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Authenticity Redefined

What if pastors were to live honestly before the people of God? Lives unashamed of revealing to the world the reality that we don’t have it all together. We think, feel, and breathe the same kinds of things that every other person sitting in the pews encounters on any given day.

I was talking with a close friend of mine this afternoon and the discussion came up that the pastor needs to be able to reveal to his or her congregation a kind of authenticity that makes a clear statement that we don’t profess having it all together. To go one step further, that within the proclamation of the word, the good news of Christ’s love, that every sermon I preach should include my willingness to be authentic as a way of illustrating the message of God’s love. Transparency of mind and spirit, coming to the table, letting it all hang out, making the word come alive for the sake of the gospel being heard and received in a way that convicts the hearts and minds of God’s people.

My preaching professor in seminary always commented that he’d rather have folks leave church after every sermon with two or three ideas that were easily remembered as opposed to an exegesis of the word “chair.” I wonder if the pastor should take it one step further? How about two or three ideas that reveal God’s heart for God’s people and that are made applicable through the pastors willingness to be authentic?

What does it really mean to be authentic when it comes to preaching?

It means that somehow with God’s help, power, and the Spirit of God always working in the preparation of the sermon, that I somehow tell the ego that burdens me daily to take a hike. Get honest. Be real. And don’t be ashamed to allow my heart to speak through the word God has given me on any particular Sunday.

The Four Minute Workout

Now in my quest to becoming the lean mean machine I am I was recently driving through the good old Antelope Valley and noticed a sign that was advertising , “the four minute workout.” Now mind you I’d love to only workout for four minutes. I have lots to do every day. Its hard enough to get on the treadmill for at least thirty minutes. Now if you’re interested, you can even buy the machine for a little over $14,000.00. I think I will stick to my treadmill and to my snappy snap fitness work out facility with the cool snap fitness staff who make working out a blast.

Highly Caffinated

My regular cafe misto is enough to keep me through the day.

Upon occasion the late afternoon requires a quick boost.
Created by OnePlusYou

HT: ipastor

Sharing the Pulpit

(This is a painting that my friend Jenny Smith painted of the pulpit at Princeton that I preached from on one occasion)

Something I’ve come to appreciate in my short time as a solo pastor are the opportunities when folks are able to fill the pulpit for me on any given Sunday. I enjoy preaching every Sunday. Whatever the season might be. Advent, Lent, and Easter and everything and anything in between. I’ve had a couple of our church members preach this past year and a couple of good friends of mine. Over the next two month I’m having some folks fill the pulpit for me. It will give me a chance to be fed and to listen. It will also give me a chance to connect with those hanging in the pews. Something that sometimes is hard to do when you’re helping lead worship.

Perfect

A new team building event for our leaders at church.

Thanks Steve

Authentic Followers of Jesus

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to live in authenticity as a Christian and follower of Jesus? Authenticity being the place we accept ourselves as a fallen and broken people in the midst of an ever changing world. Simply meaning we come to the table “letting it all hang out” before the world.

Let me explain. Recently I was with a friend who is fully aware of my work as a pastor and who we’ve become good friends with over the last couple of months. On one occasion he let out a loud sneeze and I responded with a good old “bless you.” His response along with some other things happening in my life of recent grabbed my attention. He says something like with a smile of course, “you don’t force your religion onto people?”

My authenticity as a follower of Jesus means that I am going to live my life out as an example of God’s grace. In my living out my faith before others with the recognition and acceptance that I am a broken person and that without God’s love in my life, I could not manage living on my own, that this is a much better approach to sharing my faith as opposed to giving the impression that my faith in Christ is to be pushed onto someone else. Avoiding having others see me as someone pushy or forceful. It also lets others know that I am not by know means living my life perfectly and sinless.

Too often people are faced with those who use the smothering approach to evangelism. I grew up with it. I was schooled in it in some ways by my surroundings of people I observed growing up in the church. This was the thing to do at one point in my youth as a young person and a Christian. I see this even in my work as a pastor with others who are still tied to a model of evangelism that I have no doubt God uses and has used but at times overwhelms the one on the receiving end of the “good news.” When do you begin that conversation? How do you discern that precise moment in time where “you’ve earned the right to be heard?”

I am hoping to finish a book I started sometime ago called, Just a Walk Across the Room,” by Bill Hybels out of Willow Creek. It is something that I want to go through with our leaders and begin praying about in the way we do outreach together as a church community. Obviously we adapt as opposed to completely adopting the cookie cutter approach to evangelism knowing that not every model fits or works.

I hope to blog some more over the next few weeks about evangelism and about living out our faith before others as authentic followers of Jesus.

Starbucks gets a facelift

If you haven’t already figured it out the Starbucks cup you grip regularly on a morning basis has a new look:

As I made my regular stop on my way to the office, I ventured in, got my “cafe misto” with steamed soy and extra caramel and I was on my way with my newly designed cup. Starbucks also has introduced a new way to save some bucks. If you register your new card and every time you use it when you purchase your drink, Starbucks knocks a few coins off of your drink. For example, today when I got my “cafe misto” with steamed soy and extra caramel. My soy and caramel were “free.” Pretty cool. Anyways, make sure you register your card and start receiving the benefits from those guys up there in that corner of the country.

Dodger Blue

It’s time and what a better way to begin then by playing those pesky Giants. Go Dodgers!

Pelican Bay

This morning in church we had the opportunity of hearing from a friend and follower of Jesus who shared his testimony about his son and how God is using his son in Pelican Bay. Manuel is a church elder at a Presbyterian Church in Glendale. Manuel shared about how his son began a ministry from “within” the walls of Pelican Bay. His son began a Bible study through the ventilation system while in solitary confinement. Did you catch that? Through the ventilation system. Manuel also had another friend come with him to share about a ministry targeting troubled youth. The ministry is called the ROCK program. What I appreciated about Manuel was his candor. The ministry that his son has been called to along with other followers of Jesus focuses on community and discipleship within the prison. Pray for Manuel as he shares the ministry his son and others have started with the greater church. Pray for his son who has six more years in Pelican Bay. And pray for his friend who was in church this morning sharing what God is doing in places like Pelican Bay through programs like ROCK. Especially pray for the ROCK program. The last visit Manuel made, they took sixteen youth to visit.

Ten of the youth came to know Christ.

I invite you if you have some down time today to listen to Manuel’s message here. We had some microphone issues this morning. You will need to use your Bionic ears.