I am so excited about Mike Burnette’s new book, Parable Church.
Mike is an incredible leader, pastor, and scholar. Mike is one of my best friends, and I can assure you he lives what he teaches. The concepts from this book will help you love Jesus and the church better. Experience a fresh perspective through Parable Church.
Our sabbatical ended yesterday, and I am so glad to be back at work with new perspectives, deeper appreciation for God’s blessings, and a renewed awareness of my call.
I’m so grateful for the CIL family that made this time possible, and I look forward to loving and serving this faith community with more effectiveness in this next era of ministry.
As I am reflecting on our fantastic Easter services, I am amazed at how many committed people it takes to provide a church experience in the 21st century. I cannot adequately thank all the people who contributed sacrificially to make our celebration successful.
For all the important and accurate critiques of the modern church, this is our culture, and people in the United States are accustomed to worshipping in a particular manner. So, a successful service requires elements like professional childcare, skillful music, a comfortable building environment, a humorous and academic sermon, time efficiency, artistic expression, marketing, and strategic relational connections – to name a few things. These characteristics require great forethought and strategic planning. I have found that no matter how far ahead you think and work hard, there are always things you could have done better.
Still, unlike many award shows, concerts, or cultural events, we do this every week. Easter Sunday is special because Jesus has made every day special. The amazing volunteers at CIL and other churches will continue to bring it every week. Why? He is worthy of our best every time!
Eugene Peterson died last month (October 22, 2018) after a long life of service to the kingdom of God. He was an author, scholar, and pastor. I never met him, but his writings marked my ministry greatly.
His 2011 memoirs titled The Pastor, came into my life at just the right time. One of my pastors – Ronnie Meek – asked me to read Peterson’s book. It was a time of internal struggle with my call, and disillusionment with the modern definition of a pastor that I was watching destroy several of my colleagues while eating away at me.
In December 2011, Beth and I were exploring Chicago (see picture). As I followed Beth around Michigan avenue, I carried Peterson’s wisdom with a 1stedition Kindle Reader. Page after page, chapter after chapter, Peterson’s enjoyable stories and thought-provoking phrases chipped away at my hidden obsession to be to be a super-star religious leader.
In Peterson’s stories, I noticed my story in a new way. As he wrote, “I was a pastor long before I knew I was a pastor; I just never had a name for it.” God used this book to bring me back home to God’s call. Since that time, I have referred back to passages in The Pastormany times to re-center my call to this exhilarating, boring, spectacular, ordinary, complicated, privileged call to pastor God’s people.
…the pervasive element in our two-thousand-year pastoral tradition is not someone who “gets things done” but rather the person placed in the community to pay attention and call attention to “what is going on right now” between men and women, with one another and with God—this kingdom of God that is primarily local, relentlessly personal, and prayerful “without ceasing.” – Eugene Peterson
*Attention Nashville area pastors*
For many years I have been part of Third Thursday – a gathering for pastors at Axis Church in Nashville (1423 2nd Ave N). This eclectic group comes together for Friendship, Training, Discussion, Coffee, and Networking. All pastors are welcome!
On Thursday, August 16th we will meet at the Axis Church at 9am, with the discussion starting at 9:30am.
My dear friend, Pastor Dan Scott of Christ Church Nashville, will be leading the discussion on “The Pastoral Call for the 21st Century Pastor.”
If you have never sat under Dan’s ministry, make a point to join us. Pastor Dan has influenced my perspective on pastoring and the church’s role in culture profoundly. He is such a gift, and I hope you take advantage of this opportunity.
(PS— If you come, please do not park in the red barn’s parking lot)
I’m so grateful for a congregation that allows me to have a Sabbath each Friday, so I can reflect, recharge and recreate. Everyone in our church is so respectful of my time. Still, I want to serve people as much as I can. This quote is helpful when reflecting on the rhythm of ministry and rest.
“A public man, though he is necessarily available at many times, must learn to hide. If he is always available, he is not worth enough when he is available.” – Elton Trueblood
God is doing a tremendous work at CIL right now! We are witnessing higher participation, a deeper passion for worship, a hunger for Scripture, service to our community, and a culture of love. Together, we are being Jesus! We are the body of Christ!
August is traditionally a month of harvest for our church. Many visitors discover CIL during June and July, and when the rest of the congregation returns from vacation season, we usually have an electric atmosphere. With this probability in mind, here are a few things I am asking you to do:
– Invite. It’s a great season to bring friends to CIL.
– Pray. Let’s ask God for a season of momentum to help our church be everything God intends us to be.
– Be friendly. Your hospitality creates the culture of love the church needs.
– Volunteer. The nursery, elementary services, cleaning team and welcome team are some areas current and new volunteers can make a kingdom impact! If you are interested in joining one of those teams, let me know and I will connect you to those leaders.
– Give. The summer months has the highest expenses and the lowest contributions. As we anticipated, we have some catching up to do from this incredible summer of ministry. We plant in early summer, and harvest in August. Your tithe and generosity will help us remain strong financially. You can always give financially online through the church’s website. God uses your giving to build His kingdom. Here is the online giving link – https://my.simplegive.com/g3/
I am so excited about the future of CIL. I have been the pastor here for 9.5 years now, and I feel like things are just now starting! The best is right before us!
I love serving Jesus with you!
In the early 1990’s I attended a seeker church for the first time, and loved it! This church was reaching my friends, impacting our city, and presenting the message of Jesus in a fresh way. As a high school student who had grown up in church, this seeker church invigorated my faith and passion for Jesus. In those days, “seeker church” was not a dirty word.
Then, pastors discovered the seeker church movement in the 2000s, and it has been a downhill slide for the American evangelical church ever since. Instead of transformational art in church that attracts non-Christians, duplication has produced a bad imitation of culture on Sunday morning platforms. In my opinion, a lot of the cultural imitation churches now practice actually repels more non-believers than attracts them.
More disturbing than the bad programming is that Christians now expect church to be entertaining. The intent behind the seeker church movement was not to entertain Christians, but to engage non-Christians who found church irrelevant. Some churches still do the seeker-model well, but most do not.
Looking beyond what is happening inside the church, culture has changed so much in America over the last 25 years, that seeker churches are no longer relevant to Millennials and many Gen Xers (some Baby Boomers still enjoy hearing Journey cover songs in church). I believe the seeker-model was generally effective from 1975 when Willow Creek was launched until the September 11th era began. We fundamentally changed as a people after 9/11.
Superficial entertainment still has its place in our culture, but not in the church. When considering church, believers and non-believers both want sacred space each week to find meaning for their life. Relevancy is over. People are not looking for a relevant message, but a transformational message. I thank God for the impact the seeker church had on my life, but it is no longer 1992.
I am at the National Youth Workers Convention in Atlanta with our youth pastor, Matt Malone. It is great to see the vitality of this conference is the same as when I came as a youth pastor. Mark Matlock leads the 44 year-old organization called Youth Specialties that puts this conference on, so he does a lot of thinking about youth ministry. In recent years it has become popular to bash youth ministry, criticizing its effectiveness and even its Biblical mandate to exist. Mark gives some language that helps those of us who love and believe in youth ministry explain its importance.
I have summarized his five points:
Youth ministry is necesary because . . .
1. Youth Ministry assimilates a new generation into an intergenerational community.
2. Youth Ministry helps the church stay relevant.
3. Most people become Christians before they are the age of 18.
4. Unlike most entities, teenagers can fully participate in the church as teenagers.
5. Teenagers keep the church authentic, with fresh eyes to see Jesus’ way.
In August, I slipped into a youth service at CIL, and I was touched to see dozens of our students kneeling in prayer for persecuted Christians at the front of the church. This picture is why I love youth ministry.
You can access the Matlock’s blog post, and more of his thoughts on these five points by clicking here.
Here is Matlock’s same five points in the words he has chosen:
1. Youth ministry is vital to helping teens integrate into the larger intergenerational community of the church.
2. Youth ministry resists the status quo, helping a church stay relevant in a changing culture.
3. Youth ministry focuses on inviting those who are not already part of the church into the deeper narrative of God’s plan for humankind.
4. Youth ministry reminds the church that teens are not marginalized members of the body, but are co-creators and conspirators in the divine work of the church, restoring life on earth as it is in heaven.
5. Youth ministry helps the church focus on the way of Jesus, which goes beyond tradition, dogma, and ritual.
Our deepest desire is for a relational lifestyle. Our lifestyle does not leave room for relationships. This is the dilemma of life in the suburbs in the twenty-first century.
A life shared with meaningful conversation, and a sense of being known for who we really are, takes time. The relational life takes time. In our culture, time is money. It also takes time to develop and maintain a career, and the more productive you are, generally the more affluent you become. Taking time for relationships will cost you money (in the short-term). You will become less productive, which means you will make less money, and you will lose opportunity for advancement in your work.
Yet, once we pay the price for authentic relationships, the pay off is invaluable. The relationships we obtain are priceless. In addition, the benefits of authentic relationships are not just the intangibles. Long-term relationships are the doorways to the blessings of God. God moves through relationships. Almost every answer to prayer and kingdom opportunity that has come to me has occurred because of a relationship developed. I believe the phrase, “Our relationships today, are the answers to our prayers tomorrow.” So pay the price for authentic relationships because it will be the best investment of your time for tangible and intangible benefits.
Each month I meet with two groups of pastors (here is a recent “selfie” of one of those groups). These relationships are not based off of an agenda, an event or an obligation. We simply meet to laugh, encourage and talk. Some months it seems very inconvenient, and almost unproductive. Yet, the commitment to these fellow pastors as my personal small groups has contributed to my emotional health, my professional sustainability, and my overall happiness. These men have made me a better husband, father, and pastor. Relationships matter!
Aaron's Angle 