So what should we do?  What should I be doing as a pastor?  Those stats and conditions paint a dire picture.  What I need is a beautiful picture.  I need a renewed vision for what the church should and can be.

“It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths’.  For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 2:2-3)

When Isaiah wrote, the people of God were stuck in religion mode.  They did their sacrifices, but it was divorced from love and devotion.  They called themselves holy but were filled with iniquity.  It got so bad that God called his “faithful city” a “whore”.  The church can be very similar.  Christians attending but with no devotion.  Duplicity, hypocrisy and spiritual adultery by Christ’s bride.  But Yahweh did not abandon His people and Christ does not divorce His beloved.

So here are some truths to believe on and hope in from Isaiah 2:2-3

1. The church becomes established and elevated. It is seen and valued as the highest of institutions, lifted up above all the other hills of government, business and entertainment, etc.  I’m not promoting a theocracy.  What I am seeing is people valuing the church above all other things that compete for their time and attention.  (Eph. 5:27)
2. All the nations will flow to it.  The church attracts people from every tribe, language, and nation.  Men and women from different ethnicities, ages and economic backgrounds come together around the single unifying element – Jesus and His gospel.  (Rev. 5:9-10)
3. People are eager to come, learn and change.  People desire corporate worship and to be among Christians.  They want to learn the Word of God because it is attractively lived out before them by Christ’s people.  And ultimately, the goal of learning is spiritual formation – change.  No one comes to learn simply to acquire knowledge.  No.  They come to be transformed into image bearers of God himself.  Learning to do good.  Seeking justice.  Correcting oppression.  Bring justice to the fatherless and plead the widow’s cause (Isa. 1:16; Romans 12:1-2)
4. The church is primarily about Jesus and His gospel.  The Law was proclaimed at the temple in Jerusalem.  Today, the gospel is proclaimed from the church in our city.   The gospel is preached and proclaimed because it is the power of God unto salvation and though it men and women are saved and sanctified.  Nothing less will do. (Rom. 1:16)

May God engrain this vision upon my mind and yours. May He grant faith to believe in its fulfillment. May He grant grace to labor for it.

Uzziah is an amazing leader. He successfully conquered pesky nations that Judah traditionally had problems with. If you are Philistine, an Ammonite, or an Arabian, you hated Uzziah. He kicked your countries tail and you licked your wounds daily as you paid tribute and taxes to this young, strong leader. Uzziah was not only a great military mind, but an engineer as well. Engines, towers, gates were all developed under his reign. What was the key to his success? He was able to accomplish these tasks because He personally followed the Lord and developed leaders around Him. He was a great leader because He empowered and dispatched other leaders to fulfill his vision. The chronicler supports this view with his assessment, “And his fame spread far, for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong” (2 Chron. 26:15).

Uzziah died in isolation riddled with leprosy.

So what happened? Somewhere along the way leaders begin to feel that they can do it all. They feel they transcend their position, power and gifting. What they delegated to other leaders they begin to take back. The trust they placed in younger men is rescinded. They think they can be omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent. They become a god, their own idol. The pitfall of pride is wide and deep in leadership and it can kill you. Uzziah was a king, not a priest. His role was to rule the people, not mediate the nations relationship with God. Yet, Uzziah’s success led him to believe he transcended his role. He boldly stepped into the temple to burn incense on the altar. In courageous defiance the priests stood against their out-of-control king. Yet Uzziah prevailed. The consequence? God struck with him with leprosy, he was isolated in a home and excluded from his Kingdom. Pastors and leaders beware.

The only one capable of fulfilling multiple roles like king, priest and prophet is not you. It is Jesus. The reason He can do it is because he is all knowing, all powerful and all present. He is the best leader because He is uniquely qualified to lead. So first rest, trust and look to Him to lead. Secondly, recognize your role and gifting. Are you more of a prophet, a king, a priest? Lead out of that role. Recruit and develop faithful men around you who fulfill different roles and release them to act. They are going to make mistakes. You make mistakes. That’s OK. Coach them, encourage them and empower them to do the work of the ministry.

Many start well. Few finish well. Dave Craft proposes that only 30% of leaders last. Everyone starts. Not everyone finishes. The pride pitfall is wide and deep and will swallow many. Let’s cling to Jesus as He guides us by the hand to lead His church well.

Why Plant Churches? from NorCal Network on Vimeo.

On June 3rd-4th I had the privilege of participating in Ignite: launching a gospel centered movement in the Bay Area”.  The conference was a partnership between NorCal Network for Church Planting, the Gospel Coalation and Acts29.  By these three organizations working together, they were able to pull speakers like Mark Driscoll, D.A. Carson, Matt Chandler, Jeff Vandersteldt and Scott Thomas.  Both Alice and I were blessed by the two days for a number of reasons.

1.  From conception to birth.  As a board member of the NorCal network, I was there at the beginning when the idea for this event was conceived.  I know the hard work put in by various people to coordinate such a large venture.  It was a 1.5 year process.  To see the end result of a conference birthed on June 3rd was a joy.

2.  Numbers aren’t everything, but they are something.  We had 900 in attendance.  This was the largest bootcamp that Acts29 has ever seen and a wonderful turnout for like-minded churches and church planters.  On the first day, I was in the foyer talking to just about anybody and everybody.  When I heard the music begin to play inside the auditorium, I thought I would walk right in and find a seat.  Wrong.  The floor level was full and I was stuck up in the balcony that is never used at the church that hosted the event.  The seats were dusty and I stumbled over what I believe was a decomposing usher from the 1970′s.  But, I did get a great picture from the cheap seats.

3.  Go West Hills Community Church!  As a church planter, elder and pastor I am in the midst of numerous meetings, thus seeing, hearing and following what we believe God is doing in the Bay Area.  I believe that we are part of something big.  A movement of the Holy Spirit in bringing into existence churches that are centered on the gospel, community and mission is in full swing.   How wonderful it was for so many of our people to see, hear and feel the same things in a weekend.  My hope is that it fuels our worship, courage and faith to continue the course God has laid before us.

4.  We are on the tip of the spear.  As West Hills is the largest church in the Northern California region of Acts 29 in the Bay Area, we are becoming a hubb for church planters who are interested in doing this in the Bay Area.  Further, as an actual church plant from West Hills, my congregation is right on the front lines of the endeavor.  We are on the tip of this spear that God is thrusting into the heart of San Jose.  I am so thankful, humble and invigorated.  It will be fascinating to see where this road leads in the next 5-10 years.

1. My area is covered. When staff members focus only on their position, they have little sense of responsibility for the results produced when all positions interact. Moreover, when results are disappointing, it can be very difficult to know why when your first reaction is “someone else” screwed up.  This problem is pervasive in larger churches with larger staff that may never even meet together on a regular basis.
2. It is someone/something else’s fault.When things go wrong, we have a tendency to blame others inside the camp or maybe on outside external forces.  Example: few people will come this coming on Sunday because it’s a holiday weekend.  Really?  Are you sure that is the reason?  But even in failures there are opportunities to learn. When we blame the mysterious “someone” we miss opportunities to learn, correct, grow and have a good assessment so as to move forward.
3. Let’s be proactive.Often being proactive is reactiveness in disguise. It can also get you into deeper trouble if you don’t look at things systemically and holistically. True “proactiveness” comes from seeing how we contribute to our own problems. It is a product of our way of thinking, not our emotional state.
4. Fixation on events.In corporations, conversations are dominated by concern with events: last month’s sales, the new budget cuts, last quarter’s earnings, who got promoted or fired, new product release, etc… In the church, we are also event driven: this years budget; last month’s attendance, pastor disqualifies himself, member leaves the church, successful outreach event. These distract us from seeing longer term patterns of change that lie behind the events and from understanding the causes of those patterns.  I think the primary threats facing the church do not come from sudden events but from slow, gradual processes. Learning can’t be dominated by short term events. We need to learn to analyze instead of react optimally to the next event.
5. We need to move faster.Learning to see slow, gradual process requires slowing down our frenetic pace and paying attention to the subtle as well as the dramatic. We will not avoid the fate of the proverbial frog in the kettle until we learn to slow down and see the gradual processes that often pose the greatest threats to the life of the church.
6. We learn from experience. We learn best from experience but often in the church, we never directly experience the consequences of many of our most important decisions. We each have a learning horizon, a breadth of vision in time and space within which we assess our effectiveness. But what happens when our actions have consequences beyond our learning horizon?Putting a doctrinal stake in the ground. Forming a philosophy of ministry. Committing to church planting. Bringing on your next lead pastor. The effects of these decisions won’t be experienced for quite a while.   It becomes difficult to learn from direct experience. I believe the most important decisions made in the church have systemic consequences that stretch over years or even decades.
7. We have all the answers. School trains us never to admit that we do not know the answer, and most churches reinforce that by rewarding people who excel in advocating their views, not inquiring into complex issues. No one wants to look bad nor ignorant so we protect ourselves from appearing so. That very process blocks out any new understanding.  Inquiry, humility and the desire to learn and suppressed by tradition, policy and procedure.

These are areas that we need to continually assess as a growing leadership team (both in numbers and maturity) as we move to plant more churches in the San Jose area.

Further, plumblines are specific, honest and different.  They clarify how we plan on fulfilling the mission God has given us at our church at this time.  In other words, these statements should characterize your church as opposed to the “successful” mega church down the block.  All gospel preaching churches are part of the universal body of Christ, but there are local expressions in different cultures that are led by different gifted leaders.  So, the plumblines that you come up with need to be an outflow of your leadership team’s passion.

So, what are mine?  Here is a quick rundown of things that guide my decision-making at the Evergreen Campus of  West Hills Community Church and a brief explanation on how they impact the church.

1. Evaluate what we do or don’t do on the basis of the effectiveness of making disciples who make disciples.  Jesus left us with His Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20. So why do so many churches spend so much time on so many other peripheral things?  I believe this plumbline is the most important. Are people (believers and unbelievers) being brought into close connection to the gospel, the community of faith and the mission of God?  Are they learning and growing in their depth of understanding of Christ?  Are they being transformed?  If people are not impacted this way though a ministry, then we either need to significantly redirect that ministry or shut it down.
2. The primary means by which discipleship takes place is through community groups. At my church this is a bit easier because we don’t have a whole lot of other things going on.  We don’t own a building so we are forced to meet regularly in homes.  But even if we did own a building, I would not budge on this.  Our community groups provide a place where the gospel is taught and applied to one another.  It is a place where we practice the “one anothers”.  It is a place where each community group has a context for mission to take place.  It is a place of discipleship.
3. Church is to be seen as our identity instead of yet another responsibility juggled beside other tasks. The church is not a building, nor an event.  It is not something we go to, it is who we are.  Think about it.  The church is likened to a body, a bride, a family in Scripture.  God defines our very identity.  Therefore, what happens Monday through Saturday is church.  This identity permeates all our activities.  Further, a Sunday morning gathering is important, but not sufficient for you if you are a part of this family of God.
4. Smaller is better. It provides a size where mutual discipleship can take place.  It creates a simplicity which militates against a maintenance mentality (not lots of programs to run nor expensive buildings to maintain).  It determines a style that it participatory and inclusive.
5. Differentiate between “die for issues” and “distinctives”. There are good doctrines to stand up and fight for with a close handed fist.  You fight for them because they are the doctrines of historical orthodoxy.    Then there are a lot of distinctive which are open handed.  For example, a distinctive at our church is that we baptize believing adults or kids once they make a profession of faith.  This is a distinctive.  Thus, I am not going to fight you nor force you to change your conviction if you believe babies should be baptized (a common Presbyterian view).  Nor will you make an issue of that at our church.  There are all sorts of things like this: eschatological views, homeschooling, ways to take communion, church polity, etc…

So those are most likely my top 5.  Let me know your thoughts. What would yours be?

The Tragedy of Living for Yourself

Living for yourself is destructive.
We don’t naturally think about it this way.  We naturally feel that getting what we want, when we want and how we want is a good thing.  Why?  Because the end result, we believe, will be good for us.  However,  James 3:16 presents a stark contrast to this belief.  The end result of selfishness or living for self goes bad quick – “where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing” (James 3:16).  End result of living for self = disorder and dysfunction.

Think about it:

• Living for self destroys marriages.  “It’s my money and I want to spend it on things that I like”.  “It’s my time and I want to use it on the things that matter most to me”.  “You don’t make me happy anymore”.   Let’s be clear.  Where there is disorder, disunity and divorce  -  selfish ambition lives there.
• Living for self destroys families.  You have a spouse and three kids and the pressures of  job, mortgage, parent…  Life can get quickly overwhelming.  Self cries out “Let’s escape.  Let us get out of these pressures.  There must be something better for us than this.  You’re clearly not happy”.  When self is placed first, families are destroyed.  Children are saddled with the fallout.  Where there is disorder, disunity and dysfunction within families  – selfish ambition reigns there.
• Living for self destroys cities.  Where there is corruption, crime and chaos in a city – selfish ambition reigns there.

Living for yourself is extremely dangerous

Not only is living for self destructive, it can be outright dangerous.  Again, Scripture poses this rhetorical question,

What is the source of fights and conflicts among you?  Is not the source your passions that wage war within you?  You desire and do not have, so you murder.  You covet and cannot obtain, so your fight and argue. – James 4:1-2

The source of murder, the source of lies, the source of divorce, the source of war, the source of all of these dangers is the same -  a consuming focus on self and the triad of selfishness: my wants, my feelings, my desires.

Why?  Why is living for self come so naturally to us and so hard to fight against? What is the cause?  It’s the heart.  God tells us that our hearts are desperately wicked and only He can truly see how bad it is.  How bad is it?  If sin/selfishness was the color green, everything you said, did and thought would have a greenish hue.  Everything.  Left unchecked, our sin drives us to  destroy ourselves and those around us.

But it doesn’t need to be this way.  2 Corinthians 5:15 comes and shines bright light, great freedom and a living hope.  “He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf”.  There is another way; a better way.

The Triumph of Living for Jesus Christ

Living for Christ is joyfully sacrificial
Jesus modeled what it was like to live for others.  He said that He came not to be served but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many.  Jesus modeled ultimate sacrifice and friendship as he willing gave up his innocent and holy life as a substitute for selfish, self-centered sinners.  To believe in Him, to trust Him, to follow Him results in a life filled with sacrifice – but joyfully so.  Jesus was indeed the servant of all servants, but he was also joyful.  “…these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves” (John 17:13).  Jesus spoke of and modeled serving and loving others.  Yet He had joy in it and His desire is that His followers have not just any joy, but His joy made full in themselves as they put others before themselves.

Living for Christ is eternally rewarding
There is no promise of riches nor material gain in this paradigm that Jesus creates.  True, there is joy, contentment and unity in it which is a blessing to us, our family and our city.  Yet in the life to come (eternity) there is promise of reward for a sacrificial life modeling Jesus Himself.   Look at this text to see what Christ gave up and the implications for us:

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a ting to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond servant, and being found in the appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  For this reason, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed upon Him the name which is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow… and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father. – Phil. 2:4-11

Why was Jesus so highly exalted in Heaven?  Why was He given a name above every other name?  Answer: He gave up the most.  He did not regard equality with God a thing to be held onto, humbled Himself, died on behalf of sinners.  No one will ever give up more than Jesus.  That is why He has a name above any and every other name.

The promise is offered to us as well.  As Jesus put it so succinctly,  “Whoever humbles himself (becomes the servant of all) will be exalted, but He who exalts Himself will be humbled.  Living for Jesus, like Jesus in this life is eternally rewarding in the life to come.

Avoid the tragedy of living for self.

Zorios at Yosemite 2010

Our whole day was spent climbing Vernal Falls.  The elevation at the trailhead is 4,000 feet and the elevation gain is 1,000 feet to the top.  The path to the top winds around some steep and slippery cliffs. This year, since we had so much snow in the Sierra Nevadas, the falls were a raging torrent. So much water was spilling over the fall that it created a “mist trail” up to the top.

What I loved about this hike was that I was accompanied by a couple of great friends and my 10,8 and 6 year old. This is not an easy climb in the slightest. Yet, my three oldest boys set out to do this with some encouragement from Dad and never looked back the entire way. There should be no way that those little legs on my little guys should propel them up that trail. But, they were absolutely committed to the climb. They understood the clear objective of “getting to the top” and were resolved to make it happen. I was so proud.

Church planting is a climb. The experience at Vernal Falls this Summer mirrored that of  work getting West Hills Evergreen Campus up and running. All Summer was spent meeting, planning, praying, scouting, recruiting, fund raising, teaching, vision casting, facility hunting, etc… It was a climb. But this month we reached the top of the falls. It is a great place to catch my breath and enjoy what our great God has accomplished through the lives of His people. But the interesting thing about Vernal Falls is that it is just one destination on the trail. Rising above Vernal is Nevada Falls another 1,000 feet straight up.  Likewise, getting a Sunday morning worship established is just one stop on a destination. My ultimate destination is to impact the entire region of Evergreen in San Jose with the gospel. There is still a ways to go with a lot of work to be done to get there.

So glad that I am not the only one committed to this climb. I have surrounded myself with amazing people, a supportive pastor/elder staff and a brave family. With God’s empowering grace and a team effort, we’ll reach the top eventually.

first worship service as West Hills Evergreen

There were about 60 of us (including children) who gathered together at our new home in the Evergreen Community Center.  It was a really bright and beautiful morning.  The whole community center is ours to use and it was full of activity from 8:00am -12:00pm.  When we gathered together we prayed and then split up into three teams.  One team met for the purpose of taking care and equipping all of the children we have and the ones which we will be stewards of.  Another team met to coordinate hospitality (how people will enter, how will they get information, how will they be welcomed and followed up on).  The final team met in the auditorium to run sound, video, music, and the other components that go into our corporate gathering on Sundays.   Everyone was busy.  Everyone was a partner in this gospel enterprise.

Once finished with these important facets, we gathered together in the main auditorium to pray, sing and remember what Jesus has done for us by taking the elements of communion together.  We have a tremendous worship band, led by Pat McCoy.  It is pretty simple (2 guitars and a drummer), but we will grow into that area.  I am just thankful it is led by a humble, hard working guy, talented guy who wants to make much of Christ.  The message I brought was from Ephesians 2:14-16.  One of the reasons Christ came to die on behalf of sinners was to bring people of different culture, ethnicity, economic background, and life stage together and put them into “one body” – His church.  Our launch team is composed of people who are diverse in ethnicity, age, and economic status, but are unified together because of our common faith in Christ Jesus.  He is our rallying point, our center, our common denominator.  What we do as a church is centered around Him.  Anything else will cause fragmentation and discord.

We concluded by having a great (although fast) lunch together.  All the tables and chairs can role on out and roll on back.  We have access to a giant kitchen attached to the auditorium where we can heat and refrigerate lots of food.  In the future, we can have all church picnics because our community center backs right up into a park.

Things set up and tear down incredibly fast (under 30 minutes) due to such great planning by Tom Esch and such great products from a company called Church on Wheels.  Mike, who is the president of COW,  came out to be with us on Saturday and Sunday and train our sound engineers and help with equipment.  Mike is an incredibly knowledgeable guy with great products and services.  He was also very encouraged by the people we have and their talents, abilities and organization.  Since he has worked with over 100 church plants, I really appreciated that level of feedback.

Praise God for a great beginning.  Our first official public worship service will be September 12th.  Until then we will continue to meet on Wednesday evenings in Fowler Park in Evergreen to share the gospel and tell others about the work.  I will teach a three part series on our core values of  gospel, community and mission and goals for the upcoming year the next three Sundays.

I am blessed to have so many co-laborers and partners in this missional enterprise to God’s eternal glory.  Looking forward to the triumphs and the trials of a very new work in a very needy area.

God’s Redemptive Story and our Story.
We took a look at Acts 16:6-8 and saw how Christ purposely restricted Paul’s movements into Asia and Bythinia.  It would have made perfect sense for Paul and Timothy to minister in those areas, but Jesus prohibited them.  Why?  Because His purpose for them was to go to Macedonia.  Paul subsequently  had the vision of the man from Macedonia saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us” (Acts 16:9).

Many of the families joining Evergreen have come out of San Jose churches for various and valid reasons.  It would make sense that they would have joined another San Jose church, but God directed a large percent of our team down to Morgan Hill to unite with West Hills.  I am convinced He did this to prepare our people for such a time as this.  The Evergreen campus is the Macedonian Vision.  God in His providence has been orchestrating this for 4-5 years now.  The arrival of so many San Jose families prompted us to plant a church in San Jose.

Finally, we looked at the results of Paul’s trip to Macedonia and further south to the city of Corinth.  What happened when Paul was obedient to the call?  Jesus told him specifically regarding Corinth “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you… for I have many people in this city who are mine”.  Like Corinth, Evergreen and San Jose contain many people who belong to Jesus — they just haven’t believe and trusted Him… yet.  By God’s grace we get to be a part of this movement of God in this part of the city.

What is a mulit-site church and what does that mean for us?
“One church.  Multiple campuses” is the phrase we have been using.  If you want to understand this more, click here for a fuller explanation.  We will maintain the same theology, vision, mission and values of West Hills Community Church.

Why plant a church in Evergreen? Who are these people we are called to?
For information on “Why Evergreen?” click here.  To familiarize yourself with the demographics and subcultures, click here.

What is the three month plan?
July: We will be meeting from 7:00-8:30 in Fowler Park in the Evergreen Area.  I will be preaching on a different aspect of the gospel there and we will have time to be with one another and the people in our community.  We will be playing games, socializing and having our kiddos play while we interact with folks in the part.  We can introduce ourselves, our church and our God to them.

August: We will continue to meet at Fowler Park through August.  In addition we will be going door to door in different neighborhoods introducing ourselves and our mission.  There are many in this area who do not know anything about Christianity.  We want to see if they would want to know more.  Further we will be meeting informally together as a congregation at the Community Center starting August 1st.  We will learn how to serve in different areas to hold a worship service that is accessible to our new neighbors, friends and guests.  Our first “public” service will be September 12th.

September:  We will start our first official public service on September 12th from 9:30-11:oo at the Evergreen Community Center.  Further we will establish our community groups throughout the week.