Keeping It Real

Becoming Excellent

One of the things that drive’s me crazy is the lack of excellence many our Churches put forth each weekend. All week long subconsciously our culture is taught to be excellent. We are living in a time where technology, art, and professionalism is at an all time high and yet the Church still thinks that the world is going to enter into our weekend experiences that are stuck in the 1980’s. If we claim to serve an excellent Savior than why have we become so content with a mediocrity?

 

So where does this Lack of excellence come from?

 

- Lack of vision

- Lack of why

- Lack of leadership

- Lack of personal

 

In my opinion these are the four foundational producers of excellence or the lack off. You can’t have excellence with three of the four all four must be obtained. Over the week I will talk about the importance of each one.

ALL THINGS

1 Corinthians 9:22:
²²To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible ways I might save some.

I’ve read over this verse several times, but it never impacted me like this until this past week.  For over a year I’ve tried to defend the vision of NLC to the “churched” crowd and all along I could have just shut up and told them that our heart is 1st Corinthians 9:22.  I think that for most followers of Christ and 'churches,' we start out with this intention but somewhere along the line this verse changes for us.

"To the weak I became aware, but did nothing to help.  I have become all things to myself, so that by all possible means I, along with the same crowd I’ve seen for years in my Church, will be saved.”

Think about it, isn’t that the norm?

I want to give y’all a NLC update - God is doing huge things!!!!!  As many of you noticed, we re-launched NLC on Easter Sunday.  We had 242 people in attendance and over 15 people made Jesus the leader of their life.  Growth and the presence of God have exploded in the last 10 weeks. We are desperate for His voice, knowing ONLY HE can bring the increase that we so desperately want to see.  We have an hour of prayer coming up at the NLC offices June 2nd, 6pm-7pm. Come join us as we seek God’s wisdom in becoming all things to all men so that by all possible means some may be saved. 

Being unforgettable

I think that as followers of Christ we should be unforgettable to the world around us.  If you watch American Idol as I do, than I’m sure you can recall hearing Simon Cowell telling some of the singers that they were “good, but forgettable”.  I think that many Christ followers live good lives, but never really impact the world around them.  Are we not called by God to be the light unto the world?

Here’s a thought, if you went blind today would you still remember what light looks like?  Of course you would. Light is unforgettable.

Here’s another thought, if you were hurting and a friend or a stranger came up to you and talked about the love of Jesus Christ, would you forget that moment?

Of course not, Christ (light) is unforgettable.

Stop living a good life as a follower of Christ, and begin living a life for Christ that will be unforgettable.

As far as Church leadership goes, everything we do at NLC regarding are weekend experiences is measured as forgettable or unforgettable.  We NEVER want to have a Sunday that is good but forgotten by the people who attended.  We believe that many see God and His Church as the same thing. If we as a Church are having a good, but forgettable Sunday morning experience than people view God as good, but forgettable.

Represent your God for who He is: UNFORGETABLE

Expect crap!

My son Malachi is totally trying to take over my castle!  I mean he is running things at the Gagnon house.  I thought when I got married it would be my castle.  Well, I was wrong because it went from Jennifer’s to Malachi’s and I’m pretty sure no matter how macho I act, I’m out of luck.

So Malachi started this new thing, he YELLS at the top of his lungs when he’s hungry.  It drives me nuts, but how do you communicate that to an 8 month old kid who thinks everything daddy does is funny.  I’ll even spank his hand and he laughs, the kid has a pain tolerance you read about. (In a tolerance magazine, I guess?) Anyways, He yells because he expects to be fed.  I think this pattern follows us through life.  Life can get really frustrating when our expectations begin to control our emotions.  Many of us fight with the people we love most because we expect them to understand our desires, rather than communicating our desires to them.  Try looking at life as a journey rather than a destination.  For example, instead of getting mad at your wife or husband for not meeting one of your expectations, take them on a journey that describes to them why that certain thing means so much to you.

I’ve been facing this reality in leadership.  I see the vision of NLC very clear, but I can’t expect everyone else too.  So, as a leader, it is important to always give those serving along side of you, a road map rather than a final address.  A road map will help the leader arrive at the final destination with a lot less pain, frustrations, and failures.

People, stop expecting and begin communicating!

Obedience

I had a great opportunity to talk with some of the leaders at NLC today and the conversation revolved around the word Obedience.  Call me naïve but I had never stopped to think of why it is, I try to live a life of Obedience.  For example, I know that gossiping is bad, but I’m pretty sure the reason I don’t gossip is because I am fearful that the person I’m talking about will find out, or the person I’m telling will think I’m a hypocrite.  Alright, maybe that example sucked let’s try another one.  When Jennifer and I were dating there was a common understanding between her and me that she couldn’t spend the night.  Cool right? Wrong!......the only reason Jennifer didn’t spend the night is because I was an associate Pastor and if I got caught with her up in my crib that would just suck.  So I remained obedient to the fear of man but not towards the standards of God.  I guess what I’m trying to say is sometimes as a follower of Christ we only obey out of a feeling of obligation rather than a heart of worship.  Don’t look at porn; your wife will get mad, don’t curse; someone might hear you, be nice to your wife; the Church is watching.  Maybe if all our actions of obedience were driven out of our pure intimacy in Christ we wouldn’t become so double minded.  It’s hard to remain obedient when our hearts are still disobedient.  I believe true obedience is when we obey out of our love and commitment toward Christ rather than our image or fear of man.  (sorry if I’m confusing it’s late)    

What V.S. Why

As I continue to be blessed with the opportunity to Pastor Next Level Church, the same short comings continue to haunt me.  I’m so tired of focusing more on what I’m doing rather than who I’m doing it for.  It’s a battle that rages inside most leaders, and is so often the battle we loose;   As a result we remain average to below average leaders.  Remember, it’s not the “call” on your life that produces a successful ministry it’s your hearts condition that produces an effective calling.  At NLC we have the privilege of being a “portable Church” and being portable is A LOT of work.  It’s crucial for our leaders to always remind our host teams that what we are doing isn’t as important as why we are doing it.  When the body of Christ is sold out to the why, the what will always produce itself.  I’m sure if you asked Jesus what he was doing on the day of crucifixion he wouldn’t respond by saying “I’m carrying the cross to the place of my crucifixion, what are you doing?’ NO, he would say I’m obeying my father in heaven.  He understood it wasn’t what he was doing but why he was doing it.  May you focus on why you are a follower of Christ rather than what you are doing to portray that image, and may you get so lost in the Why, that what you do for Jesus overflows with holiness.