When it comes to ministry I have never understood the concept of enough.  I know my critics will say that I care too much about numbers or how big my ministry is but the simple fact of the matter is how much IS enough?  When are you capped off?  When do you reach the point of crossing the line of “that church is TOO big”?  At what point do you say to the next guy, “I’m sorry we are full go somewhere else.” (Basically saying in the literal since, “go to hell.”)

My daughter comes to me after being told to clean her room ever 15 minutes, “Is this clean enough?”.  It drives me crazy!  Many in the church have similar attitudes.  I want to do JUST enough to feel good about myself.  We use great excuses for enough, I need more time for “margin” or “family” or “me time”.  I don’t see that in scripture.  I do see in the heroes of the faith an urgency to tell as many people the Gospel of Jesus as possible.  They assembled massive crowds, and spoke boldly.  They endured, they pushed the envelope they never said ENOUGH.

Jesus when approached by his disciples in Matthew 14, after a long day of ministry the crowds were beginning to get hungry.  The disciples were to the point of enough of this it has been a long day, we did good, we are tired and hungry, let’s go!  Jesus didn’t believe in enough.  He took a kids sack lunch and fed 5000.  Jesus wasn’t finished, just because a struggle came the ministry didn’t stop.  Enough with Enough!

This is something that obviously God is stirring in me so if you find it totally random simply chalk it up as me needing to vent…hey it’s my blog!

I totally ripped the title off from Bill Hybels but it was good.  Today is Assistants day and I recognize that it is yet another holiday invented by Hallmark to sell cards it is a day I will gladly celebrate.  Nancy Webster is my ministry assistant and as I am typing this out she is scrambling around getting the church ready for students tonight.  I feel like I take advantage of her and the great thing about her is that she would find that offensive for me to say.

She is the picture of what a pastors assistant should be.

She protects my time – she schedules my appointments and protects my study time and my time off.

She protects my family – she gets in my face if it seems I am not spending time with my family.  Also she loves my family, she is a friend to my wife and loves my girls.

She protects me from me – she has total access to tell me when I am being a tail…and she HAS had to use it.

She loves and buys into our ministry – this is not just a paycheck for her, she views this as a calling for her.

She brings a solid voice to a room full of random, impulsive ones.

I hope that as pastors you appreciate what your assistants do for you and if they don’t do all that I included above I hope you grow stones and fire the one you have and hire someone like Nancy…I said LIKE Nancy!

Thanks Nancy…Happy Assistants day

Psalm 100:1-2  On your feet now—applaud God! Bring a gift of laughter, sing yourselves into his presence.

I love to laugh.  It is my favorite thing to do.  I love to make other people laugh.  I remember early in my ministry, trying to find “my voice”, trying to find the style that God would give me to present his word.  One Bible Study I just started making fun of Peter.  The kids rolled.  They said it finally made the Bible “real” to them.  That was it…my voice.

I have been told from time to time that I need to be more serious or more “pastoral”.  I don’t really know what that means or how to do that.  I could no longer stop using humor to present Gods word as I could do it in Russian.  I think God likes humor.  I see the way he talks to the pharisees and his use of hyperbole and irony to get them cornered and realize surely it would have made the people in ear shot snicker.

I love creativity, I am not that creative but I love it.  I love finding new ways to present an old story.  I love to wow people with the Gospel.  To the critics who say that is unnecessary I would just point out, was it really necessary for God to use a burning bush, a donkey, bright lights and angels at the birth, walking on water, ascending into heaven?  The answer is no, he didn’t have to but it was more effective communication and a lot cooler.

Now I am not saying that humor and creativity should outshine the truth of God’s word.  There has never been a time where truth is needed more.  However, if there is a better way to communicate.  If there is a way to make people smile or laugh while discovering the mysteries of God, shouldn’t we try?

I don’t know it is just a thought.  I am going to go watch Monte Python now.

Last night was Collide our joint Middle School/High School worship service.  One thing that has become a tradition for collide are our opening acts being BIG and a SPECTACLE…another tradition is them NOT working!  Last night felt a bit like a dog chasing a car and actually caught it…be careful not to bite off more than you can chew.  I love the spirit of our team that feels we can pull off anything.  However, a tip for us in the future and a tip for those of you who run productions is to make sure you CAN pull it off with EXCELLENCE, otherwise it is simply a distraction.

Last night was amazing, over 300 students + 40 adults, it was awesome to see that many teens worshipping God.  So, not to take away from what God DID do let me give you a few points on how to keep from catching YOUR car.

• If at all possible do a full run through, including tech.  This will allow you to find gliches ahead of time.
• Pray and get a red pen out.  Every GREAT idea doesn’t have to be done.
• Leave time in your program…creative elements always seem to take more time than you alot for.
• Make sure if you invite your senior pastor, all these things are done (last nights mistake)
• Don’t over analyze after it is over like I am now…rejoice that the Word of God was presented, worship took place and 345 people were exposed to the presence of God.