Jesus, the Celebrity Culture and the Church

I have observed with some interest over the last few weeks the ongoing Mark Driscoll saga. Unless you are a pastor or some other church leader chances are that you are unaware of who Mark Driscoll is and why he is important. Driscoll is the pastor of the Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington.

The controversy surrounding Driscoll took a disturbing turn in the last two weeks when the Acts 29 network, a church planting organization that Driscoll himself helped found, asked Driscoll to step down from his position and removed Mars Hill from the membership of the organization. This is just the latest brouhaha involving Driscoll in the last few months. Accusations of plagarism, inappropriate speech and abusive behavior towards church staff have swirled around Driscoll and there seems to be no end in sight. Recently Driscoll announced that he would be taking a leave of absence as the charges against him are examined.

Driscoll represents, at least to me, part of a greater problem for North American Christianity. I am speaking of a celebrity culture that seems to have crept into every corner of our faith. Strong men with strong personalities have become the "stars" of the American version of the faith. The same problem is present in the world of Christian music. I am not saying that Driscoll or any  other "famous" pastor has actively pursued such a status. But the truth is that we are wired to worship, and in our fallen state we will worship just about anything. The early church was not immune to this struggle, as illustrated by Paul's comments about the controversy between followers of Paula and Apollos in 1 Corinthians 1. The problem that Paul deals with there, and that the current controversy surrounding Mark Driscoll illustrates so well is one of following men rather than God. The amount of heated emotion and vitriol on both sides of the Driscoll controversy demonstrates the dangers inherent in tying our faith to men, no matter how good (or even great) they may be.

The answer is not simple. Pastors need to make themselves accountable to God and seek, as Paul did, to take every thought captive (2 Cor. 10:5). I know from personal experience how difficult it can be to take those thoughts captive. How difficult to let go of the praise that people want to give you, especially when praise and encouragement is so hard to come by. We need not only accountability before God but we also need to make ourselves transparent, willingly allowing God and others to have access to the far corners of our lives.

But mostly we/I need prayer. We don't need fawning fans or book deals. We need the fervent prayers of those who fill our pews, those who serve with us, those who serve around us. There are too many men who serve "alone," without the benefit of accountability and encouragement from fellow pastors and elder saints. Many of us don't have that, some by deliberate choice, but some by circumstance.

I have begun to pray for Mark Driscoll. I trust that God is not through with him yet, that there are still great things for him to accomplish for the kingdom. Will you join me in praying for him....and will you pray for me?

We both need it.

Somebody's Watching....Always

One of the regular parts of my morning routine is listening to sports talk radio. While I spend time in front of the mirror shaving I like to listen to Mike and Mike. I find that sports is both a distraction and a reasonable reflection of our culture. I must also admit that I like sports, especially football.

This morning as I was shaving I heard about an incident involving Johnny Manziel. For anyone who might have been in a cryogenic sleep the last two years or so; Manziel is a rookie quarterback for the Cleveland Browns of the NFL. He has a tremendous amount of ability, and an ego to match. Manziel is a polarizing figure...you either love him or you don't. It seems that Manziel has been in the news more for his lifestyle than his ability over the last few months. That's not a good thing, at least in my opinion.

During a recent preseason game Manziel made an obscene gesture towards the opposing team's sideline. Not a smart thing to do, especially when you are the visiting team. When asked about the gesture during the post game press conference Manziel attempted to downplay his actions. Needless to say those actions have been the talk of sports radio this morning. Johnny Manziel can't seem to understand that the spotlight he's living under is harsh, unforgiving, and never turned off. His actions will only hurt his team and himself.

Manziel claims to be a Christian, and I'm not here to debate the relative merits of his faith claim. But I do want to consider for a moment the reality of the life that Manziel lives and its comparison to our own. Each of us is a billboard that displays much more about us than we would like to admit. Johnny Manziel can't seem to allow his talent to overcome his character struggles. The sad truth is that we are all like him, struggling to balance character, talent, and expectations.

Please understand that I am not talking about perfection....I talking about living honestly. We will make mistakes. Hopefully not as severe as Manziel's, but we will make mistakes all the same. We need to live in a way that owns up to our shortcomings and displays the grace and forgiveness that are ours through Jesus. The best Christians are the ones who get up after falling down, seek forgiveness and make amends to those who they have wronged. In short, they demonstrate the presence of the Holy Spirit and the character of Jesus.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:16 "Let your light before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." That's a tall order that is much more difficult that it might seem. The world is always watching....no matter the venue; work, play, school, home, even the football field. Our every word, every gesture and action are on display and are seen and evaluated by those who see us. Pastors aren't the only ones who live in fishbowls: quarterbacks and moms and you and me do too.

So today when you mess up...and we all will. Simply confess, make amends and keep trying. I think we will all find that we will escape being the subject of talk radio.

Life, Death and Empty Nests

August 12th is always a different day in our house. It used to be a difficult day, perhaps the most difficult day of the year, at least for us. You see it was on August 12, 1987 that our first child was born. His name is Johnathan. He lived less than four minutes.....the time of his life on this earth is not important, that he lived is. His birthday was for many years a day of tears and mourning. There was very little to celebrate. For many years I would take the day off from work so that I could spend the day with my wife. I can remember feeling guilty on the first day that I chose to work rather than staying home to mourn.

Today Johnathan would be 27 years old....I imagine that he would have long ago left the safety of our home to engage the world. Perhaps he would have married by now and even given his parents a grandchild to spoil. The thought gives me pause to smile. I look forward to one day having a grandchild to pass on my "wisdom"....if it could be called that. I'm sure that my wife would have a different opinion.

When Johnathan died a part of me died. That death became even more pronounced when 19 months later our second child died shortly after birth. His name was Timothy and he would have been 25 now. The combination of blows left me staggering, reeling, breathless. There are no words to express the depths of our pain. It was the love of God that brought us through those long, dark days of pain and questions. Our marriage survived and we have been able to pick up the pieces.  That doesn't make their birthdays any less difficult, but we know hope and it is that hope that we cling to everyday.

The news today has been dominated by the death of comedian/actor Robin Williams. It is indeed sad that a man of his immense talents apparently decided to take his own life. I will not judge him. Indeed, none of us is in the place of God. Robin Williams will stand before God and be judged not on the method of his death, but on his relationship with God. My prayers are lifted for his family.

This day is a difficult day not because of the loss of Robin Williams or the anniversary of the birth and death of my son Johnathan, but because the emptying of our nest continued today with the departure of our second son for college. Matthew has chosen to go back to Southwest Mississippi Community College. He has just completed a term as a summer missionary in Oklahoma. His mother and I joked with Matt that we would move while he was gone, and that is just what we did! But we did pick him up at the airport and he was with us for a couple of weeks. But today he loaded up his truck and moved away. There were tears in his parents eyes as he drove away. Matthew may or may not be ready to face the world, but I can assure you the world isn't ready to face Matthew. He has a way of changing the lives of everyone around him and I am sure that he will continue to do just that.

Tomorrow his twin sister Rebekah will go back to college as well. Our nest is slowly but surely emptying. The beginning of May found our house full but by the end of May two-thirds of our kids had moved away. My wife and I have always known that our nest would empty....we just never saw it happening so quickly. Four kids leaving in one month was a lot harder than we ever thought it would be.

The days of summer saw not only four of our kids moving away, but we also left our place of service after six years and moved away from an area that we had been in for the last fourteen years. All of these transitions have been difficult. But God has been with us throughout each of them and we cling to His promise that He will be with us through all the days that are yet to come. We have learned not to despair but to rejoice. God has turned our mourning into dancing and our tears into laughter. I have joked many times that the reason we had six kids (eight counting Johnathan and Timothy) was that I wanted to change the world...one kid at a time. My plan is about to be put into motion!

I thank God for August 12th. On each August 12th and every day that surrounds it He has proven his love and power and goodness. In spite of life's changes, death, and even empty nests.

Character Building and Other Painful Things.

While driving the other day I had the opportunity to listen to a portion of the Mike Huckabee radio program. I was once quite a follower of talk radio, with tastes that ranged from Rush Limbaugh to Don Imus and a host of others. But I no longer spend the time in a car that I once did and so my time spent with talk radio has lessened greatly.

At any rate, while listening to the Huckabee show I had the mixed pleasure of listening to a discussion (?) concerning trophies for participation. Passions were high and feelings ran deep on each side of the question. It seems that we as a culture have become confused as to the nature of play and the purposes of both winning and losing. Those subjects (play, winning and losing) are what I wish to ponder for a  moment or two.

What is the purpose of play? Might I be so bold as to state that the purpose or play is to have FUN! When was it decided that play was to have such great and grave consequences? My memories are filled with images of laughter and smiles. Growing up as a normal (yes, I was normal once) boy I tested myself against other boys, and it matters not in my memory whether I bested those others or not. Those memories, and they are quite clear, give little note as to the outcome of the contests. Those memories are filled with the joy of companionship, and many of those boys (and girls) are my friends still. There are memories of losses, indeed, my baseball "career" was filled with them, but the losses are mere footnotes. It seems to me that the purpose of play is to allow us to exercise, to exercise our spirits, our bodies, and our emotions. Play does not concern itself with such trivial matters as winning and losing or any other such nonsense. Modern culture has made play a much too serious thing. In short, we've taken the fun out of play.

In the process of robbing play of its essential nature we have elevated winning and losing beyond the pale. May I say that winning has been overrated? The worst examples of sportsmanship that I have experienced and observed have come from those who were the winners. I have some experience with winning, mostly in individual competitions, and a great deal of experience when it comes to losing. Growing up as one of the smallest in all my classes I had the great displeasure of being among the last picked at everything involving athletics. I quickly learned that I would have to excel on the field if I was to avoid the bottom of the pecking order. And that I did. But I never forgot the feelings being picked last engendered. Those lessons helped to build my character, which is what they should do. We should play for the love of play itself, the outcome is of secondary importance. Our modern culture is wrong to place such an emphasis on winning.

Those memories gave me a strong desire to help others avoid such a fate. This desire to look out for the "least of these" has been a strong part of my life. As a father of six, including four boys, I have always striven to instill in all my children a sense of fair play and a desire to do one's best, regardless of the outcome. Whether or not I have succeeded will only be known in the years to come. My hope is that their character will reflect the love of play and the value of those we play with.

Rainy Days and Mondays

Rainy days and Mondays always get me down....

(The Carpenters)

I'm generally a pretty positive person, there's not much that gets me down. But every once in a while I find myself in a funk. Many seem to think that pastors should never feel discouraged or lonely or have questions about their faith or the direction of their lives....Boy are those people wrong. 

I don't mean to burst your bubble...but pastors have the same struggles, the same concerns, and the same temptations as the rest of the members of their churches. I may be the only pastor to admit it, but on many Mondays I'm ready to write "I Quit" on my forehead and have even written out a letter of resignation more than once. Now before you panic (or celebrate) unnecessarily....I have never tendered a resignation (officially or unofficially) on a Monday. I love preaching and I love the church. The ministry is what I have been called to and all I have done since I was 19. I may not be very good at it, but it's who I am.

Then why the struggle on Mondays?

Very simply.....I'm human. I grow tired, distracted, discouraged and confused just like anyone else. The pedestal that pastors are placed on and the pressures and expectations we labor under can rob the joy from us on any day. Add to that the burden of caring for a congregation of any size and you have a recipe for difficulty. It is a simple truth that every minister can and will grow weary under the load. 

Then why do I keep coming back? 

Because I'm called. This is what God has called me to do. I can do nothing else and be in the center of His will for my life. Besides that, I love it. I believe in the church, that messy bunch of people who drive me crazy most Sundays and who wake me in the middle of the night to pray and weep over. I willingly accepted the task and the responsibility when I said yes to God's call all those years ago. I had an idea of what the life I was signing up for would be like, but I was unprepared for much than followed. Like many others, I have been tempted at times to walk away, but at the end of the day I cannot. I am called and I will serve until I die or until God calls me to another avenue of ministry. 

So why this post?

I want to encourage the 4 of you who might actually read this blog to commit yourselves to become champions for your pastor and other ministers. The ministry is a lonely profession, but it doesn't have to be. I want to encourage you to spend time in the days ahead to encourage, cheer on, and surprise your pastor. A kind phone call in the middle of the week. An encouraging note dropped in the mail or placed in an office door. A small monetary gift slipped into his pocket...any of these things will go a long way toward helping your pastor stay the course. 

I've gone on too long already. Some would say that I've said too much.  What I have done is speak my heart and managed to make it through an extremely difficult Monday without writing "I Quit" on my forehead...

At least until next Monday.

A Loss Too Great to Overcome?

As anyone who has ever read this blog will tell you,  I have a keen interest in politics. I am independent, but with a definitively conservative leaning. I even have a brief flirtation with elected office in my past. Yes, I once attempted to gain elected office. (I ran for governor of Boys State in 1977....finished 4th in my party primary. I ran on a platform of government owned by  and for the citizenry) My failure to advance out of that primary pretty much spelled the end of my political aspirations, but not my interest.

The current government shutdown is, in my opinion, a laughable example of what is wrong and broken in this country. I am sick and tired of the self-aggrandizement and outright lying that is fed the American people daily during this charade. The government shutdown and looming debt ceiling "crisis" reveals a system that is broken, a people who have lost their moral center, and leaders who are anything but. Perhaps I should speak plainly....Our country, once great, has become a shadow of its former self.

It is politics that I want to speak of today, or rather politicians. I am of the belief that politicians have become the scourge of our country. I have no use for politicians of either party. If I had my druthers every last one of them....Democrat, Republican and independent would be voted out of office tomorrow and not permitted to run for office again...ever, period. What this country needs, in my opinion, are statesmen.

A statesman is not obligated to any special interest group or particular block of voters. The statesman votes according to his belief in what is best for the country, whether it gains him or her any electoral advantage or not. The political process has become corrupted by special interests on both sides....rendering either side incapable of speaking honestly or governing effectively. A statesman does not think of advancing one's personal fortune or portfolio and returns home when their job is done.

In my opinion, not one of the current group of "leaders" in Washington meets the previously mentioned criteria. There is not a single man or woman in Washington who merits mention in the same sentence as giants such as Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln. The whole lot of them do not deserve the privilege of representing the people of this nation.

Many of you reading this will consider me angry, they are right. The current crop of disappointments in Washington have made me angry. They have mortgaged the future of this once great country and saddled my children with a debt that their children will never be able to pay, among other acts of unbelievable hubris. Someone needs to remind them of these words from the Declaration of Independence:

"Government of the people, by the people, and for the people..."

I want my country back.

A Tale of Two Legacies

If one ever needed evidence that our culture has lost its collective minds one only has to turn on the sports news over the last 48 hours. Two things have transpired that reveal the dark underbelly of who we have become as a culture and as a people.

Former world heavyweight champion boxer "Smokin" Joe Frazier died Monday night at the age of 67. Frazier had only recently been diagnosed with liver cancer, dying only about a month following his diagnosis. I remember watching Frazier box in the 60's and 70's. I was always impressed by his style...a straight forward, never back down approach that endured a great deal of punishment but somehow managed to come out on top. Something about Frazier resonated in me...and I became a fan. I wasn't a fan of boxing as much as I was a fan of Joe Frazier, the way he handled himself; the way he refused to back down; the way he won.

Frazier wasn't perfect, far from it. His greatest struggle was found not in the ring but in his heart in the years after his career had ended. Muhammad Ali waged psychological war against Frazier in the weeks leading up to their first fight. The damage done to Frazier by Ali's words was far greater than the physical punishment that Ali visited upon him. It took yeas for this quiet man of dignity to overcome the hatred that he carried in his heart towards Ali. Frazier won his greatest battle when he overcame that hatred. He accomplished what few persons are able to do...he overcame himself.

I wish I could end this commentary with Joe Frazier, but I can't. On the same day that the death of Frazier broke another man died in a sense. That man is Joe Paterno, longtime coach of the Penn State football team. Paterno has long been regarded as one of the finest men in all of sports. He was placed on a pedestal, an example of what was right in sports.

But Paterno's legacy, if not dead, is surely mortally wounded. The story that broke over the weekend involved the actions of Paterno's long time assistant coach. The man is alleged to have sexually assaulted boys as young as 10 years old over an extended period of time. The most damning of the allegations, as they pertain to Paterno, is that Paterno had knowledge of the assistant's behavior and reported it to his superiors...and then did nothing. It is a coward's excuse to say that Paterno fulfilled his obligation when he informed his superiors. His obligation was not to the school or to his assistant: his obligation was to protect the 10 year old boy who was the victim  of the assault. Paterno has kept his silence in the years since, but now the cat is out of the bag.

Paterno may never face any legal accountability for his actions, but his legacy is tarnished forever. Paterno was respected as a man of character, integrity, and a leader of men. But a leader of men doesn't sit silently  and allow the kind of behavior that Paterno was aware of. Even if this was the only incident that Paterno knew about it was enough. He should have pursued the incident and ensured that this man would never have the opportunity to abuse a young boy again.

Joe Frazier and Joe Paterno.....one overcame a heart filled with hate and created a legacy that will live beyond his years. The other destroyed his legacy for reasons known only to him and will find out that the price was far too great, whatever it was.