The Fastest Year
Yesterday was my one-year anniversary as the Senior Pastor at Asbury Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma; I started my new job at August 1, 2022.
It’s been the fastest year of my life.
My favorite thing about being a pastor—by far—is knowing people over time. I knew when I left Munger I might never be able to have that same experience again—the great privilege of knowing people over time in such a personal way. At Asbury, I was immediately thrust into a situation in which I had to lead people without being able to know them personally. One of the major lessons I’m learning is how to lead a large group of people, many of whom I have no personal connection with. Asbury is a big church—at least compared to most American churches—and we have a large staff. At Munger, our staff was very small and leadership was always personal for me, both with regard to our staff and even in the congregation, since the congregation grew up over time; though I of course didn’t know everyone, I nevertheless had a personal connection with a sizable percentage of folks on any given Sunday. Here at Asbury, even the staff is too big for me to lead through personal connection. Rather, I’m learning that leadership is about providing clarity, and then asking and inspiring other people to get things done. For someone like me who thrives on personal connection, that could be very difficult, so I’m grateful that folks here have been so eager to follow my lead and run in the direction I’m running.
Right off, I was asked to help us over the finish line of disaffiliation, and it happened! That churchwide vote last August made me nervous—what if folks didn’t trust my leadership? When the total came back that afternoon as overwhelmingly in support of disaffiliation and the direction we were going, I was personally grateful—that result caused me to think, “Maybe this will work!”
The attitude of the Asbury congregation toward what I’m asking us to do and to where I’m asking us to go has been one of eager enthusiasm, particularly in our older members. I’ll never forget asking folks to wear running shoes to church as a sign that we were ready to run, and they did! Or the entire Administration Council showing up to an evening meeting in running shoes to show they were ready to run. Or the Ad Council surprising me in my office on Easter Sunday to pray over me. Or the congregation wearing Hawaiian shirts on Pentecost Sunday, just because I asked them to.
I’m proud of the sermons I’ve preached this past year, starting with that first Sunday. (I do remember one sermon from February in which I was walking around the stage hoping to stumble across the point of my sermon; I’m sorry to say I don’t think I ever found it! My apologies to everyone who had to listen to that one.) I never pulled any punches; in fact, I came to Asbury committed to doing my best to say what’s true, even when I’m afraid. And sometimes, being afraid caused me to double-down and be more bold!
One of the other lessons I’ve been learning is the importance of controlling and capturing one’s thought life. My wife has been on me for not being grateful enough, and she’s right—grateful thoughts don’t come naturally to me. (In fact, I preached a whole sermon in December on the connection between gratitude and happiness—I was definitely preaching to myself that week for sure.) So, looking back over the past year, I want say again just how grateful I am. Grateful to all the kindnesses the Asbury congregation has shown me and my family, and grateful to the Lord who blesses even when we don’t deserve it.
So, here I am beginning Year Two. I came back from summer vacation really excited to be coming back and really fired up at the work ahead—I looked forward all week to seeing folks this past Sunday, which is a great feeling. I’m grateful that the Lord’s not done with me yet, and he’s not done with Asbury yet. And I’m reminded again of that scene from The Hustler (from the blog post I wrote about it one year ago):
Fast Eddie (Paul Newman) and Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason) have been playing pool for 25 hours straight, and Fast Eddie has been winning—he’s been wiping the floor with the Fat Man, and is over $11,000 up. There’s a break in the action, and Minnesota Fats goes to the washroom and freshens up. He combs his hair, cleans his fingernails, straightens his tie.
Then he comes out, dries off his hands, slides into his suitjacket—it’s a beautiful three piece suit he’s wearing—fixes his boutonniere on his lapel, and has the steward pour a little bit of talcum powder on his hands.
He looks absolutely magnificent, the picture of masculine elegance, calm, cool, controlled.
And then he looks at Eddie and he says,
“Fast Eddie, let’s play some pool.”
The past is the past—all that matters is now. It’s time to focus, and time to win.
Alright Fast Eddie, let’s play some pool.
Let’s GO.
My 9 Word Strategic Plan
I believe that the most important thing a leader provides is clarity; if the vision is clear, it almost doesn’t matter what the vision is (as long as it’s not wicked). So, I’ve often joked that if the vision is
“We’re gonna be the cheeseburger church—everyone who comes on Sundays will be served a cheeseburger;”
And if that vision is clear,
Then the church will grow.
Clarity is actually really difficult to achieve, but once the vision is clear, everyone wins.
(I was joking about the “cheeseburger church” thing, but I think I could actually get behind that idea. Who’s with me? Maybe it just means I’m hungry.)
Keystone Habits
I’m a big believer in what Charles Duhigg calls “keystone habits.”
A keystone habit is a behavior that, though it might seem small, will have a cascading effect into other areas of a person’s life. So, for example, take exercise:
“When people start habitually exercising, even as infrequently as once a week, they start changing other, unrelated patterns in their lives, often unknowingly. Typically people who exercise start eating better and becoming more productive at work. They smoke less and show more patience with colleagues and family. They use their credit cards less frequently and say they feel less stressed. It’s not completely clear why.…‘Exercise spills over,’ said James Prochaska, a University of Rhode Island researcher. ‘There’s something about it that makes other good habits easier.’”
Committing to the right keystone habits is HUGE, since those repeated behaviors will drive everything else.
I’m much more interested personally and professionally on focusing on inputs than I am on outcomes.
What are the inputs that will set me up for success?
What are the habits that will prepare Asbury for what’s next?
My 9 Word Strategic Plan
So, here’s my 9 word strategic plan for Asbury:
One psalm a day, every day, for 150 days.
It’s not exciting. It’s not glamorous. It’s not impressive.
But if Asburians develop the habit of beginning their days in silence and in scripture, if we commit to daily consistency and not worry overmuch about intensity, if we learn the practice of praying through our emotions to the Lord, in 150 days we’ll be in fighting shape.
“One psalm a day, every day, for 150 days.”
Why I Will Never Again Cancel Worship* (for Weather or Otherwise)
The picture above is from Ash Wednesday 2021 at Munger Place Church; not only did we have worship outside in ice and snow that day, but the Texas power outage meant that many of us weren’t even able to go home and warm up in our comfortable houses!
But you know what? That was one of my favorite worship services of these last 2 pandemic years. (And not because I preached in ski goggles.)
With ice and snow in our forecast, I’ve been thinking a lot about the importance of Christian worship, and thought that some of you might be interested in my conclusions and convictions.
Why I Never Again Want to Cancel Worship*
One of my convictions after living through these last 24 months of a worldwide pandemic:
I will never again cancel weekly worship* (due to bad weather or any other reason).
[Note the asterisk, however!]
These last 24 months have convinced me that nothing is more important than the gathering of God’s people to worship the Crucified Lord.
I really mean that, and though I might have said that in February 2020, in February 2022 I know it.
This means that, despite the bad weather in the forecast for Thursday, we will NOT cancel our weekly Thursday 6 PM worship service this week. (And, God forbid, if weather causes problems into Sunday, we won’t cancel services then, either.)
Now, About That Asterisk*
When I say that I never want to cancel “worship,” I need to clarify a bit.
What I mean is, no matter the situation, I firmly believe we should never completely cancel worship; we will have some kind of worship gathering. But, that does not necessarily mean that worship will look like normal. In fact, there are many circumstances that will cause us to change what worship normally looks like.
Here’s what I mean:
Say the roads are unsafe for drivers. Well, I live within walking distance to church; if the roads are bad, I’ll put on my boots and walk. I’ll be at church no matter what.
We’ve told our staff to stay home if they feel unsafe or uncertain for any reason. I trust them and trust them to make wise decisions for themselves. The same goes for our musicians and volunteers, and of course for our childcare workers. (In bad weather, we will certainly cancel childcare.)
But if none of our staff or volunteers is able to make it, guess what? I’ll grab a hymnal and lead the congregation present in singing “Amazing Grace”!
If the power goes out, then I’ll gather folks in the icy parking lot and we’ll have a worship service under the cold sky.
The point: I will personally ensure we will have worship somehow, no matter what.
Note That I Said I Never Want to Cancel “Worship”
I said we will never cancel “worship.” There are many scenarios (bad weather being only one example) when we would certainly cancel groups, classes, events, meetings, etc. And, although tonight I’m thinking primarily about weather, my experience during this pandemic has taught me that it is possible to make weekly worship happen even in difficult and dangerous circumstances. For example, because of the pandemic, at Munger we met outside all winter long last year. When you are committed and creative enough, weekly worship is possible. It wasn’t the easiest—and Lord knows that there are lots of folks who have strongly disagreed with my leadership during this pandemic!—but I’m so glad we worked hard to make it happen.
Why This Matters So Much to Me
I think about the saints, martyrs, and apostles who treasured the gospel and literally gave up their lives to ensure that I would hear it, and I think about that gospel and the amazing message it contains—hope beyond hope, life beyond death—and then I think about my short life and the beautiful responsibility that I have received from the ones who’ve gone before, namely to steward the gospel and ensure that a people yet unborn will hear the Good News, and I think about the underground church in China today, and the literal underground church of the Romans catacombs 2,000 years ago, and the relentless pressure we all face to lose hope and give in to despair, and about how worship is fundamental to our belief that God’s love is stronger than the forces of death, and so I conclude:
Nothing is more important than the gathering of God’s people in joyful, grateful worship around the Crucified Lord.
Nothing.
Make the Best Decisions for Your Household
Many of us can walk to church; many of us cannot. I personally can walk to church, and I’m gonna, come hell or ice water. But as I said above, we’ve encouraged our staff not to come to church if for any reason they feel it’s unsafe to do so. And, I’d say the same to you:
You should NOT come to church if it’s unsafe for you to do so—I trust you to make your own prudential decision about whether you should come or not.
There’s always another Sunday, and if I don’t see you, please know I will not even think twice about it—I’ll know that you’ve made the best decision for your household.
(And by the way, there are lots of churches that don’t have walkable streets around them, and I’m also trusting that those churches—should they make decisions to cancel worship—are also making the best decisions for them. This is about me and my circumstances, not others and their circumstances.)
No Storms Last Forever
I know that my kids—and me!—are hoping for a nice snowfall.
(As long as we don’t lose power! Please God, let us not lose power!)
I’m also hoping that all of you stay safe, and I look forward to seeing all of you at church when both this storm and the pandemic blow over.
Nothing lasts forever, and spring always arrives, right on time.
P.S. Pics From Ash Wednesday 2021
Note the orange ladder on which I am perched as I preach my Ash Wednesday message in the freezing cold.
Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return;
Repent, and believe the gospel.
I Have Become a Televangelist
A few weeks ago I decided that a quarantine was inevitably going to come upon us, so I bought a bunch of home video equipment that would allow me to broadcast from my home office.
Tomorrow, I make my debut as a televangelist. [3/15/2020 at 9:30 AM, CDT—here’s the link.] Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be buying a private jet any time soon, so I have a long way to go in my new career.
I’ve done a few live test videos so far, and everything seems to be working perfectly, though the lights make me sweat! The photo above is from this morning and is an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the glamorous life of a startup televangelist.
I’m planning on releasing as many videos and blog posts as I can crank out in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.
Pray for me!
![[Here’s a screenshot from a video I did this morning. From the viewer’s perspective, everything looks pretty good.]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d70f59aefca59000162e4e6/1584208202892-JXVDAADGU69ECB742S4W/Screen+Shot+2020-03-14+at+12.48.12+PM.png)
[Here’s a screenshot from a video I did this morning. From the viewer’s perspective, everything looks pretty good.]
How to Watch
We’ll be using Facebook Live. Here’s the schedule for Sunday, March 15, 2020
09:30 AM - Live Music
10:00 AM - Live Message
Watch at www.mungerplace.org/watch. We’ll post some documents with the scripture passage and song lyrics there as well.
Login to Facebook and watch at the Munger Place Church Facebook page.
The Equipment I’ll be Using
Personal Update for Fall 2018
I've just returned with my family from 11 days in southwestern Colorado--our first time. It was the perfect place to be quiet and rest before the fall season begins, a season that involves some significant changes to my responsibilities, which I will explain below.Some friends in church had offered us the use of their house in the San Juan mountains in Colorado. We drove there and back--two days each way--with the long drive as part of the fun. From Dallas to Amarillo the landscape becomes increasingly dry and flat and lonely, with the road passing through little brittle communities with one blinking yellow stoplight and paint peeling from deserted furniture stores, until in the Texas Panhandle grain elevators dominate the horizon, which stretches for what seems forever. And then, suddenly, the ground gives way and the Palo Duro Canyon opens up its reddish brown mouth right in front of your feet.
We took the time to drive down into the canyon and hike around for a bit. The Palo Duro Canyon isn't as grand as its famous Arizona cousin, but it is similar, with the same warning signs about how the desert heat is deadly to the unprepared.Our second day of driving took us north out of Santa Fe, from desert to high desert to an alpine landscape, passing through little clusters of houses in forsaken communities in the high desert, the kind of places where you drive past at 70 miles an hour and thank God you don't live there. And then you arrive in Colorado and secretly ask God if perhaps you?could live?there,?or if he could at least make Dallas a bit more like Colorado in the summer.The house we stayed in was expansive, with a huge second story balcony off the entire back of the place, and a cool basement totally underground. Our cell phones didn't work, but that to me was a feature of the place, and not a bug. We were there to celebrate my dad's retirement from pastoral ministry--43 years. My parents and my brothers and their families joined us.This time of year in that part of Colorado, the weather is perfect: upper 40's at dawn, lower 90's at noon. I'd get up every morning early to sit wrapped in a blanket on the back deck in the dark, waiting for the sun to rise. The deer and the wild turkeys and the hummingbirds paid me no attention, if I kept still enough. I would have stayed for a month, but my life is here in Dallas, and I have a lot to do this fall. We arrived back home last night.
Changes to My Fall 2018 Responsibilities
Earlier this summer, our youth director accepted an invitation to return to his home church and take his old boss's job. We engaged a search firm to help us find his replacement, and on one of the phone calls with the founder (David), he asked, "What's your interim plan before you hire someone?" We didn't have a plan, but as soon as he asked the question, I thought to myself: "I think I'd like to do it."I got my start in full-time ministry by working with middle and high school students at a church in VA. I worked there for 5 years before I went to seminary, and I loved it--there was just something so obviously important and exciting about reaching kids that age with the gospel. Now at Munger I'm responsible for something much broader in scope than the youth ministry I led in Virginia, but I still haven't abandoned one of my core beliefs from that time: that the strength of a church is determined by how well it is raising up the next generation in the faith.
At Munger, the area of the church's ministry I know the least is our youth ministry, and I've always regretted that I don't have more interactions with our 6th-12th graders and their parents. Although we are working hard to hire a new youth director, we just aren't in the position to make that hire by the time school begins, and so David's question on the phone caused me to think--could I personally offer some leadership to our youth ministry this fall? I'm ultimately responsible for the youth ministry whether we have someone in place or not, and I don't want to let our youth ministry languish while we are waiting to hire a director. What if I stepped in as the interim leader? I shopped the idea around to some people within and without the church who would have no problem telling me it was a bad idea, but no one did.
So, I'm going to be leading the Munger youth ministry this fall.
On the one hand, with the commitments and responsibilities I have, this may seem crazy.
- We have an average worship attendance of just over 1,000 people on Sunday mornings;
- A?budget of $3 million;
- And a staff of 10;
All of which I am ultimately responsible for. Behind those numbers are lots of people to love and lots of problems to solve.But, in addition to the above, this fall has some big things coming up, including:
- The unveiling of our master plan for future growth and ministry at a congregational meeting on Sunday, October 21 at 5 PM;
- And the launching of a 3rd worship service at 5 PM on Sundays, starting November 4.
Do I have time to lead the youth ministry? At first, it seems clear the answer is "No." But....Here's the honest truth: I have all the time I need for what's important, and I think the middle and high school students in our community are extremely important. So, yes, I have time to lead the Munger youth ministry...if I get some help.
The Plan for Munger Youth This Fall
We're going to keep things simple. Our weekly programming will be on Wednesdays and will run from 7:00-8:30 PM. Middle and high school students will meet at the same time, but they will not meet together.High School?Wednesday?Schedule7:00-7:45 PM, high school worship in the youth basement with me and our band. (High school is 9th-12th grades.)7:45-8:30 PM, high school small groups and dinner/snacks on the 3rd floor.Middle School Wednesday Schedule7:00-7:45 PM, dinner/snacks, games, and small groups on the 3rd floor. (Middle school is 6th-8th grades.)7:45-8:30 PM, middle school worship in the youth basement with me and our band.Wednesday night youth will follow the above schedule from September 12 through December 12. We will NOT meet on November 21 (the day before Thanksgiving), though there is a Thanksgiving Eve worship service at the church that night. (Halloween is a Wednesday this year, so stay tuned for special programming on 10/31.)In addition to the above weekly programming, we are looking to line up Bible studies at other times, etc. Come to our kickoff on 9/5 to find out more. (Kickoff info below.)2018-2019 Confirmation ScheduleConfirmation is a year-long spiritual formation program for 6th graders. 6th grade is a transition period, and we want to do our best to prepare our young people spiritually to face the challenges of middle and high school, so they can own their faith as their own. At the end of the year-long Confirmation process, the students will be commissioned by me in worship to go forth and take their faith into the world.Confirmation will meet on Sundays this fall during our 11:00 AM worship service, September 9-December 16. Confirmation will NOT meet on November 25 (the Sunday after Thanksgiving). In Spring 2019, Confirmation will meet January 6-May 12. Confirmation will NOT meet on March 10 or 17 (spring break) or on April 21 (Easter Sunday!).Confirmation Sunday will be 11:00 AM on May 19.Confirmation students need to attend 2/3 of Confirmation classes (20 out of 30 possible Sundays) to complete the course.Please REGISTER your child for Confirmation HERE.More info to come at youth fall kickoff.2018 Youth Fall KickoffWe?re going to start the new school year off with a BANG on Wednesday, September 5 from 7:00-8:00 PM for our Fall Kickoff. All 6th to 12th graders AND their parents invited. Bring friends, even if they don‘t go to our church. The agenda: food trucks, live music, and then I will lay out the plan for the year ahead.My goal: a full house, so please move heaven and earth to attend with your family.
Munger Youth: What Will I Be Doing?
Each Wednesday, I'm going to give a talk on the topics that middle school and high school kids are asking about:
- How can we know there is a God?
- What about other religions?
- Where did the Bible come from?
- What about heaven and hell?
- If God already knows what's going to happen, why do we need to pray?
- If God is love, then why does he allow bad stuff to happen to people?
- Etc.
Every Wednesday, we'll have a brief, high energy worship service with a band led by Josh Mojica (the young guy with the crazy hair who plays with Kate on Sunday mornings), and I'll give a talk to our students trying to make the faith as clear, relevant, and attractive as possible. Then, adult volunteers will lead youth small groups broken up by grade and gender to talk over the week and see how the kids are doing.I can lead the ministry by providing vision and direction for our weekly gatherings and to our adult volunteers. That's what I'm good at. But, I can't do everything....
Munger Youth: What I Will NOT be Doing
I cannot serve as the Munger youth minister. I can't attend football games and concerts and recitals. I can't order the pizza or pay the trip deposits or lead the small groups. In other words, I can lead the ministry, but I can't?do the ministry.What I can do is recruit other adults who will do those things, and I'm going to need all the help I can get.If you signed up earlier this summer to volunteer in our youth ministry, you should have already been contacted by us. Thank you! But, if you haven't yet signed up or if you did but weren't contacted by us, please consider stepping up and signing up below. I particularly need parents of 6th to 12th graders to help me make this fall season happen. We need a team of folks to support our ministry, to lead our small groups, to be positive influences in our students' lives.Want to help me and our youth ministry this fall? Sign up HERE to be a youth?ministry?volunteer.We're going to have a Youth Volunteer Vision Dinner on Wednesday, August 29, from 6:30-9:00 PM at a home in Lakewood, so please mark that down if you sign up as a potential volunteer.
A Final Word to Munger
I've been wondering if perhaps this transition period in our youth ministry is actually a gift from God, because it will both allow me to make some new relationships in our church and at the same time require other people to step up and and become involved in ministry. More than ever, I'm going to have to focus on the few things that I only I can do and do well and recruit other people to make our church's ministry happen. I've found that the Lord seems to prefer to place us in situations where there is a gap between what we need and what we have, and that he delights in providing for us. That's one of the things I'm excited about with regard to our new evening service--we currently have ZERO people showing up at 5:00 PM on Sundays, and we are going to have to pray and work like crazy to change that. In the same way, our youth ministry is lacking a permanent leader right now, which might actually be God's plan--he wants the rest of us to step up so he can show us something awesome.May Fall 2018 be our best fall yet.
P.S. To My Dear Readers: Changes to this Blog
Starting Friday, August 24 through Monday, December 24, at Munger we are going to be reading through the New Testament. I'm planning on posting more frequently in this space, including regular (daily?) commentaries on what we're reading. Right now, subscribers get an email every time I post, but I don't want to fill up your Inbox, so next week I'm going to be switching to a weekly newsletter that will contain links to the previous week's posts, as well as some other original content from me not available anywhere else.If you are already a subscriber, you don't need to do anything else. (If you want to be sure and read each post as it comes out, subscribe to my blog's RSS feed. There are lots of tutorials online to explain how to do that.)If you are not a current subscriber, here's how to subscribe:
I‘ve written a very short whitepaper on a subject I care a lot about communication.Subscribe to my newsletter and I’ll send it to you for free:The Simple Technique Anyone Can Immediately Use To Become a Better Communicator.(If you are already a subscriber, drop me a line and I’ll send you the whitepaper.)