Perhaps you’ve heard attempts to explain the Trinity like I have. The egg illustration (shell, white, yolk) or water illustration (water, ice, steam) immediately come to my mind. The problem is, all these illustrations come up very short in explaining what Christians fully mean by the word “Trinity” when trying to explain God. The Trinity is one of the doctrines of the church that is hardest for me to make sense of. I wrestle with it very often–even sometimes question its truthfulness. I think what it is trying to describe will always elude me to some degree. It’s not easily explained with rational arguments or illustrations. That being said, today a thought came to me. Maybe the concept of the Trinity is harder to understand than it really needs to be. The Church is supposed to be a reflection of God. We are supposed to illustrate who He is to this world–it’s our main job. But what do we see instead, a Church that is fragmented. A church that is not One. Yet that’s what the Trinity tries to portray, three persons–all equally God as singular persons, but yet one God. What if the Church looked like that? Local churches (who do not need other bodies to fully be the church), yet not many churches, but One Church. Just like God himself. Perhaps if the Church would do a better job of being one in unity, fellowship, resources, camaraderie, mission, outreaches, etc., then we could have something on earth that better reflects a Trinitarian God, and it might be a little easier to conceptualize God as...

I’ve written quite a bit about my frustrations with how church leaders view their ministries and whether they are successful or not. Yesterday, while at the bookstore, I saw a book I never heard of before, written a few years back by John Piper entitled, Brothers, We are Not Professionals: A Plea To Pastors. Not having read the book, I’m not sure what it all entails, but I love the title. I was thinking…you know, out of over 2,000 years of church history, it’s only in the past 60 years or so that churches have developed this mindset of “driven” ministry that seems to be commonplace all around us. It really is spiraling out of control, IMO. This idea that we must do everything “well” and do all we can to grow a successful church with a plethora of staff, ministries, resources and congregants simply isn’t the model of a healthy church given to us in past centuries. Instead, when we look back at history, we remember people of faith who were earnest to draw close to God and boldly follow His call, often losing it all in the process. It was those times when the church sought success, personal gain, or power that we are most embarrassed to look back on. This morning as I was driving, I was reminded of a sermon I heard awhile back on Jesus’ words in Luke 10:20: However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. The disciples, budding leaders as they were, had just returned from some “successful” ministry. Today, I think Jesus might say the same thing to us church leaders. I think He would caution us against this mindset of foolish frustration when things aren’t “happening,” and subsequent celebration when things turn around in our favor. We have become focused on the wrong things. I think today Jesus would call foul and blow the whistle on “excessive celebration” centered on what’s happening in the Sunday arena. Just like immature football stars, we are glorifying our successful plays. I think He would be equally disappointed in other church leaders who are coveting their neighbor’s “success.” Success now determines whether church...

This is something I’ve thought about quite a bit in regards to leading our church. What do we want our church to be like in 10 years? For the months of September and October, I met with our church leadership team and then our church body on a weekly basis to hammer through some of these things. As I’ve thought about this question, I keep coming back to the underground church. While so many churches are trying to become more like Willow Creek, or Saddleback, or North Point…I think the underground church even better exemplifies the kind of church Jesus desires. Why? I think the underground church relies more on the Holy Spirit, because it doesn’t have so many resources at its disposal like the American church has. Yet it seems like churches in the US are in a rat race to obtain more and more resources–bigger buildings, larger crowds, better giving. How is the underground church able to grow so exponentially w/out any buildings, paid staff, large crowds, or enormous giving? I think the underground church could care less about talent and cares more about spirituality. I keep seeing over and over how our churches in America crave talent. We want someone super-talented to work with kids or youth. Someone super-talented to lead worship. Someone super-talented to preach on Sundays. I think this is one of the worst trappings we find ourselves dealing with in America. First, it eliminates 98% of our congregations from leading ministries (and we wonder why so few are involved in our churches). Second, it infers that we rely on man’s abilities far more than God’s. Gone are the days of Paul, when he’d rather come in weakness, boast about his weaknesses, and ridicule riches, persuasive words, or talents. I think those who are involved in underground churches are more devoted to Christ than our congregations are. Because they follow Christ at the risk of their own lives, there is an authenticity to their faith. I am sure that when it’s praise and worship time, they press in (even though the music sucks or is completely absent). When it’s time to hear Scripture, they’re all ears (even if it’s the same passage over and...

This past month, our church has been meeting, among other times, at 6:18 am on Wednesday and Sunday mornings to study Scripture together and pray. My favorite part of this study is hearing the Holy Spirit speak through others at the study. My second favorite part is driving home on Highway 85, seeing the mountains on the right and watching the sun come up on the left. I can’t remember when was the last time I saw the sun come up before we started doing this. I guess in Alabama, it is so hilly, etc that you can’t really see the sun come up unless you’re on top of one of the hills at that time. A bigger obstacle, however, has been that I never get up in time to see it rise. 🙂 Come to think of it, when I had video jobs in Atlanta, I’d see the sun come up as I drove east on I-20, but once again, it wasn’t nearly as visible as here. In Ault/Nunn the ground is so flat, there are very little trees or buildings. On the way to the Bible study, everything is pitch black. On the way home, however, the sky is already lit–although the sun isn’t here yet. It usually arrives by the time I get home. Watching the sunrise got me thinking. This marvelous thing happens every single day, and very few of us enjoy the grandeur of it. If you want to see the “bigness” of God, get to a place where you can see the sunrise. One day, while waiting for the sun to rise, I imagined that the sun was the “Son.” Jesus said He was coming back one day, but He hasn’t returned yet. Even though the sun hadn’t arrived yet, the sky was bright. In fact, when I stepped out of the church and into my car that morning, I thought I’d missed the sunrise. As I started driving, however, I realized it wasn’t here yet. Isn’t that a great analogy for Christ? He hasn’t returned yet, but His light is shining everywhere through the rays of the Holy Spirit. We cannot doubt that He is right around the corner, about to appear....

If you’re on staff at a church, you know that every day leading up to Sunday becomes just a little more stressful. It seems like Sundays come around all too quickly. While everyone else complains about how slow the week goes, and how long it takes for the weekend to arrive, I have the opposite feeling. That’s how it felt when I was a youth pastor, and still feels the same way as a pastor. It’s as if there’s not enough days in the week to get everything done that I’d like to get done. On top of this, Sunday is the busiest and most stressful day of the week–the day of the week most people consider their Sabbath day of rest. For the staff person, this simply isn’t so. I’m more worn out that day than any other day of the week. So when Monday comes, I feel like just crashing. If I do this, however, that leaves only Tuesday through Friday to be in the office and get things done for Sunday. When you already feel like there aren’t enough days in the week to get things done, it presents a challenge to take one of those days off. For the past two weeks, I’ve decided to just take Mondays off anyway. When it comes down to it, how can I call myself a pastor if I refuse to follow one of the Ten Commandments? This past Monday, Audra gave me Sarah while she showered and got ready for the day. That turned into Sarah falling asleep on me and not waking up until 11 am. So I had no choice but to nap with her! That meant a whole half day of doing absolutely nothing but just lying there. Part of me wanted to say: You just wasted half a day. Another part of me wanted to say: You needed that rest, why feel guilty about taking a Sabbath? I think it will always be a struggle to take Mondays off. This week, there were emails to be sent, phone calls to be made, etc., but I resisted and waited until Tuesday to start any of it. It was hard to do that. For a good...