Life Pivots

Last night I spoke about how God will bring changes to our lives and I gave the example of my own journey coming from my previous church to Eastside. I shared about my personal struggle in the transformation of my ministry, because the two churches I have served has pastor are completely different. So why does God bring these changes in our lives? Speaking for myself, it was to allow me to stretch my ministry skills. The way I minister now is on a much more spiritual level than before. Now I am more in tune with the Holy Spirit than at any time in life. I am more aware and more sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit in my personal life and in my ministry. I feel more Pentecostal in my ministry!

One thing I didn’t say last night was the difference in the level of stress. Do I still get stressed? Absolutely, but now I don’t stay there very long, because I am surrounded by people who pick me up, dust me off, and get me on my way again. So if God is bringing change to your life, just go wherever He leads and expect great things, at the end of the day you will become better at what you are called to do.

One More Thing About the Gifts

When it comes to the gifts of the Spirit, I think most people want to be used but they are afraid. What they are afraid of is that the Holy Spirit may cause them to do something weird. Let’s be real here – sometimes the way we do things in the Pentecostal Church seems strange to people who haven’t been exposed to the Pentecostal ways of doing Church. Hey, I was raised in a Pentecostal Church and some of what I have seen has been pretty strange. But think about it – isn’t it a strange experience to have God visit us?

Let me show you what I mean. I am not around famous people very often. I don’t even know any famous people. So on the few occasions when I have been around or met someone famous the whole event was surreal. (I think this might be a fancy word for strange…I just looked it up and yes I can use it that way.) So how normal should things be if the very presence of God is with us? How normal should things be when we go into the “house of the Lord”? This last summer I went to Graceland, the home of Elvis. We were in the basement and there is a room where Elvis spent a lot of time with his friends and this lady standing next to me has her arm extended taking in the “spirit” of the room. See what I mean, even going to a famous person’s house you will see people doing strange things! By the way, I did it too cause Elvis is cool and I was hoping some of him would rub off on me – Gloria assured me it didn’t work.

So yes sometimes being Pentecostal will seem strange. But the thing about God is that we still get to decide how strange we will be. When we are used by the Spirit we are still in control. (1 Corinthians 14:32) As a matter of fact, I find that most of the time the gift that I am given to use often reflects my personality or a skill I have naturally. This isn’t always the case because sometimes the gift given is the gift needed for the circumstance. But quite often God who, by the way, knows me very well will use me in a gift that closely fits who I am.

Here is the bottom line, don’t let fear hold you back from being used by God. He doesn’t want to embarrass you, He wants to use you, and He wants you to be used successfully.

The Truth About Being Pentecostal

Ok, I admit it, we Pentecostals are sometimes emotional in our worship, our praying, and sometimes even in our preaching (my favorite is the guy who preaches so fast he can’t breathe and ends every sentence with “hut”.) but I can tell you that there is a really good reason for this --- Being Pentecostal is all about being in relationship with God. The thing that separates Pentecostals from mainstream believers is that we understand the reason Jesus sent the Holy Spirit was so that we could have a meaningful relationship with God – and that is why we have the power to witness and be used in the gifts of the Spirit. Let me say this again, the power comes from the relationship!

Funny isn’t it that we Pentecostals tend to be more legalistic when we have done everything possible to break away from the liturgy of the church service. We like our church services to have the anointing which we think is the opposite of having an outline for our services. As a matter of fact, we believe it is a real move of God when our service order is interrupted! Think of it, I work all week to plan a service that I hope God will interrupt! All that to point out that when it comes to Christianity, we tend to think of true Christianity as following rules…when what God really wants is relationship! And I have to ask myself; shouldn’t we Pentecostals have a better understanding of the relationship aspect of God since we put a high premium on the presence of God?

It is important to note that relationships have an effect on how we live and they even shape our view of life and the world. For instance, being married has changed my view of women. Becoming a parent has changed my opinions about parenting. (I was more of an expert until I actually became a parent). Every relationship causes me to change how I live and think. My opinions are shaped by my relationships. So it should come as no surprise that my life after coming into a saving knowledge of Jesus is different, not because of the rules, but because of the relationship I enjoy with God! As a Pentecostal, who is filled with the Spirit, with Christ dwelling within me I have an intimate relationship with God. That’s why I am Pentecostal. Part of me believes that I would struggle with being a Christian without being Pentecostal! Because I need a constant sense of the presence of God, through the Holy Spirit!

Now I have a service to plan and hopefully, God will interrupt it!

The Idiot’s Guide to Criticism (Sorry about the “Idiot” part)

In Sunday’s message I addressed the subject of criticism, so not being smart enough to leave it alone, I have some things I would like to add.

There is nothing wrong with criticizing – it is an American tradition! And yes even the church and the pastor need to be criticized from time to time. If there is something that needs to be changed then criticism may be the only tool to fix it. So since we are going to allow criticism can we at least have some rules? Ok, I admit I looked through the Bible and I didn’t find anything that condones being critical (maybe even the opposite) so there is no way I found any scriptural basis for these rules. I also prayed and as of now I still haven’t heard back from anyone, Father, Son, nor the Holy Spirit.

Rule #1 - Whatever is criticized needs to be about something really important. Here is a standard we could use: Will Jesus be glad this was criticized? I know that raises the bar pretty high but since the Bible doesn’t really condone being critical maybe it would be best to minimize its use – so save it for the important stuff.

Rule #2 – Address your criticism to someone who actually can affect change. I have to tell you and I think this is true for any leader; I really don’t like hearing criticism second hand. And truthfully, the subject of the criticism then becomes secondary to the issue of who is being critical. Because when a criticism comes second hand it is really hard to judge its validity. So your criticism may be important, yet it gets lost because you didn’t take it to the right person. Also when you make a critical statement to someone, who is not a leader and not used to hearing these kinds of things, you put at risk the salvation of that person. I know this sounds like an overstatement, but from my experience I can tell you it is not. Here’s what happens, there is someone perfectly satisfied with the leadership they are under in the church and they hear a critical statement and they will begin down a path that make them question the validity of that leader – not based on something that really affects them but based on something said and it changes their perception. Also if you are being critical of a leader to someone other than that leader then all you are doing is venting. Venting is the cousin of the lost temper. (My apologies to any of my cousins who may read this) NO VENTING!

Rule #3 – If you are going to criticize than at the very least offer your help in making the change if it is needed. It will also go a long way towards getting your criticism addressed. Maybe your leader doesn’t know how to make the change or have the skill or tools to make it happen. Offer your assistance it takes the pressure off of the leader and it shows you are committed to the success of that ministry!

Rule #4 – Let the leader decide how to act on the criticism. That includes making a change, making a change now, making a change later, or maybe even making no change at all. Once you have expressed your opinion, and then let that be the end. Please let your leaders have a free hand to lead. For all you know there is someone else against the change you are advocating and they might have view that you can’t see.