Ecclesiastes 12:10

Monday morning scattershooting while wondering, if Walker Texas Ranger was the first reality television show?     My friend Monte Ginnings often would say to me, “ there is no right way to do the wrong thing; however there is a wrong way to do the right thing” .  That axiom is very true when it comes to church work.  I see a lot of us trying to do the right thing but the wrong way.  When we attempt to spread the Gospel but do it harsh and disrespectful way.  When we try to correct error but rather that teaching in a patient way we grow angry and lash out.  When we let personal attacks hit us in such a way that we feel justified in returning “fire with fire”.  Our cause is just but our methods are anything but. Paul mentions that “wrong way right thing” mindset in Philippians 1:15-17. “Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am a...

Monday Morning Scattershooting while wondering about my obsession with Stockholm Syndrome. At first I thought it was a bad thing but now I am starting to really like it.   I worry about redundancy in my preaching.   Redundancy is when you just keep doing the same things over and over.  It's kind of like the lessons are in a feedback loop, they keep returning to the same subjects over and over.  As a listener, I hated when a preacher would get up and a minute into the lesson I’m think this again? Now for a preacher to some degree, repetitiveness is your job.  Your job is repetitiveness. You are doing your job by being repetitive. The truth of the Gospel need to be taught again and again [*] . But redundancy can take your symphonic ideas and turn them into background elevator muzak.     So how do you avoid redundancy? Here are some things I have tried  1.  Keep Good Records The computer age has been very helpful in ...

Monday Morning Scattershooting while wondering why they call it a Fiat? Probably because if you get mad enough, you can throw one.    I always thought that Bible class numbers are a more accurate measure of the health of a church than worship attendance. I think it was Ira North that said “ as the Bible class goes, so goes the church ”.  But even those numbers can be off if we don’t make Bible class a priority in the church.  I've seen lots of churches that have poor class number because they don’t really make the classes worth attending. I’m focusing on adult Bible classes since if the adults come then the children will as well. [*] Here are some things that might help to fix that:              1. It’s all about the options.     If you only give folks a choice between one type of class and not coming, more people will take that choice to not come.  More classes make for smaller cla...

Monday Morning Scattershooting  while wondering if Plato says that the unexamined life is not worth living, what if the examined life turns out to be a clunker as well?     I happen to like comic books.  And yes from time to time I have been known to slip a comic book quote in my lessons.  So don’t think too low of me when I tell you one of my principals of ministry comes from Batman.  When Batman is asked to be part of the Justice League he agrees on one condition, “Gotham comes first”.  Now being that the Justice League deals with worldwide crisis and Gotham is in the world so one could argue that he could be doing things with the Justice League all the time and still be taking care of Gotham, but that isn't what he meant.     “Gotham comes 1 st ” means that his primary role is Gotham’s protector and he won’t let other thing keep him from that role no matter how important.  I try to keep a “Gotham comes 1 ...

Monday Morning Scattershooting while wondering why people think I'm being condescending. It’s just that I'm too busy thinking about far more important things they wouldn't understand.     I have to admit I am getting a little tired of Facebook.  To be honest I never much cared for it. [1]   Now however the noise is getting a little overwhelming.  Too many opinions, too much information, too much bickering, too much meddling, too many busybodies.  For some reason, people can’t handle making comments.  I now avoid the comment section on any website. Not that there are not good point in some discussions, but to get to them you have to wade thru so much junk.  I still can’t believe how people don’t think about what they are saying in public forums.  Maybe it is the false mask we think we have online.  We will say things to a screen that we would never say to person.  As Oscar Wilde put it, “ Man is least himself when h...

Monday Morning Scattershooting  while wondering if we say e very cloud has a silver lining. Tell me again how a silver lining helps me?  One thing I have learned is people are often more comfortable and responsive in a personal bible study with a member than they are with a preacher. It may be that perception that it’s the preacher’s “job” to teach while it is more personal when it is just an "ordinary" person. It makes me wonder if we should think about this in other areas as well.  One of the most unique differences about the church of Christ compared to denominations is that the true leaders are the elders and not a singular “pastor”. Elders are not “professional” pastors, as the world perceives pastors.  They are truly shepherds that live among the sheep.  I think most folks would be shocked to find out a church where the leaders are not in it for the money or title but rather to serve for the betterment of others.  In a world that sees mi...

Monday Morning Scattershooting  while wondering, If these “blast points are too accurate for Sandpeople” and “Only Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise” (I have seen Stormtroppers shoot and they couldn't hit a main character in 3 movies, even slow moving androids) how bad of a shot are Sandpeople?    It seems everyone is talking about the Supreme Court decision on same sex marriage.  It got me thinking about the main argument I hear, even sadly among Christian, of the need to re define marriage.  Basically, that it is unfair to not extend family and spousal benefits to those that have non traditional unions.  So we need to re define marriage so as not to cause harm to people. Since we now expect our health care and retirement benefits to come from the government or employers, people can be kept from necessary services since they are not technically “married”.  So government needs to make a new definition to help people.  ...

Monday morning scatter shooting while thinking, no matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery     I did a sermon recently on the “ The Danger of Debt ”.  I really think it’s something preachers need to talk about.  Look at the stats.  In 2009, roughly 1 in 4 (24.8%) of American households had zero or negative net worth. That means if you’ve no debts and have $10 in your pocket you have more wealth than 25% of Americans.  Americans owe $2.6 trillion dollars and based on the latest Census statistics, that works out to be nearly $8,500 in debt for every man, woman and child that lives here in the US.  The average credit card debt among undergraduate college students is about $2,748   Debt can be dangerous for churches, (can’t do the work of the church because we are trapped paying off excessive mortgages) saints, (we can’t give as we are prospered, since most of our money is tied up in our debt), preachers (chan...

Monday Morning Scattershooting while wondering,  why they have a sign road saying 'Falling Rocks'. What exactly am I supposed to do with that information? They may as well have a sign saying "Random accidents ahead"    A preacher friend once told me a lazy man can hide for a long time in ministry.  The older I get the more I see that to be true.  Ministry has totally different set of hours than any other profession.  There are times when you are so busy you can’t even eat and there will be those that accuse you of never working.  Other times you will have done nothing and people will pat you on the back for you efforts.  Unfortunately, the perception of how much you work is what people often look at, not at the real amount of work.  Some people think if your car is at the building when they drive by you are working, even if you are nowhere to be found.     The temptation comes to a minster to manipulate perception to...

Monday Morning Scattershooting while wondering,  If violence is never the answer,what if the question is,“what is never the answer”. Then it is violence even though violence is never the answer    A sports radio station I listen to is known for having hot sports opinions. They like the host to have controversial thoughts on everything. “Jerry Jones the owner needs to fire Jerry Jones the general manager!”  “The Rangers need to get some pitching right now!” “The designated hitter is ruining baseball!”  While this may make for good talk radio, I don’t think it is the best way for a preacher to operate.  I see some preachers spending a lot of time trying to stir up controversy and conflict.  They are quick to throw in their two cents on every issue.  This may stir up the comment sections and boost their fame but I don’t think it much helps the cause of Christ.  Recently I ran across a fellow that was setting some bear traps [1]...

Monday Morning Scatter Shooting  while wondering  w hy I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes? Jeff Jenkins had a wonderful post ( http://thejenkinsinstitute.com/2013/02/top-10-things-preachers-love-about-preaching-at-least-the-preachers-we-contacted-for-this-article/ ) about the great things about being a preacher.  One item that wasn't on the list was how preachers get to work mostly with Christians.  As a preacher, my coworkers are Christians. My bosses are Christians. The people I have meeting with are Christians.  Now any good preacher has his dealing with the world but he does have a much better work environment than most of the average members do.  Preachers don’t have to deal with a lot of the worldly things that an everyday job does. The dishonesty, sexual talk, the three martini lunches, all the negative influence the world has on the market p...

Monday morning scatter shooting while wondering why all the gold in California is in a bank in the middle of Beverly Hills. Does this seem like sane finical planning to you?    I was reading an article this week about how no one mails out bulletins anymore.  It lamented how many good thoughts and idea are no longer spread this way.  I understand that sentiment.  I used to read twenty or thirty different bulletins a week that came into the office. But over the years it dwindled to just four or five.  The Postal service with its rate increase and every changing bulk mail requirement has effectively killed the effort.  My new replacement is Twitter and the blog sphere.  Lots of good preacher will link to their writings. It never ceases to amaze me how many good idea I get from these posts. Sometimes I blatantly use the CASE method (Copy And Steal Everything) other times one line will take me into a totally new direction.  Ideas ...

Monday Morning scatter shooting  while wondering;   If they say 1/3 of all workplace accidents go unreported. How do they know?    I once had a elder describe a person as a Biblical since he “ appears for a little while and then vanishes away”( James 4:14). Some verses are easy to apply to people. I would like to think that someone might apply Acts 18:24 to me, (an eloquent man … mighty in the Scriptures). But my guess is it probably is one of these; Top Ten verses you don’t want applied to you as a preacher           1.  2nd Corinthians 10:10   For they say, "His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible ."           2.  Jeremiah 1:6  Then I said, "Alas, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak,            3. Job 19:17   "My breath is offensive to my w...