10 Commandments For Pastors and Church Staff

I saw this list on Tullian Tchividjian's blog. Rick Warren has gotten this one exactly right. Every day, it seems that another pastor or church staff member disgraces the name of Christ by engaging in scandalous behavior. I believe that few of those who find themselves in that situation originally intended it to be that way. Some are naive and many are reckless. The idea that, "It can't happen to me," is prevalent. Understanding that, pastors and staffs should hold themselves and each other accountable to these standards and churches should come alongside them and encourage them as they do.

Rick Warren's 10 Commandments for Ministry Staff at Saddleback:

1. Thou shalt not go to lunch alone with the opposite sex.*
2. Thou shalt not have the opposite sex pick you up or drive you places when it is just the two of you.*
3. Thou shalt not kiss any attender of the opposite sex or show affection that could be questioned.*
4. Thou shalt not visit the opposite sex alone at home.*
5. Thou shalt not counsel the opposite sex alone at the office, and thou shalt not counsel the opposite sex more than once without that person’s mate. Refer them.
6. Thou shalt not discuss detailed sexual problems with the opposite sex in counseling. Refer them.
7. Thou shalt not discuss your marriage problems with an attender of the opposite sex.
8. Thou shalt be careful in answering emails, instant messages, chatrooms, cards or letters from the opposite sex.
9. Thou shalt make your co-worker your protective ally.
10. Thou shalt pray for the integrity of other staff members.

[*The first four do not apply to unmarried staff.]

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Deep Riches: Persecution in Today's Church

It's hard to think about persecution as we sit in our comfortable churches with our "take-it-or-leave-it" attitude. But persecution is a daily fact in most countries around the world. See more over on Deep Riches.

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Persecution in Today's Church

Within the past several days, believers have been martyred all over the world, from North Korea, to the Middle East, to Indonesia, to parts of Africa. Practically everywhere there is persecution, Tertullian’s quote rings prophetic.

It has been said that when Chinese house church leaders discovered American Christians praying for the end of persecution in China, they were rebuked. They asked instead that people pray they would stand strong and that God would be glorified in the face of persecution.

This should not be taken as a call to prayerfully desire persecution. Clearly, persecution brings negative consequences as well as positive results. It does, however, put things into perspective. In America, most churches are clean, comfortable and casual (attitude, not dress). One tends to wonder what will happen when the persecution eventually hits close to home.

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Deep Riches: Developments from Persecution

Can anything good come from persecution? See if it has in the past over on Deep Riches.

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Development Resulting from Persecution

For the most part, persecution had a purifying effect on Christianity. It has been said that a person will die for something they know to be true. If the second and third century Christians knew they were going to die, they had to know what they were dying for was absolutely true. This pressure brought about the need to canonize Scripture. After all, no one wanted to risk death over something considered to be a spurious writing. The church grew phenomenally during this period. It grew to the point that Tertullian wrote, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” Despite the fact that many people denied their faith, the vast majority did not.

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Deep Riches: Historical Response to Persecution

Throughout history, men have sought to destroy the Church by persecuting her. How has she responded? Find out over on Deep Riches.

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Historical Response to Persecution

The church responded to persecution in almost as many ways as the types of persecution they endured. As a whole, the overarching response was a dispersion of believers. The first persecution of the church by the Jews scattered some of the church in Jerusalem. Persecution under Nero further scattered Christians. These and subsequent scatterings resulted in the rapid, grass-fire like, spread of the Gospel.

Unfortunately, in addition to the church’s rapid growth, there were negative responses as well. Many recanted their faith and denied Christianity in order to save their lives or those of their loved ones. Precious copies of Scripture were seized and destroyed. All told, over three million Christians died due to persecution.

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Deep Riches: Peter and the Church

Did Jesus make Peter the head of the church? Does that mean that he was the first Pope? Who was the rock that Jesus talked about in Matthew 16? Find out the answers on Deep Riches.

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Peter and the Church

Matthew 16:17-19 marks a key moment in Peter’s life and the teaching of our Lord. Jesus just finishes commending Peter for proclaiming Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God. It would only make literary sense that, unless there was an obvious transition, the verses immediately following would have something to do with that proclamation.

When Jesus says, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church,” He doesn’t say it in a vacuum. It relates back to what started the conversation: “who do men say that I am” not, “who do men say that you are, Peter.” In essence Jesus is saying, “we know who you are Peter, you are a little rock. You’ve proclaimed who I am – the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Now I’m telling you I am also the foundation I will build My church upon.” He then tells the gathered apostles what the role of His church will be. “The gates of Hades will not prevail against it” indicates death and persecution will not defeat the church nor dissuade her from her mission.

Since no one comes to the Father but through Christ, He has to be the keys of the kingdom of heaven that Jesus said He would give them. “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” is a beautiful picture of the ultimate purpose of the church. The church is to evangelize the lost. In the eternal scheme of things, the only ones who are bound are bound by sin. Those who are saved by the finished work of Christ on the Cross are loosed from their sins and declared free by the God of the Universe. Any other interpretation, and there are many, seem to be eisegetical and do injustice to the text.

As far as the definition and origin of the church, the Greek word literally means “called out ones.” Christ is the Head of the body, the church. The church is the bride of Christ and is made up of all believers from Pentecost until the rapture. The church originated at Pentecost with the giving of the Holy Spirit and will last until she is caught up to meet Jesus in the air at the rapture.

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Equiping the Saints

Another headline. Another pastor is hauled away from his pulpit in shame and disgrace. Another church is devastated. Another ministry is destroyed. Why does it happen so often? Stand to Reason blog posted a very good article that addresses some of the core issues involved.

This is sad. Another pastor taken down by sin. Now, I think these cases are the exception. Our churches are largely filled with good men and women who lead. But
the fall of pastors is still too prevalent and it has me thinking about the "Senior Pastor" model. The liabilities are many:

#1 - The senior pastor is looked to primarily for leadership that reflects charisma rather than character. When there’s a single primary pastor, whether consciously or
unconsciously, he alone is relied upon to be the “face” of the ministry. And in our culture, it’s charisma not character that makes a lasting first impression on people. Therefore, many churches depend upon his celebrity status to represent their ministry. New attenders, enamored by a personality, choose to join a church primarily on that basis. Indeed, in many cases a senior pastor’s character is an afterthought.

#2 - The body of believers is much more susceptible to the development of an unhealthy co-dependence on the senior pastor. The “Senior Pastor” model, when combined with the widespread dysfunction found in American culture, encourages a co-dependent relationship between pastor and parishoner that is detrimental to the spiritual health of the body. Thus, the typical believer experiences an unhealthy need to connect with the senior pastor on some level before he or she can connect to that particular church.

# 3 - The personality of the senior pastor begins to dominate church life. When there is so much dependence placed upon a single leader, his strengths and weaknesses tend to shape the body life of the church. His strengths become the emphasis of the church, no matter how unbalanced. In addition, his weaknesses, unable to be counter-balanced by other leaders, are likely to become the weaknesses of the church.

#4 - The senior pastor model encourages the body of believers to become spectators. Since the senior pastor is the “professional” minister who is paid to do the work of the
ministry, the body is enabled to sit back and watch him and his staff do their job. Thus, the large majority of significant ministry is carried out by the paid staff of a particular church.

#5 - When a senior pastor falls, the damage is immense. When there is so much dependence upon a single leader, the effects of his sin and shortcomings are multiplied exponentially. In contrast to the elevated status of the senior pastor, the lesser roles of associate pastor or support staff do little to mitigate against the damage to the body.

Could it be these liabilities are the result of an unbiblical model of church leadership? A biblical model should provide us with a structure that mitigates against these weaknesses. I'm sure that church in Compton is going to be reeling for some time.

Pray for your pastor. Learn from him. Encourage him. Hold him accountable for his walk with Christ. But always remember that his primary responsibility is to equip the saints of God in such a way that they will be able to effectively perform the works of ministry. The pastor is not THE minister. He is A minister among a body of ministers.

Ephesians 4:11-12
1 Timothy 4:16

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Ex Libris: What Is a Healthy Church Member?

Earlier this summer at the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting, the good folks from IX Marks were giving away What Is a Healthy Church Member?, by Thabiti Anyabwile. There are few things I like more than free books—especially if they are ones that I wanted to read anyway.

See my review over on Ex Libris.

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Terminal Generation

Are we the last generation of the evangelical church? See Dr. Al Mohler's answer here.

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Increased Love and Unity Exalts God’s Name

The greatest reason for seeking a revival flood involves a primary purpose of our existence. And what is that primary purpose? Put simply, it is to know, love and glorify God through seeking His kingdom and exalting His name. And without question, loving one another is a vital part of loving God and seeking His kingdom.

When we learn to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, we find life itself. “But seek you first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you” (Matthew 6:33). “Whoever loses his life for Me and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:35). Indeed life is all about knowing Him, surrendering to Jesus and walking humbly with our God (John 17:3). Jesus pulled it all together in His two Great Commandments. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it—Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39).

The Bible leaves no doubt that loving God means loving each other (Matthew 22:37-38; John 13:34-35; 17:21). Today believers must re-discover a vital fact—the two Great Commandments are inseparably linked! In other words, no one can truly love God yet be unkind or bitter toward fellow Christians. In Matthew 5:23 and Matthew 6:14-15, Jesus made clear that anger and disunity among believers seriously blocks our relationships with Him. In fact, the entire chapter of John 17 closely ties God’s glory and our witness to dynamic oneness among saints.

In terms of love and fellowship, today’s Church is in a major crisis. Never has our nation seen such devastating disintegration of church and family relationships. In fact, what we have witnessed in family structure is no longer a decline, it is an unmitigated collapse. As much or more than any other factors, relational anger and unforgiveness are huge barriers to a modern day revival flood.

Excerpted from Releasing the Revival Flood: A churchwide Journey to Miraculous Unity and God-Glorifying Fellowship

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Product Placement Gone Wild!

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Revival Means an Explosion of Intimacy and Power with God

We now turn our attention to the greatest of all revival blessings —an incredible closeness with God Himself! For believers who often feel distant and find it hard to hear God’s voice, His voice often becomes clearer than those of spouses and best friends!

For those who struggle with areas of spiritual bondage or defeat, God’s power begins to flow like a river (John 7:38). Impossible mountains begin to move and long awaited answers at last arrive.

Churches and ministers long dry and weary suddenly burst forth with new life. God’s name is exalted and His kingdom explodes forward by evangelistic harvest!

While a revival flood certainly does not remove all suffering, God’s grace becomes so real we tend not to care. In fact, true revival often brings some level of persecution from those who oppose God. Yet truly revived believers are so full of God they actually rejoice in their persecutions and trials! (2 Corinthians 12:9; James 1:1-3)

If you are among the millions struggling to achieve a strong prayer life or intimacy with God, please take hope. Spiritual power is not out of reach and God definitely desires to help you remove your barriers. But even beyond personal blessings and closeness with God, there is another purpose greater than all other. That purpose is pleasing God and glorifying His name! Indeed, true revival is all about Him, not us.

Excerpted from Releasing the Revival Flood: A churchwide Journey to Miraculous Unity and God-Glorifying Fellowship

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True Revival Means God-Glorifying Relationships

A flood of God’s presence not only radically changes churches, but society as well. Ratios of crime and immorality immediately plummet. Patterns of serious family breakup improve dramatically. By the millions, broken lives and relationships see glorious healing. Social improvements and missions explode many-fold. In a great flood of revival, evangelism and global harvests explode through the roof! Best of all, God’s name receives great glory.

If all this sounds like a fairytale, I assure you it is not! These descriptions and percentages are exactly what God has done many times in history. Frankly, it may sound impossible to us because America has not witnessed such revival since the mid-1800s. Yet there is good news. Our God has not changed and He can do it again! (Hebrews 13:8) In fact, several places in the world are seeing mighty moves of God right now. Just because we have not yet seen a flood, does not mean we will not.

Since we know God can send revival the question is, “Why hasn’t He??” The answer is three fold. First, most believers and churches have not met the conditions in prayer and repentance. Second, many are seeking the “blessings” of revival rather than the glory and hallowing of God’s name. Third, relational barriers of anger and bickering are seriously blocking the Holy Spirit. But thank God, there is an answer and relational barriers can be addressed by renewed prayer and obedience. God then reveals Himself in phenomenal power!

Excerpted from Releasing the Revival Flood: A churchwide Journey to Miraculous Unity and God-Glorifying Fellowship

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In _______ We Trust

Justin Taylor over at Between Two Worlds directed me to a thought provoking post. The article distills some of the numbers from the preliminary 2008 results of the General Social Survey project.

The chart is from that post.



It is disconcerting but not surprising that public trust of organized religion (read: the church) hovers near that of financial institutions that are currently in need of billions in federal bailout dollars. Unfavorable media attention and self-destructive scandalous activities have undoubtedly contributed to that unfavorable impression. What is astounding is the erosion of public trust in virtually all institutions. America has truly become a cynical society. It is ironic that the generation with seemingly unlimited access to information is increasingly becoming jaded by it.

It is ironic, but once again, it is not a surprise. As information abounds, so does the reporting of man’s sinful behavior. By our nature, we desire something to worship. Of course God created us to worship Him, but in our rebellion, we seek to find another object of adoration. But when a scrutinous eye equipped with unlimited information examines each object of our adoration, it is proven fallible. When faith is placed in a fallible institution, it fails. And when faith fails, cynicism flourishes.

The question to ask is: what comes next? What happens when public trust in everything erodes completely? Human nature dictates that won’t happen because of our innate desire to worship something outside of ourselves. We are built with the need to place faith in something or someone, so when all of our public institutions prove themselves unworthy of our trust, we will seek something else. Ideally, this would open doors of opportunity for the Gospel. By God’s grace, some will find the object of worship they were truly created to trust. Many more will not and will thus continue to pursue created things rather than the Creator.

What created things will people pursue after their trust in all public institutions have been betrayed? Throughout history, caustically cynical societies have rapidly devolved into the anarchy of civil war or revolution. As human beings cannot tolerate anarchical situations, a ruler is sought who will save them. This isn’t prophesy—it’s history. Historically, every time a society has become caustically cynical, it rapidly declined into anarchy. And anytime that society became anarchical, it almost immediately turned to a savior (e.g.: Napoleon, Lenin and Stalin, Hitler).

It would be overly alarmist to say that this survey shows that America is standing on the precipice of revolution. It doesn’t. What it does show is an increasing cynicism that will eventually lead us in that direction. In light of that, our prayer and effort should point us in the direction of leading people to the One who will never fail nor disappoint. We should always be increasing our efforts to point people to the One who only becomes more beautiful upon closer examination. The only answer to chronic, caustic cynicism is the absolute truth of Christ.

2 Timothy 3:7

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How Far the Quest for Relevance?

Ahhh…. The never ending quest for relevance. As the saying goes, the funniest humor is that which has an element of truth. Thank God for those who do not forsake the Gospel in their persuit of reaching people. Enjoy the satire!



2 Corinthians 2:15-16

HT: Slice of Laodicea

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I’m Going to Disney World!

You know the phrase well. It has achieved iconic status. After the Super Bowl, an unseen voice asks one of the winning players a question. This year the question was asked of two players, Ben Roethlisberger and Santonio Holmes. “Hey Ben and Santonio, now that you’ve won the Super Bowl, what next?” The answer has been the same since the question was first asked of Phil Simms after he defeated my beloved Broncos in Super Bowl XXI—“I’m going to Disney World!” The scenario is not as spontaneous as it may appear because they orchestrate a retake for the people of the West Coast. In the retake, the excited athletes say, “I’m going to Disneyland!”

How exciting it would be to receive an all-expense paid vacation to Disney! I received an all-expense paid trip one time to San Antonio, TX, but I wasn’t quite as excited as I would have been for a trip to Disney. For some reason Air Force Basic Training didn’t engender as much anticipation in me as Space Mountain would have. But even though I have never received an all-expense paid vacation, I can imagine what it would be like. The excitement and anticipation would be palpable. My kids would get all their chores done early. We would meticulously plan what we would need to take with us. We would carefully rearrange financial priorities so we could liberally spend money on necessities like souvenirs and fine dining (funnel cakes and corn dogs). In the days leading up to our trip, everything we did would be with thoughts of our vacation in the foremost of our minds. The anticipation and excitement would continuously build to a crescendo as we would arrive at the airport early—at least two hours early to allow for parking, check-in and anything that might unexpectedly pop up. Even though airports and flights can be uncomfortable and difficult at times, we would hardly notice. All the inconvenience of small seats, narrow aisles, stagnant airplane air and somebody else’s screaming kids would be overshadowed by eager anticipation for what awaited us. After all, who can think about trivial discomfort when Mickey and Donald and Goofy are waiting for your arrival! I know economic times are tough, but extravagantly spending hundreds of dollars in food and souvenirs is a mere pittance when you consider the amazing opportunity to be part of something as rich and exciting and wonderful as Disney. Everybody knows that money is no object when it comes to taking a picture with a Hannah Montana lookalike.

If that is how we would anticipate entering the Magic Kingdom, how are we anticipating entering the presence of King Jesus in corporate worship on Sunday? We know what anticipation for a vacation looks like. What does our anticipation for corporate worship look like? Sadly, we know what it looks like. It looks like staying up way later than usual on Saturday night. After all, it's not like something important like work or school is going on the next day. That’s when we schedule our younger kids’ sleepovers or older kids’ late-night date-nights. Our anticipation for corporate worship looks like getting up at the very last possible minute on Sunday morning. Then we rush around like crazy people trying to get ourselves and the kids ready—yelling and fussing the whole time. We grab a travel mug of coffee and a granola bar on the way out the door. Once we get on the road, we have to get behind grandpa’s Cadillac that he only drives to church once a week. Of course, he never exceeds the speed limit—of school zones (whether he’s in one or not). Then we file zombie-like in the church door, flop on the back row and pick up a pew Bible (because we left ours at home—somewhere). When the offering plate is passed, we dig around in our pockets to see if we have any leftover lunch money we can drop in. Finally, we catch our breath and calm down midway through the sermon introduction. And the sandman enters by the time the preacher hits his first point. If only somebody as important to us as Mickey or Donald or a Hannah Montana lookalike was there, it would have been worth preparing for.

Are you anticipating meeting with Jesus in corporate worship this upcoming Lord’s Day?

Hebrews 10:19-25

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The Reason for the Season

Valentine’s Day is upon us! I write that with an exclamation point, not out of excitement, but out of panic. If you are like me, you are feeling the same panic because you realize that it’s the day before Valentine’s Day and you have yet to get anything for your wife. While I personally think it’s all part of a vast conspiracy created and propagated by Hallmark, I still am forced to participate. But aside from my vague protestations concerning the crass commercialization of another holiday (a smug-sounding way of saying I hate shopping and dread it further because I’ve waited till the last minute again)—Valentine’s Day is another wonderful opportunity to recognize the sacredness of marriage. Each year at Christmas, we encourage each other to remember the true meaning of the season. We ought to do the same at Valentine’s Day. It is a season for romance and a celebration of sweethearts—each of which is an expression of the marital love between a husband and wife.

But it goes even deeper than that, because even the gift of marriage is a picture. God instituted the covenant of marriage as a beautiful picture of the intimately loving, self-sacrificial, covenantal relationship between Jesus Christ and His church. As Jesus is to His church, so a husband is to be toward his bride. And as the church is supposed to be toward Christ, so is a bride to be toward her husband. The Lord has given us a beautiful picture of the way He loves us in the covenant bonds of marriage.

Of course, that picture is often distorted because of the fact that we are fallen people living in a fallen world. With divorce, abuse, infidelity, nagging, neglect, selfishness and a host of other issues, we have allowed the stain of sin to permeate the picture. But even though the picture is often marred in reality, it is beautiful in the ideal—as is the church.

The ideal marital relationship is highlighted in Ephesians 5:22-33. And not incidentally, that passage also highlights the ideal church relationship. So this year, as you go out to buy your sweetheart a card and some chocolates, don’t stop there. Cards fade and are quickly forgotten. Chocolates get eaten—quickly in my house. But the best things of marriage last forever—just like Jesus’ relationship with His church. This Valentine’s Day, purpose in your heart to strive for God’s best, both at home and at church.

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