What I’m waiting for is a follow up that should be entitled “The Wounded Leader.”  Yes, I know there’s a book, a good book by that title.  So why suggest a title already in the playing field?  If leadership is in such high demand (1.  It is.  2.  It should be), then how do we lead both from our wounded-ness and with others who are also carrying wounds?

Okay, perhaps we can modify the title:  Leading (With) Wounded Leaders.  It’s hard enough to lead myself.  How can I adequately lead others who have baggage and are in process?

Cause it has/needs to be done.

Jason

PS:  What would you suggest as areas a book like this should cover and address?

As I look back on Christmas’ past (nod to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol), I am immediately drawn back to one Christmas that is etched on my mind.  I was 10 years old, and was spending my first Christmas with my dad and stepmom.  I had recently moved in with them and everything was new; although nothing really was new.  We drove to my grandparent’s house in Shreveport, Louisiana along with aunts, uncles, cousins, and anyone else who wanted to hang out.  We had upwards of 20 people in a one story, three bedroom home!

What I remember most vividly about that time was how cool the intangibles were.  Presents?  Nice.  But it was the family, the hanging out, the sneaking into the garage to spy/eavesdrop on what the “big” people were chatting about…..that was what was so special.

Fast forward 29 years later where Christmas has even more turned into a day for commerce, marketing, etc. (and I’m not complaining.  People want to and need to earn a living.) Might I offer this advice?

It will always be the intangibles that make this season worth remembering.  Will I remember presents received?  Yes, considering I’m COD (people with OCD are happily amused at this point).

But I will remember the intangibles more.  I firmly believe that those intangibles (a conversation with a loved one you have been aching to have, a remembrance of family members no longer able to enjoy Christmas with you, wedding proposals, weddings, drives to and from someone’s house where you were able to talk about God) are gifts of God’s grace designed to give me reason to thank and praise Him.

I hope you get all the gifts you wanted and more.  I yearn for you and I to seek even more, those intangible gifts that God drops in our laps and hearts so when the shiny-ness and newness wears off the gifts, the memories made will sparkle even brighter.

Jason

PS:  Make some memories with us this season.  Christmas Eve service begins at 5:30 p.m., and the Big Give commences at 9 a.m. Christmas morning.  Hope to see you then!

Taking from the popular song, “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” we looked at the surprising message of that song, which is summed up in the lines:

He’s making a list

And checking it twice

Gonna find out who’s naughty or nice.

…..He know when you’ve been bad or good

So be good for goodness sake!

“okay, so what’s the big deal with being good Jason?”  Doesn’t the world need to see some goodness around this time of year?

No argument:  Without a doubt, yes.

But (and you know there had to be one right?)

Good actions with not-so-good motives ultimately aren’t that good.

If I am either trying to attain or maintain my relationship with God based on my self-effort (which the song referenced encourages by telling us to be good so we get what we want from the benevolent who is in charge of dispensing blessings…errrr….gifts) I am guilty of legalism.

I know people trapped by legalism, and their growth is stunted, joy defeated, and life permeated with feelings of guilt, shame, and “I’m never good enough.”

Paul knew the struggle, and illustrated so in Romans 7.  His transparency regarding his present (well, ok, 1^st century) struggle with sin helps us in our 21^st century perspective.

We cannot fool ourselves with the “Jesus gets me in the house/I keep me in the house” mentality.  Jesus both gets me AND keeps me in.

So why do any good works?  The phrase that I want to remember is this:  I don’t have to….I have the privilege to.

I don’t have to do good works to earn grace…I have the privilege of doing good works to display grace.

The key to unlocking the chains of legalism is found in Romans 7:24-25:  Humility (wretched man that I am) and Hope (Thanks to God through Jesus our Lord).

I’m grateful for grace this season.

Jason

We will compare the message of Santa with the message of Jesus.  Sure, Santa is a jolly man with lots of presents who is generally a good dude (wink wink).  We know that most grown ups do not believe in Mr. Claus.  However, there is an underlying message to Santa that is both very real, and very damaging (and it’s not what you may think.)  We’ll uncover that message and also find real gifts that we won’t want to return or re-gift.

-December 16th:  Why Santa is More Than Naughty.  In this message, we’ll uncover a surprising message that Santa’s coming breeds into our minds, one that traps and enslaves millions of people while true grace and peace awaits them.

-December 23rd:  Why Jesus is More Than Nice.  In this message, we’ll be amazed at the greatest Christmas gift one could ever receive.

While it can be really easy to make gathering for weekend worship lower on the priority list during this time, this is a series you don’t want to miss!

Jason

Recently at the group Mandy and I are privileged to share life with, I have visibly seen Acts 2 community come to life and to say I’m excited is an understatement! Is this kind of closeness and sharing easy? No.

In fact it’s costly . In many ways. Living life together in the light of God is often frustrating and taxing on time and patience.

It’s also the best backdrop to apply what God is doing in our lives.

I love my small group . I encourage you to get involved in one and dive deep into the Scriptures and to each others’ lives.

Jason

-There’s one thing/book/conference/place that if we were to just do that, all our life would magically be in order and we would no longer struggle.

If there is no such thing as the magic bullet for us, what do we do?  After all, struggles don’t cease.  Battles are still fought spiritually, and even though we know the war is won, daily battles can still be bloody.

We all know that there is a cost to living out the delights and demands of the Gospel as God gives the grace and strength for us to do so.    The cost includes but is not limited to:  time, introspection, decisions, and pain.  However, I firmly believe that we already have what we need to fight and win these battles.  Look at what Peter writes:

“3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. “

I remember hearing a message at Passion 2010 that talked about this very passage.  The speaker was pointed in his point:  Why are we looking for this and that when we already have all we need to live as God wants us to live?

The good news is:  We don’t have to look anywhere else for stuff to help us in the daily war with sin and self.  The bad news is:  We don’t have excuses when we fail and fall.  It’s on us.  Peter continues:

5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.  2 Peter 1

We no longer have to look for the magic bullet.  We have, on no less authority that Scripture, a promise that we have been given all we need to live this life in a God-glorifying way.  Instead of looking to this or that, we simply need to look up; to the God who has already given us what we need.  He has given us Himself!

So since we have all we need, we actually can fight to win.  This having of all we need doesn’t/shouldn’t make us lazy.  That’s why Peter writes verse 5.  For the reason that God has given us all we need, we now make every effort to grow in the grace that is ours through Christ.

The way that we fight is through the Gospel.  The way that we live is through the Gospel.

Jason

Bill Himmel and Mike Waldrop are two of the greatest men I know.  Is that lofty praise from a known “words-are-the-way-he-shows-love” guy?  Yes.  Is that sentence also a fact?

Without a doubt:  YES

I have had the privilege of knowing these two men for 12 years, and have served on staff with them for 8 of those years.  Bill is the Senior Pastor of Fellowship Bible Church, and Mike is the Pastor of Adult Ministries at Fellowship.  And the reasons I appreciate them are quite large.  Allow me to share a few in a concise way:

-Faithfulness:  Both Bill and Mike are faithful men; to God, their wives and families, to Fellowship.  They ooze faithfulness out of their pores.  I have seen this faithfulness on display during times that were good, and times that were gut-wrenching and just hard.  Yet, in spite of the pain, and neither magnifying that pain nor minimizing that pain, they pressed on in serving the Lord.  I have regularly been in awe of how God has used their faithfulness to spur me on in my desire to be faithful.  They are models of faithfulness.

-Integrity:  I believe anything they would say (outside of putdowns that are ever-present with Mike:) ) about well….anything.  Why?  Because they are men of integrity.  These two guys want to walk carefully in this world, making sure that God, their family or their church would suffer any reproach because of their life or words.  While both men have had (I’m sure) numerous chances to tee off and hurt people, I’ve watched them measure their words and actions oh-so-carefully.  I’m grateful for their example in my life in the area of integrity.

-Love:  Bill and Mike love Jesus and people.  I have been so fortunate to see that love in action, and have noticed how even though they express that love differently, they both voraciously love people.  I have seen them both be as tired as two men can be, yet respond immediately in a crisis/emergency, and pour themselves out in love for people.  I know they love their wives and children with their whole heart, and again, they have modeled to me that after Jesus, my family comes first.  I am a different man, because I have been on the receiving end of their love so very much.  I want to love people like they do.

-Laughter:  Most staff meetings at Fellowship that I attended were filled with laughter.  To be fair, Mike is more likely to pop off wisecracks at the drop of a hat (admittedly, I’m not too far behind him) than Bill, but don’t mistake me, Bill picks his spots, and delivers the knockout blow.  These guys taught me over and over again, “take the ministry seriously, but don’t take yourself seriously.”  I learned to not be as uptight (I can nearly hear Mike as he reads this…..WHAT?  Hess not uptight…….YEA RIGHT!) by just being around these men in various situations and settings.

-Encouragement:  Both these guys have encouraged me to my core.  When I was down, discouraged, or out of sorts, a well-timed and said encouragement by either of them would be the medicine God would use to help me get back into the game.  Because they are faithful men who model integrity, who have loved me, I could trust their words of encouragement and completely appreciate them.

I could go on and on with this; I really could.  Bill and Mike are fine men of God who are men I have looked up to, and continue to look up to in this present day.  Even though it’s approaching 4 years since I have been on staff, I still admire and love these two men, and am grateful that God continues to use them in my life.

Bill and Mike, thank you for modeling for me what it means to follow and serve Jesus.  Thank you for your patience with me, and your intentionality with showing me life and ministry.  I am privileged to know you and am blessed to call you friends and brothers.  I love you both.

Jason

Most readers at this juncture would mutter, “duh Jason.  I’m not 5.”  However, I firmly believe that while we would laugh off attempts at getting us to believe in the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, or the like, that we functionally believe in another fairy tale; one with far more gruesome consequences than believing in a benevolent old man who gives gifts (although, I personally think Santa is a legalistic Pharisee…more on that in a couple of weeks).

If you grew up in a faith tradition like mine, there was never an advertisement for the “Magic Bullet,” or the one thing/person/book/action that would miraculously help you conquer all besetting sins, all destructive attitudes, all lethargy and apathy towards God, and basically make you completely perfect.  Nor was there any type of promotion that as a belief.

But in functional beliefs…….that’s a whole other story.

“if you just read this book….”

“if you just start this one spiritual discipline….”

“if you just listen to this speaker/preacher…..”

“if you just go to this place to be with these people….”

It’s as if all of life magically cleared up just by the one book/discipline/speaker/conference.  While we would rarely ascribe to the magic bullet to make us better spiritually, we functionally (I use functional/functionally to say:  by the way we act) believe that there is such a bullet.  The books we buy, the places we go, the conferences we attend, even our own churches can contribute to this mindset if not careful.

The consequence is this:  a ton of well-meaning authors get labeled as “not enough,” because their book didn’t solve everything (And they don’t think their book can).  A ton of well-meaning churches get labeled as “not feeding,” because their sermons don’t solve everything immediately.  Conferences can get a bad name because the attendee didn’t return home to see Jesus standing in his/her driveway to say “Well done good and faithful servant.”

Should we read?  YES

Should we eschew all conferences?  Not all of them.

Church?  I’m a church pastor, what do you think I’ll say?

But let’s understand this in a very loud and clear way:  There is no such thing as a magic bullet for the Christian life.  There isn’t just one book, conference, discipline, or church where if we just did this, read that, went there would make us perfect.

So what do we do now?

Jason

-not another blog/speech/thought on Thanksgiving!

-shouldn’t we be thankful all day every day?  Why pick one day?

-Everyone “thankful” today will end up “jerk-ish” tomorrow on Black Friday.

-This year has been terrible.  What do I have to be thankful for?

I know that Thanksgiving can be shoved in our collective faces, but at the same time, there are great features about a day where in ways big or small, we are nearly-forced to look outside ourselves:

-Gratitude, while needing to be a daily attitude and discipline, can be invigorated by a day like today, where we look to give thanks.

-Grateful people are generally humble and joyful people.  In other words, they are cool people to be around.

Here are some people I’m grateful for today:  Mandy, my family (both blood and church), our armed forces, our leadership, the freedoms we have (privileges not birthrights)  fellow pastors on Team Kingdom, and more.

-Look,f any group of people should lead the brigade, it must be those who have been rescued by the grace of God, because of the son of God, applied by the Spirit of God.  Like Paul said in 1 Timothy, “I am grateful that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of who I am the foremost.”

If for no other reason, I can always return to the Gospel for the grounds of my gratitude.  And since there is coming a day when all that is wrong will be made right, I can/must/should/will be grateful on a day like today.

…..and who knows, maybe tomorrow at the mall as well!

Jason

I have wondered why Houston traffic can infuriate me faster than a teen pop star apologist and besides the time traffic costs me (and other people) I am convinced that Houston has a collection of impulsive impatient drivers (myself the chief of shifters).

The worst aspect about traffic is what I suspect we are currently in: an accident situation in which people slow down to see the grace misfortune of others. Rubber neckers can drive me to the height of insanity.

It’s not that one has their own 1-2 ton piece of machinery to control at speeds of anywhere from 0-80 miles an hour. No they have to look at the mangled cars and see what happened.

So what does a person like me do in situations like this one?

Pray
Encourage someone with a call
Practice my next sermon
Cultivate gratitude for all God had done for me
Remember that there is no traffic in heaven.

It’s a start. The road is long (literal and figurative) but a necessary journey .

Jason