In my sermon this past weekend, I shared several demotivational slogans from Despair.com. They are parodies of the motivational posters you can hang in your office. One of my favorites was this one: "Underachievement: Because soaring with the eagles requires so much more effort." As funny as that it is, it's also true. Because achievement, effectiveness, and success require work, there are some who opt to underachieve. It's easier to be average. Coaches who turnaround losing teams understand that it requires more -- not less -- work. Breakthrough leaders in any field have a low tolerance for quitting. Artists or engineers who pursue excellence do so knowing that it comes with a cost. As hard as it might be, when you reach cruising altitude, the view makes the hard work worth the effort.
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One of my older brothers had a 1972 MGB that had sheet metal welded in the floor board because the bottom had rusted out. Then again, this was the same car that started using a screwdriver. The gas gauge didn't work either. I loved that car! From the sidewalk, it looked like a nice car. But if it hadn't been for a local welder, the big hole in the floor would have made it impractical -- if not dangerous -- to drive. That's how corrosion works. It ruins what otherwise looks nice and it's often the most dangerous when it is hidden. Have you ever noticed how corrosive pride can be? Left unchecked, pride begins to corrode away a person's character. In order to maintain an image, pride might lead a person to fudge a little about the facts. Then fudge a little more. Before long, the corrosive nature of pride…
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On May 3 and 4 I was affirmed as the next Senior Pastor at Mountainview. Below is the note I sent to our church. ********** Tonya and I are humbled by your confidence in us. We relocated from San Diego to South Denver because we were excited about the vision of Mountainview reaching people who did not have a relationship with Jesus. We believed there was tremendous potential both inside and outside of Mountainview. We are still excited and are still convinced that South Denver needs healthy, growing churches. More so, God has blessed our church with the human resources (that means you!) to make a significant impact on South Denver and the world. Mountainview is a resilient church that has always looked forward. Beginning with our days in the grade school, we have had a willingness to reach people no one else was reaching. That often meant we had…
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"God must love the common people, he made so many of them." - Abraham LincolnCommon is an interesting word. There are times it is good to have "things in common." A common purpose or goal. Christ-followers share a common bond.Sometimes it's not so good to be common -- especially if being common means settling for ordinary when extraordinary is possible.In many respects, it's not a far slide from being common to feeling average to becoming apathetic.Jonathan Rauch, in an article for the Atlantic Monthly, coined a term to describe his own spiritual condition: apatheist. It wasn't that he did or didn't believe in God; he just didn't care.We may have a growing number of apatheists in our culture. But a genuine reading of the gospel will not allow for indifference.
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We recently started a new weekend series at Mountainview called "New Life." In it, we're looking at the people who found new life in the book of Acts. For the first two weekends, we've spent our time in Acts 8. While reading through the chapter, one paragraph jumped out at me. Luke, the historian and author of Acts, simply records the paragraph as a matter of fact -- not with commentary about what this means for church growth or how to expand your ministry impact. Yet, it is filled with impliciations about growing your church and expanding your impact. Here it is (with my emphasis in bold): 4 Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. 5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. 6 And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying with…
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