pascal's Wager. I believe the evidence is much stronger than 50 percent that there is a God Who has revealed Himself in Scripture, and faith in Jesus Christ is the way to know this God. I struggle to understand how anyone can look at the evidences with an open mind and not come to the same conclusion.