Where is Your Church? Really?

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Do you know where your church is?

Most pastors think they do, and most church members and elders believe they do, but do you?

After going through these last several years of people coming and going, people decided to stay or leave based on how you handled masks, vaccines, opening and closing, people moving because of jobs, or simply deciding that it is nicer to watch church in their pj’s. Do you know where your church is?

Really?

Taking a new job at a church towards the end of covid and the church gathering had some disadvantages, but it gave me some advantages. It helped me see more clearly where the church is and ask some questions because “I wasn’t in it” as much as others.

But even if you haven’t changed churches or jobs, you can still step back to see where your church is.

This matters because you as a pastor might think your church is one spot on the map, your elder team or staff believes it is somewhere else, and then throw in the people who volunteer and attend your church. If you don’t know where you are on the map, you won’t be able to lead people to the next place in the journey.

When I arrived at Community Covenant, I found documents of 4 different sets of mission statements or values in the last decade. When I asked people why we existed, I got the answer based on when they started attending and what they heard repeated the most. Consequently, we weren’t on the same page.

This happens in churches, even if the pastor doesn’t leave. Churches slowly lose their way, lose focus on their mission, go to a conference and hear a new idea they have to implement immediately and gradually; the direction they had isn’t laser-focused anymore.

In his excellent book, Resilient: Restoring Your Weary Soul in These Turbulent Times, John Eldredge tells us what to do now: “The first thing you should do when you are lost is stop! This is critical – stop moving and get your bearings. Even if it takes some time.”

Many of us, as pastors and leaders and churches, are lost. We are lost in the fog of covid, unclear on who is still a part of our church, and unclear on what church looks like in this post-pandemic world.

And we need to stop.

We must pull everyone together, figure out who is with us and where we are on the map, and then set a destination together. 

When I arrived in New England, I interviewed almost 40 people in our church. People who had been a part of our church for decades and some who came in the last year. I asked them the same eight questions and those answers were invaluable to me. They helped me figure out where we were, so we could determine where we were going.

Here they are:

  1. What is going well at Community Covenant Church?
  2. What is not going well at CCC?
  3. What is one thing about CCC you hope doesn’t change?
  4. What is one thing about CCC you hope does change?
  5. What burning questions would you like to ask me?
  6. If money weren’t an issue, what would be your next full-time hire(s) and why?
  7. If you were in my shoes, what would you focus on first?
  8. How can I pray for you?

Here’s the fantastic thing, 90% of the answers were the same.

Whether you are new to your church or not, you can ask these questions or questions like them to find out where you are. You might tweak them to find out what you learned in covid, what did covid reveal about your church, and what has God put on your heart in the last 2-3 years that you need to pay attention to

But as I’ve said before, this is a season where pastors need to think like church planters as they move forward. Church planters are pioneers; they are starters, forging new ways of doing church and risking, and more and more pastors need to have this mindset. 

7 Ways to Love Your Work & Glorify God

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We spend the majority of our time in one place. Whether we work from home, are a stay-at-home parent, a business owner, teacher, or chef, we spend most of our lives thinking about, worrying about, and preparing for work. 

We spend most of our lives sitting at a desk, in a cubicle, listening to a boss who is not as smart as you. Dreaming about when the weekend will come, the next vacation will arrive, or a promotion.

But it doesn’t have to be like that. It can be different. 

We often separate our work lives from our faith, but God cares deeply about our work. It matters to him a lot. 

As I shared on Sunday, God created work and made it for us to glorify Him and find pleasure, joy, and meaning in our work, that we are to come alive when we work. Because of that, Christians should think about their job differently. 

Yes, I know that work is hard, often stressful, and sometimes even a struggle. That is part of the fallen world we live in and one of the curses we live under because of sin (Genesis 3:17b). But it also doesn’t change God’s original intention for work. It just means we need to change our view of it and, sometimes, change how we do it.

In light of that, here are some of the ideas:

1. Focus. What is the first thing you do when you wake up? Like most Americans, you reach for your phone and check your Facebook, Instagram, or email. What you fill your heart and mind with first thing in the morning determines much of what your day becomes. What if you grabbed your Bible and prayed instead of your phone? What if you took some silence to begin your day to center your heart and mind? Your life and day will change if, instead of reaching for your phone first thing in the morning, you prayed and said, “God, use me today, guide me, help me honor you in everything.”

2. Integrity. Be honest and trustworthy on the job. Be on time. Give a full day’s work. So many people rob their employer by being lazy, doing fantasy football, Facebook, and March madness at work. Go to work and work. Be that guy. It will be rare if you want to stand out at work and have integrity. Integrity and dependability are reasons people get promoted or not, whether or not they can come through on a promise or assignment.

3. Skill. Get good at what you do. God has given you the gifts, talents, and abilities you have. Take continuing education when you can, read books on your skills, listen to podcasts, and read blogs. We honor God when we use the gifts and talents he’s given to us to their maximum potential. The ability to grow in your skills and talents is another reason we do or don’t see promotions in our lives.

4. Beauty. If you’re part of creating things, create beautiful things. Beauty is in things that are pleasing to the eye, taste good, and work well. CPAs know this feeling when an excel spreadsheet adds up. That’s beauty: a beautiful meal, clothes. When you build something, create great stories, works of art, movies, or buildings.

5. Winsome. Being winsome is how you relate to others. Your speech to others should be kind and loving, and your countenance at work should be one of winsomeness, not being a jerk to those around you.

6. Money. Work is where you make (and spend) money. It is all God’s, not yours. Tim Keller said, “The way to serve God at work is to make as much money as you can so that you can be as generous as you can.” Turn your earnings into the overflow of generosity in how you steward God’s money. Don’t work to earn just to have. Work to have to give and to invest in Christ-exalting ventures.

7. Thanks. Always give thanks to God for life and health and work and Jesus. Be a thankful person at work. Don’t be among the complainers. You have a job; you have the boss God gave you. Think about that one for a moment.

The Practice of Letting Go

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On Sunday, I talked about the year(s) that we have lived through. It has been a lot. 

Some of us have lost and started new jobs or watched family and friends do so. Maybe you have moved or watched friends move. We have seen friends and family get sick, and some of us have said goodbye to friends and family who have passed away. 

All of it has been a lot to walk through. 

Over this last year, I have heard from countless people and thought, “Can’t we just go back to how it was?” But we can’t. We can’t get back what we lost or go back to how it was; we have to move forward. But to move forward, we have to take stock of where things are and give things over to God. 

Ecclesiastes 7 stopped me in my tracks one morning during my preaching break. 

It says: 

A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth. It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, since that is the end of all mankind, and the living should take it to heart. Grief is better than laughter, for when a face is sad, a heart may be glad. The heart of the wise is in a house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in a house of pleasure. It is better to listen to rebuke from a wise person than to listen to the song of fools, for like the crackling of burning thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This too is futile. Surely, the practice of extortion turns a wise person into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the mind. The end of a matter is better than its beginning; a patient spirit is better than a proud spirit. Don’t let your spirit rush to be angry, for anger abides in the heart of fools. Don’t say, “Why were the former days better than these?” since it is not wise of you to ask this. Wisdom is as good as an inheritance and an advantage to those who see the sun, because wisdom is protection as silver is protection; but the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner. Consider the work of God, for who can straighten out what he has made crooked? In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that no one can discover anything that will come after him.

God has made the day of prosperity and adversity. 

This season led me to an essential practice that has helped me immensely. I saw it in John Eldredge’s great book Get Your Life Back: Everyday Practices for a World Gone Mad. He calls it benevolent detachment. It stops several times each day to give everyone and everything over to God. 

To help me with that, I use his pause app (which I’d highly recommend you download for free), set the time that works for your day, and pause to give everything and everyone over to God. 

Each day, my phone buzzes at 10:45 and 3:30 to remind me to pause. When I do, I sit still, take several deep breaths and pray over and over, “God, I give everything and everyone to you.” This has helped me let go of what is behind me and see what is in front of me so I can be fully present with God, myself and others. It reminds me that I am not all-powerful, but God is. It reminds me that God cares for me, and I can give him what is weighing me down. And ultimately, God has it all in his hands. 

How to Create your Rhythm Dashboard

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One of the things I hear people talk about way too much is the goal of balance in life. Google work/life balance, and you will find many ideas on how to balance everything you do.

The problem is that balance is a pipedream, an illusion, a mirage that is impossible to come by.

Instead of balancing life and all the demands that come our way, I have found it better to look at life through the lens of rhythms. Each season of the year has a rhythm. There are different feelings to the fall, winter, summer, and spring. And we need to understand that.

We were created to live in a rhythm.

God created the world in six days and then rested. There is a rhythm to sabbath rest, a flow that is so important.

But to understand that, we have to understand our rhythm dashboard.

When I burned out almost a decade ago, Katie and I sat down to create a rhythm dashboard. A system of warning lights to know when we are running too fast.

Think for a moment, when do you know you are running on empty? Can you pinpoint it? Can you look back a few days, weeks, or months to see what led to it?

This matters because if you can see when you get tired before you get tired, you can learn to live in rhythm.

Too often, we run until we run out of steam and then crash through a wall.

Here are some of mine: 

What usually is easy is now challenging. This is one of the first things that happen. Things you usually can do without much effort suddenly become tough.

Decision-making. You struggle to make simple decisions and find yourself paralyzed at making a choice. You are indecisive.

Sleep is hard to come by. For many Americans, sleep is hard as it is. We go to bed too late; we don’t take enough naps, spend too much time on technology, and get worked up. If you have to take sleeping pills, watch TV to fall asleep, or find yourself going to bed at midnight or staring at the clock at midnight, you need to work on your sleep.

It is hard to get going in the morning. Some people are morning people and can’t wait to get going; others are not. I’m not a morning person. But, when I find myself having a hard time getting going in the morning, needing multiple cups of coffee to stay awake or focus, that’s a warning sign. Think about this morning; how hard was it to get out of bed? The harder it was, the closer you are right now to burnout.

You get angry fast. When you are tired, you tend to get angry fast. Your fuse is shorter with those closest to you: family, friends, and coworkers. Your reaction to situations does not match the situation. You get angry at small things or cry without knowing why.

Motivation is hard to come by. You are indeed more motivated and alert at specific parts of the day. It is first thing in the morning, which is why I reserve that for sermon prep and not meetings. When I am most creative, I need to give that mental time to the most critical part of my job: preaching. When I find that motivation is not there, I know I have a problem.

You have impulses to eat and drink, and you struggle to control them. You may also use things to calm down. This might be food, sex, porn, exercise, drugs, smoking, or alcohol. While these things calm you down, and all of these are not necessarily sins, when used to calm us down or help us relax or sleep or “take the edge off,” we have a problem. If you think, “I just need ____ to calm down or feel better,” you have a problem.

You don’t laugh as much or have fun. This is connected to what we’ve already said, but if you can’t remember the last time you laughed and had fun, that’s a problem. When you are tired, the last thing you have energy for is fun or community. You are more irritable and have less courage.

What is on your dashboard? How do you know that you are running too fast? How do you know that one busy season has run into another season, and now that is just your life?

Red Flags in a Job Search

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So, you’re searching for a job. You are excited, talking with churches and maybe narrowing down the list of potential places to move. 

It is easy in a job search to talk yourself into a place. You might imagine that it is better than where you are, or that you can be the hero that finally does what no other pastor did before at that church. Don’t buy those mirages. Make sure you ask the right questions to find a church’s heart. 

But, how do you see through your emotions and desires to see red flags that you might be missing?

Now, before listing these out, let me say these red flags aren’t necessarily a reason not to take a job, but things you need to pay attention to, even though they aren’t always obvious. 

You don’t want to live there. I think this is a big deal. I remember talking to a large church in the midwest. I clicked with the elders and team there, and they were renovating their building and making it more prominent, but as I talked with Katie about it, she said, “But you don’t want to live there.” I got defensive and started to tell her all the reasons we wanted to be at that church, and then she said, “But you’d still have to live there.” 

Now, we don’t always get to choose where we live, and sometimes, the doors to the place we want to live don’t open. We tried in our search to move to several areas that were closed to us. Sometimes, the family determines where you can or can’t live. But, as a pastor, you need to live in that place and love the people and the culture that makes up that place. 

Make sure you want to live there, and that you like the worst season of the year there. Because it will be winter, or a blazing hot and humid summer. 

The elders are mad at the previous pastor. In my first conversation, I could tell the elders were still angry at the last pastor in one church I talked to in our search. They weren’t mad at what he did or carried any bitterness from his time; they were furious that he left them. 

Listen to how the people talk about the previous pastor and what stories they tell. Do they tell stories of a mythical time you won’t be able to replicate? Do they tell stories of hurt? Anger? Bitterness? This is a red flag because some churches are so hurt and don’t know it. Some churches need more time without a pastor to truly understand what they had and took for granted. Some churches must deal with their hurt and not take it out on the next pastor. 

As a pastor, you need to know what you are walking into in this regard. You will be the one to pastor these people through whatever feelings they have about the previous pastor(s). 

Tons of turnover. Ask about staff, elder, and volunteer turnover. One church I talked to had over 50% of its staff turnover in three years. No matter how big or small the staff, that’s a significant number. In this church, it was over 20 staff members. When I asked questions about it, there were good reasons and stories. However, it also revealed some things about the culture. It is easy to spiritualize staff transitions in a church, but you must ask questions about it and what it reveals about the culture. 

Long-tenured staff. The flip side of the turnover coin is a staff with no turnover. 

While this can be a healthy thing for staff, it can also be a red flag for a new staff member coming in. What has happened to previous new employees? Did they last? Why or why not? How open is this staff to new ideas and ways of doing things?

You meet someone you don’t click with. Depending on who this person is, it may not matter. But pay attention to people you don’t connect with in an interview process. Are they powerful? Influential? What rubbed you the wrong way? 

This person will one day be a part of your staff, board, or church, so make sure you click with people. 

They don’t want to change. Every church that hires a new pastor says, “We want to change and reach new people.” But do they? Like all things a church says, ask questions about it. Ask what change means to them, what kind of new people they want to reach, and what things they are willing to change and not change for this to happen. 

Lastly, talk yourself out of it. 

Here’s what I mean. A friend who does a ton of hiring for his job told me that one of the things he encourages search teams to do is to figure out why they wouldn’t hire a candidate. Just like it’s easy to talk yourself into a job, it is easy to talk yourself into a candidate. So, create a list of why you shouldn’t move or take a position. Do some opposition research on a place. If you have difficulty doing that, ask your spouse or a friend to help you with it. They might see things you don’t see. 

Two Sneaky Things for Leaders Over 40

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Two sneaky things for leaders over 40?

Yes.

While these two things are things that every leader needs to be aware of, I think they start to rear their heads once you pass 40.

For simple reasons.

At 40, you have gotten somewhere. You might own a business, be the lead pastor, or have climbed some ladder. You are “someone.”

You spend your 20s and 30’s learning, building, driving, and moving up.

But something happens at 40. Things change in life, leadership, and marriage.

So what do you need to be aware of and guard against when you hit 40 as a leader or pastor (or everyone, really)?

Becoming cynical

The older you get, the more cynical you become. The gif’s of Clint Eastwood telling kids to get off his lawn is real life!

In your 20s, every idea is a great idea, brainstorming is more accessible, and you are the one starting the firm or church that will finally get it right. You won’t be like “grandma’s church” down the street.

At 40, you have more things to lose; you have less energy to pull things off. It becomes easier and easier to sit in a meeting and think about why something won’t work, why you are the most competent person in the room or why it isn’t their turn yet because you just got your turn.

It is embarrassing to admit how many times I have had to catch myself saying, “That’s dumb,” more times than I can count when I hear an idea from someone under 30.

The reason cynicism comes into play in your 40s is that you worked hard to get to where you are and want to have your time at the top. You might be the most intelligent person in the room on specific topics. You are probably the top leader in the organization or team, so you have much power and influence. And you still think of yourself as cutting edge and young because you aren’t full of gray hair or near retirement age. The cutting edge’s shelf life is getting shorter, and younger leaders aren’t waiting around like they used to.

Coasting on your gifts and talents

It is amazing how many leaders begin to coast later in life. They do this in all kinds of areas, but one place in particular that leaders and pastors need to pay attention to is in the areas of your gifts. 

Around 40, you are probably proficient at some things; you know how you are wired, what you are good at and what you aren’t. You have spent years working on your craft in a host of areas; you have refined and tuned processes around those gifts and talents, and more than likely, you have seen some evidence of growth, success, and promotion because of that work. 

It is easy at this point to start to pull back and coast. To think, “I’m not the greatest at ___, but I’m pretty good.” It is easy to feel like you have arrived somehow, and that can be very dangerous. 

I have been preaching since I was 19 and have logged many hours in prep, fine-tuning, standing in front of a group of people, and opening God’s word. A few years ago, I was on staff at a church that did a weekly run-through, no matter who preached, and it changed my preaching in some profound ways. I would never go back, as it has continued to help me grow and not coast as a communicator. 

How do you guard against these two things?

You first need to admit you could fall into these areas or others not listed here. 

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

  • Are you still learning and growing?
  • Are you getting around people younger than you and more intelligent than you?
  • How often are you saying no compared to yes to new ideas?
  • When was the last time you were uncomfortable?

 

Summer Break!

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I’m thankful that the elders of our church give me a summer preaching break. You might wonder, what is a summer preaching break?

It’s a chance for me to catch my breath; to rest my body, soul, and mind; for our family to rest and play, but also a time for me to pull back and seek what God has next for our church in this next season.

I also spend a week that I call my “listening week.” It’s a week of intentionally listening to God, praying, dreaming, writing, and exploring what God has next for our church. This is one of the most important weeks of my year.

We are on the verge of an exciting chapter at Community Covenant Church, with Noah Kamper joining our team and all that God has ahead for us.

I’ll be posting many of our adventures on Instagram if you want to keep up on our experiences, what I’m reading, etc.

I often get asked what I’m reading over the summer, so here are a few of the books I’m most excited about (remember, leaders, on your vacation, read books that benefit you personally):

 

 

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In the meantime, here are some of the most recent top posts on my blog to keep you company until I get back:

Healthy Job Hunt & Transitions

I spent a lot of time interviewing churches and exploring places to live over the last two years. After moving to New England last summer, I tried to chronicle a lot of what I learned, especially with more and more people thinking about changing careers or churches.

Healthy Marriage 

Healthy Leadership

Healthy Faith

Healthy Preaching

How to Not be Productive on Vacation

Many of us are good about planning our work and family lives. We have to-do lists and routines for how we accomplish things. The problem is that we don’t have that same level of planning and intentionality when we rest, go on vacation or try not to be productive.

The longer I’m in leadership, the most important thing to do on vacation and the sabbath is not to be productive. As a leader, this is hard and one of the most important things to keep in mind.

It isn’t decisions, meetings, counseling, or preaching that tires me out (although that can do it sometimes), but it is the production of things. I feel the pressure (real or imagined) to produce something, to prepare something.

To be productive.

How do you stop producing and rest? How can you take a weekend off? How do you turn your mind off from it? From the pressure, the deadlines?

I’ll be honest. Every week, this is my biggest struggle (when I’m trying to take my Sabbath day). I can survive without social media and email. But planning ahead helps me be intentional about not thinking about work, and being willing to not read a book for a sermon or leadership and stop producing.

I feel guilty about it.

But it is necessary and vital to your health as a leader, your family, and your church.

Here are five things I’ve learned that might be helpful for you this weekend and on your next vacation:

1. Decide ahead of time what unproductive will mean and entail. This might sound counterintuitive, but the first step to being unproductive is to be productive. Set yourself up to succeed.

If you are married, sit down with your spouse and ask them, “If I was unproductive for a weekend, a week, two weeks, a month, what would that mean? What would we do?” Leaders struggle to rest because of the constant movement of ministry and leadership. It is addicting. As much as my heart, mind, and body need a break from preaching, I get antsy and have a hard time functioning when I take a break. That is a sign that I need it, but it’s also a sign that I have some heart work to do around that.

For me, here are some things that being unproductive means: no blogging or writing, no leadership or theology books (I read spy novels or historical books on vacation), sleeping in (or letting Katie sleep in), taking naps, extended game time with my kids, ample time with friends, being outside.

Answer this simple question: What would refresh me and recharge me? Are there certain people who will do that? Spend time with them.

Too many pastors work on vacation and prepare for upcoming things (you need to plan that for a different time). Your weekend or vacation is for refreshment, recharging, and reconnecting with your family in another way.

2. Set yourself up for success. If you don’t decide ahead of time, you’ll come back from vacation exhausted and then tell people around you, “I need a vacation from my vacation!”

One of the things we’ve done in years past is for me to take a one or two-night retreat at a monastery before we go away. Leaders have a way of crashing at the start of vacation. I’d rather do this alone than crash on my family. It starts your time off on the right foot.

If you are tired of the church or have difficulty going to church without thinking about your church (which happens more than you think), take a Sunday off and sleep in. Watch a podcast (but not for ministry purposes).

The bottom line is if you know and have decided how to be unproductive, it makes it easier to reach it. It increases the likelihood of resting and recharging.

One of the best ways to set yourself up for success is to take social media and email off your phone. In fact, on vacation, Katie changes my passwords so I can’t even get on them in a moment of weakness (which never happens).

At the end of your week, finish things up. Set up some ritual at the end of the day or week that says, “I’m done. I’ve done all that I can, the rest is in God’s hands” so that you can be done mentally and emotionally.

3. Give yourself grace. Because you are a leader and are trained to be productive and critical, you will struggle not to be effective and not critical. When you think about work, a person, a situation, give yourself grace and then move on.

When you start to think about work, write it down and let it go on your time off. Give yourself a moment to reconnect to being off and be okay with that. Your weekend or vacation isn’t ruined at that moment. It can be if you let it, but it isn’t yet.

4. Get out of town. This isn’t always possible but get out of town if you can. There are so many retreat centers and housing for pastors and their families that you can do this inexpensively. We stayed at the same place in San Diego for four different years and then multiple years in Huntington Beach, and each time it was free or cheap. Plan (and Google pastor’s retreat) and start making calls. Our kids look forward every year to vacation because we’ve planned it. This also means we don’t do things during the year for this time to happen, but we got out of town when I was making less than $500 a week (and working four jobs) planting our church. So you can do it!

Find fun things to do on your weekend if that will recharge you. Go swimming, hike, go to a fair or a market. Get moving. You may stay in your town but get out of your house. Changing the scenery is crucial to resting and recharging.

5. Your church will be fine. Many pastors fear leaving their church as if they are the glue that holds their church together. If you are a church planter, you are the glue for much of your church but not all of it. You can get away for a long weekend or a week, and everything will be fine.

Too many pastors live with the pressure that someone will be mad if they take a week off. They might, but you’ll live. They get vacation time, too.

Often pastors will ask me, “What do I do if I don’t have someone to preach?” Simple, show a video sermon of someone. Download a Tim Keller, Matt Chandler, or Craig Groeschel sermon and show that. Better yet, download four and take four Sundays off from preaching.

Let me tell you why this matters: A refreshed pastor leads a refreshed church.

A tired pastor leads a tired church.

Creating a Rhythm of Sabbath Rest

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Recently, I preached on the topic of Sabbath rest. But how do you create that? What goes into that day and preparing for that day?

Before getting to that, why don’t we rest? After all, almost everyone I talk to says things like, “I have too many things on my calendar” or, “At the end of the day, I don’t have energy for my spouse, kids, or the people who matter most to me.” We are tired, overwhelmed, and a rundown bunch of people.

To prepare for the sabbath and to create a rhythm of rest, here are some questions to ask yourself (and your family):

  • Am I living sustainably, and will it help me thrive tomorrow?
  • What would you do for 24 hours that would fill your soul with deep, throbbing joy? (from John Mark Comer)
  • What is necessary? What brings life?

The goal of the sabbath is rest, joy, and delight.

Why does this matter?

God calls us to be healthy. Healthy spiritually, physically, relationally, emotionally, and mentally. God created us, and all of us are meant to glorify Him.

This is a question that pushes on wisdom. In your life and your family right now, are you living in a way that will help you be healthy and thrive tomorrow? Is it sustainable? In churches, people often burn out because they overload their calendars. We say yes to too many things. I have friends in four Bible studies a week, run their kids to ballet, orchestra, baseball, and football, and serve in six ministries. Now, once you ask, are we living sustainably, you will often cut things out of your life. This is a good thing. However, the problem appears in the cutting. The second part is what will help me thrive tomorrow. That answer is more complicated. Not harder to discern but harder to apply. I’ll often see people cut God or church out of their lives in favor of hobbies or their kids’ sports. That won’t help you thrive tomorrow.

So what is the answer? What is our hope?

We are learning to see and live with Jesus as our rest.

Tim Keller helps us with what this looks like:

God liberated his people when they were slaves in Egypt, and in Deuteronomy 5:12–15, God ties the Sabbath to freedom from slavery. Anyone who overworks is really a slave. Anyone who cannot rest from work is a slave – to a need for success, to a materialistic culture, to exploitative employers, to parental expectations, or to all of the above. These slave masters will abuse you if you are not disciplined in the practice of Sabbath rest. Sabbath is a declaration of freedom.

Thus Sabbath is about more than external rest of the body; it is about inner rest of the soul. We need rest from the anxiety and strain of our overwork, which is really an attempt to justify ourselves—to gain the money or the status or the reputation we think we have to have. Avoiding overwork requires deep rest in Christ’s finished work for your salvation (Hebrews 4:1–10). Only then will you be able to ‘walk away’ regularly from your vocational work and rest.

What does that look like practically on a day-to-day basis? Here are a few ideas:

Let go because Jesus has this. As our Sabbath rest, we need to let go and give Jesus our burdens, stress, anxiety, and rest in Him. We know we will have responsibilities, stress, and worries because Jesus tells us we will, and we are to give them to him. Because of Jesus’ work, coming from heaven to earth, we can accept our limitations. Because Jesus is limitless, we can rest in Him.

Schedule rest and recreation. It won’t just happen. Hebrews 4 tells us that we are to enter God’s rest. Exodus 20 tells us to “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.” There is an active move on our part as it relates to rest. Sabbath throughout Scripture is an intentional thing, not something that is thrown together at the end.

The reality of being intentional also comes into play when it comes to our calendars and how we spend our time. Our lack of rest, while we often blame others, really comes down to our problem of stopping, trusting God, and being okay with not doing certain things.

You’ve heard me say that every time you say yes to one thing, you say no to something else.

Maybe you should take your kids out of activities so that you can spend the evening together. The number one complaint I hear from people is, “I don’t have time. I don’t have time for hobbies, sleep, marriage, relationships, kids, or reading my Bible.” You do; you just gave that time away. You give your time to the things that matter most. So what gets your time is what is essential. This is why taking control of your calendar matters. If you don’t control your calendar, someone else will.

Learn how you rest best. What does enjoying God look like? I think there are some basic principles, but each of us will do this in unique ways. If the goal of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, Sabbath rest is a great way to do this.

This will also include the reality of a place for all of us. Place matters when it comes to glorifying God, enjoying God, and resting in God.

The place is throughout Scripture. Adam and Eve were given a garden, the nation of Israel was given a land, and the church is given a city in Revelation. There is a place where rest, connecting to God, feeling closer to God happen for us, and it is essential to think through that. For some, it is a farm, the woods, a mountain, a city, a beach, but figure it out.

Fight against technology. A few practical things help me: resting from social media once a week, not having phones at the table so I can enjoy family time and conversations with friends, and not checking email at night or on the weekends. The sad thing is that study after study says that as we become more and more technological as a culture, we become more distant and lonely.

Review your day and week. In his helpful book The Rest of God, Mark Buchanan says that at the end of your day, ask: Where did I feel most alive, most hopeful, most in the presence of God? And where did I feel most dead, most despairing, farthest from God? What fulfilled me, and what left me forsaken? Where did I taste consolation, and where desolation? This helps you to see where God is moving and at work. Part of Sabbath rest is celebrating that God is in control, resting in that, and praising God’s goodness in our lives.

5 Ways to Lead When You Aren’t in Charge

Recently, I got to speak to a group of young leaders on how to lead when you aren’t in charge.

It isn’t easy to be on a team, to follow another leader, especially if you don’t respect them or like their vision. Yet, we will have to lead at different points in our leadership journey when we aren’t in charge.

I spent years not being in charge, and I didn’t lead well. I was prideful and not a very good follower, and God taught me many things. I stumbled through my early years of leadership. Then, after being a lead pastor for 12 years, God put me in a second chair for two years. It was hard, but exactly where I needed to be to learn some lessons about myself and leadership. Those two years have changed how I lead today in meaningful ways, but that’s a different post.

If you find yourself leading when you aren’t in charge, there are some essential things you can do. Now, if you google leading when you aren’t in charge, you will find a host of articles and podcasts that will say a lot of the same things: be humble, be teachable, know that you have influence where you are, etc. And those are all true. I’m going to assume that you already know those things and are doing those things; that’s why you’re a leader.

So, with that in mind, here are 5 other things you can do to lead when you aren’t in charge:

Be content where you are. You aren’t where you want to be or where you will ultimately be, and that’s frustrating, but it is also a good thing. 

A lot of leadership and following Jesus is about contentment. 

Be content. 

Be thankful too. You aren’t having to make certain decisions and carry a certain weight. 

If you weren’t in charge through covid, you didn’t carry a weight that others did. 

If you aren’t the lead pastor, you probably don’t feel the weight of making sure your whole church is protected, that the bills get paid, or whether you’ll have to shut down again because of covid or something else. Yes, you feel those weights to a degree, but not the way your lead pastor does. 

You don’t have everyone coming to you about something. That is a good thing. Yes, people come to you, but what do you do with that? You often “pass it up the chain” to the one leading.

I led worship at a large college ministry in college and then went on staff at a church as the student ministry worship leader. For the first three months, I didn’t lead worship. My boss had me reset rooms, move chairs, take out the trash, follow up with people, etc. I was so annoyed, and I told him so, because I was 19 and knew it all. He looked at me and said, “You’ll be on stage when you are content to be off stage.”

God wants to teach you things about yourself, Him, and others in this season. 

I love what Crawford Loritts said, “God won’t give you what you want because you won’t stick around long enough to get what you need.”

It is easy to quit; looking for an easy way out at this point, trying to force your way into a leadership position. But if you do, you might miss what you need for later.

Understand the person you follow.

As important as it is to know yourself and how you’re wired, and how your family and upbringing have affected you, it is equally important to know this information about the person you follow. 

Do they need time to process? Do they talk out loud? What do they value most, and why do they value that so much? What are their rhythms in terms of work? When is the best time to bring up an idea?

I had two bosses in one role, one wanted to speak in specifics, and when he said something, that was it. The other liked to process out loud and throw things at the wall. One wanted specifics when I came to him, and the other wanted me to share at the beginning of an issue so he could be involved. 

Could you get to know them, be a student of them? If you don’t know, ask them. If you are new to a church or team, ask a lot of questions of those you work with and work under. 

Know what you can change and can’t change under that person. 

Your boss, board, or leader cares about certain things. Some things are mission-critical that they are passionate about, and then other things they aren’t. You need to know what those things are. What is #1 on their list that they will protect against all costs?

Often, those things are non-negotiable, or you will have some difficulty changing those things. 

But what can you change?

Are there things they aren’t as clear on, as passionate about that you can experiment with? If so, spend some energy there. 

This also gets into understanding the team culture and dynamics. To change things, do you need to keep quiet, or bring them up? How does something get changed?

Be someone that can be counted on. 

The best thing you can do for those around you to gain more influence and move into the leadership roles you want is to be someone who can be counted on and gets things done. 

When you do this, you are making your boss’s job easier. 

One thing that people leading want to know is if their team is with them. Making sure your boss or leader knows you have their back in the meeting, and outside of the meeting matters greatly. 

In being someone who can be counted on, you also fulfill a vital leadership principle, making your boss’s job easier. 

Craig Groeschel refers to this as being the chief problem solver.

Know where the power resides. 

This might be one of the most important and overlooked things you need to know when you aren’t in charge. If you miss this and underestimate its power, you will find yourself in a world of hurt and going down the wrong road.

You need to know where the power resides in meetings, who makes things happen, and who stops things from happening. And know, this isn’t always the person at the top. It could be the gatekeeper for someone, the person with more details than others. I remember starting at a church and going through orientation and then having an admin tell me, “Now, let me tell you how things get done here.” That’s power.

If you don’t understand where the power resides, it will create a lot of headaches for you and missteps as you try to build influence.

When you aren’t in charge, you need to know who you influence and in what area. What area does each person influence (this isn’t always clear in job descriptions)? Who makes the final call on something? Who is responsible for carrying something out? Who sways the meeting when they speak? Who speaks first and last, and what does that do to the room?

Every church has a hierarchy, but you need to understand that what is written down is not always the way it is.

Know that you have influence.

Just because you are in charge doesn’t mean you hold all the influence. 

I’ve been at my church for almost a year. I have influence and power. 

The others on staff have more influence than I do because of how long they’ve been there. They have sat at more hospital bedsides and walked with more people than I have. Do not underestimate the influence you have in the seat you sit in. Relational influence is incredibly powerful in a church setting. 

As I was going through that hard season in Tucson, I had a mentor tell me something important: Know what you control, what you influence, and what is a concern. Too often, in our passion and excitement, we confuse these categories, and sometimes we need a friend or spouse to help us know the difference. 

Be clear on what you have control over or where you only have some influence. If you have some influence, know that it is more than none, and use what you have. Sometimes, it is something you are concerned about or don’t like, but you have no power or influence to change it. Too many leaders spend leadership capital on things that are a concern, something they’d like to change. That doesn’t make it not worth it, but it can be costly in the long run.