A re-post that's worthy of your time.

I'm not sure that I've ever re-posted someone else's blog, but this one is worthy of your read. I've experienced most of these over 35 years from novice staff members who think they are God's gift to the church, "used to be" pastors who failed and now want to impart their knowledge, and laypeople who believe their longevity in a place has somehow given them ownership and governing power. I speak to hurting and frustrated pastors weekly. These front-line spiritual soldiers often mention these things, among other nonsensical items. God has given me a heart for and is opening doors to minister to pastors hurt by their congregations and even other pastors. Pray for us as we continue to build this ministry of restoration and I hope this re-post helps you to be a helper and friend to your pastor.

8 “Armchair” Pastors who Frustrate Me
By Chuck Lawless on Oct 01, 2018

Okay, I admit it. I’m writing with some frustration today because I watch committed pastors struggle because of “armchair” pastors in their church (that is, those who aren’t pastors, but who feel serious freedom to tell pastors how to do their job). Here are some armchair folks who frustrate me:

1. Those who have no clue about theology, but who tell a pastor when he believes wrongly. I know laypersons who are theologically strong, but I also know some who aren’t. The latter are often the ones who tell a pastor when he’s “wrong.”
2. Those who are sure they know how the pastor should spend his time. After all, they’re certain they already know how he is spending his time, even though they haven’t spent any time with him.
3. Those who “guide” the pastor in how the church should spend the budget, even though they give minimal (or perhaps no . . .) dollars to the church. Their level of financial sacrifice gives them little leverage to speak into these matters, but they direct the pastor nonetheless.
4. Those who tell the pastor how a pastor should raise his children. This one probably annoys me more than any of these. If you’re concerned about your pastor’s children, pray for him and them. He might just be more burdened than you are . . . .
5. Those who tell the pastor what the Lord has “told” them to tell him. To speak for the Lord apart from rightly proclaiming His Word is a dangerous move indeed, so all of us likely need to be careful here.
6. Those who are convinced a pastor can read minds. These are the armchair pastors who get angry with a pastor for not responding to a need about which he had no knowledge.
7. Those who tell the pastor he should confront somebody, but without using their name in the conversation. Unless you’ve walked in these shoes (and armchair pastors usually haven’t), you cannot know how difficult this position is.
8. Those who see themselves as the unofficial church leader. Their “yes” vote for a pastor is really only perfunctory, since they’ll remind him about their positions and power anyway.

May I ask you to pray for your pastor today, particularly if he has armchair pastors in the church? AND pray for any armchair pastors in your church as well – that they might re-think how they can best help your pastor? All of us can be armchair people at times . .

Learning from Party Lines, Pay Phones & Pagers

A couple of weeks ago, I found a plastic bag laying on the walkway leading to my front door. Curious, I opened the bag and to my great surprise, I found a Yellow Pages phone book! I honestly did not know that phone books were still distributed and I probably have not used one in 8-10 years. In fact, the last time I saw a Broward County phone book, there were two 2-3” thick Whitepages and one 2-3” thick Yellow Pages. Interesting how much these books have been scaled back now that people find the information they need online.

Seeing that phone book started my reminiscing. I thought back to the “party line” that meant the neighbors shared a phone line and you had to wait, until it was clear, to make a call. It also meant you could listen to your neighbor’s phone conversations! I remember phones with rotary dials and cords. I remember the cordless phones with the antenna you had to pull out each time you wanted to make a call. If you ventured outside the house, there were pay phones on almost every corner and people could deposit a dime (later a quarter) to communicate. Only a short time after that, pagers were the talk of the town and “beeps” and “tones” were being heard coming from belts and pockets. I remember the first cell phone that came in a large carrying case and then the “brick” phone that would pull your pants down if you tried to carry it in your back pocket. Then came flip phones and Razors. The race was on to make them thinner and smaller. In fact, I remember Nokia and Ericsson commercials bragging that their phones were small enough to fit into the palm of your hand.

Then someone had the idea to merge the cell phone with the Palm Pilot and two devices became one. Soon, the Walkman and iPod were merged into that same phone. Shortly thereafter, the cell phone also became a GPS. These new uses and the introduction of social media called for larger screens to accommodate people’s desire to read and look at pictures on their phones. Next came app’s and videos, and before you knew it, cell phones increased in size and started looking more like iPad Mini’s! If that were not enough, people started talking to their cell phones and Siri or Google Assistant started dialing, searching for information and providing directions for them. Now, most people will text and rarely even talk on their cell phone; but the purpose of communication is still being accomplished. New technology continues to be discovered and user needs are continuing to change, so no one really knows what telecommunication technology will look like in the next 5-10 years!

The Church can learn a lot from the telecommunications industry. Times will change, needs will change and the Church will need to change and adapt to effectively meet the needs of those they desire to reach and serve. Someone said, “The Church exists to take the never-changing message to an ever-changing world.” Someone else said, “The message never changes, but the methods do.” The point is that the telecommunications industry has changed drastically in my lifetime; but the primary purpose of facilitating communication remains the same. In the Church, there have also been many changes: praise teams have replaced choirs, bands have replaced orchestras, guitars have replaced organs, video has replaced overhead projectors, colored lighting has replaced white lights, theater seating has replaced pews, casual dress has replaced suits, online Bibles have replaced printed Bibles, and so much more. In spite of all these changes, the purpose of the Church has not changed – the Church still exists to share the Gospel message with those who still need to accept the gift of salvation found through the sacrificial death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

You have been noticing some changes at Grace Church over the past year. These changes have been and continue to be made with the intent of helping us to become more effective in sharing the Gospel and bringing people to Jesus. The fact is that the Church is one of the only organizations that exists for those who are not its members. Yes, our methods are changing; but the message preached from the pulpit of Grace Church will never change! If you are looking for a place to help you discover your faith, learn about God and grow in your relationship with Him… then Grace Church may be just the place for you!

It's a New Day at Grace Church in Pompano Beach, FL

It is hard to believe, but Sunday, March 4, will be the one-year anniversary of my first sermon as the Senior Pastor of Grace. This first year has been a little overwhelming, but very exciting to see what God is doing. I tell people that it is a new day at Grace and if you have not visited with us recently, you need to come worship with us soon. In this post, allow me to briefly share where we were, where we are, and where we are going as a ministry.

Grace and Highlands have had a rich heritage of 50+ years, but the church and school have faced some struggles over the last decade. I believe that God, in His timing, brought in a new Senior Pastor, new Executive Pastor, and new School Administrator to help lead this ministry to a place of health, stability and long-term sustainability. I am so thankful to be part of the leadership team that God assembled here. I am also thankful for the wonderful staff, support team, and the loving congregation that makeup Grace Church. These committed folks have been so willing to follow and support their new leaders as we make changes that will position Grace and Highlands for a very bright future.

So what’s new and what’s been going on at Grace?

First, we established a 3-year plan as follows:

• Year 1 – We have been focusing on getting healthy, by putting our finances in order and trying to eliminate all ministry debt by this May. (I am happy to report that it looks like we are going to achieve that goal!) We have streamlined our staff, replaced people with personnel, started positioning this ministry for long-term growth, and casting a vision for the future. In this first year, God has been blessing tremendously and our average worship attendance has nearly doubled in just 11 months. The greatest blessing is that we have seen over 130 people saved and over 70 baptized during that same time.

• Year 2 – Repairs and Renovations will be our goal and our efforts will focus on repairing what can be repaired, replacing what needs to be replaced, and renovating areas that need some freshening up. A few of the first things you’ll notice will be the renovation of the Solid Rock building into a new Youth Center, a fresh look in our Nursery lobby, and a polished & professional look in our Conference Room.

• Year 3 – In the third year, we hope to be functioning like a well-oiled machine that is healthy and completely focused on evangelism, discipleship, ministry growth, engaged in our community, and possibly building to accommodate the new people that God is bringing to us.

Second, Grace has a new vision. It is our goal to become “A Church for All Nations.” South Florida is a very diverse and international community. I believe the demographics of the local church should represent the community that it serves. With that in mind, our goal at Grace is to become one church with many services preached in multiple languages. We have been and will continue to work toward that goal!

On December 10, Grace started a new Creole-French service to reach our Haitian neighbors. Pastor Jean-Marc Desire’ is a Haitian national who oversees five churches and two Christian schools in Haiti. While continuing his mission work in Haiti, Pastor Desire' is also helping to establish this new ministry at Grace. This new Creole-French service meets in Grace’s Fellowship Hall at 11am for worship each Sunday. The Creole service is already averaging 110 in worship.

On January 7, Grace started a new Spanish service to reach our Hispanic neighbors. Pastor Samuel Herrera has served locally as an Associate Pastor for 14 years and recently felt God’s call to lead a Spanish work. Pastor Samuel’s enthusiasm for serving the Lord is contagious! This new Spanish service meets in the Upper Room (next to the Library) at 10:45am each Sunday and they are already averaging 56 in worship.

Our next goal is to start a Portuguese service for our Brazilian friends! Let me know if you are aware of a doctrinally sound Brazilian pastor who would be willing to help with this endeavor.

Finally, you will see some other changes as Grace not only tries to preach the Gospel in a variety of languages, but we also try to become culturally relevant to our community. Some of the upcoming changes will include more home and community groups, because we believe the church should gather all week long and “do life together.” This fall, we will offer multiple English services in order to offer different musical styles and time options, as well as, seminars and events that focus on the real needs of families in our local community. We want Grace to be a place where people have almost unlimited opportunities to hear about, learn about, and serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

We are excited about what we believe is a VERY bright future and we want you to be part of it! To learn more about Grace Church, checkout our website at www.gbcfl.org or follow us on Facebook @gracebaptistchurchfl. You have a standing invitation to come worship with us! If you would like, please call the church office at (954) 421-0190 to setup an appointment with one of our pastors to ask more questions or seek help regarding a spiritual question.

Confusion About Organic & Mechanistic Styles in Church Leadership

Allow me to offer a prelude to this article... I've been a pastor for 34 years, attended dozens of leadership conferences, led leadership forums, lead a two-State church planting network, served as a 3-term Board member & Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and other civic organizations, served on the Board of Trustees for a seminary, hospital, other non-profits, and more. I clearly understand leadership models, terms and theories; including the systems of "organic vs. mechanistic." Having said all of that, I offer the following article exposing the misunderstanding of many young pastors regarding this topic and the laziness that results from it.

Over the last year and in several recent Pastors' networking meetings, the word I've heard repeated more than any other has been the word "organic." Ironically it is most often tied into some thought of working from a coffee shop, no accountability, and the lack of a structured environment. It is glaringly apparent that many have built their theories on the following excerpt from a detailed work by Burns and Stalker. Here's all some church leaders read, "An organic organization is one that is very flexible and is able to adapt well to changes. Its structure is identified as having little job specialization, few layers of management, decentralized decision-making, and not much direct supervision." A misconstrued interpretation of this definition without an understanding of the entire context works well for those who don't like structure and accountability.

The terms "organic" and Reformed go hand-in-hand for many of today's young pastors. This leadership trend is turning churches inward and intellectual, rather than outward and evangelistic. In these churches, the attendance is often declining, baptisteries are empty, and the concept of church membership is removed. It appears that the Great Commission has been replaced by the worship of academia. Remember that Jesus gave the Great Commission and sent out simple-minded fishermen to evangelize the world; while on the other hand, the religious intellectuals (Pharisees) presented the greatest opposition to this effort.

While the Church is a living organism, it is also a business. We, the Church, are in the saving, healing and life-transformation business. We must have a structure, strategy, accountability, and a means to measure our success. If no one is being saved, baptized and added to the Church; then we are certainly not following the example of the Early Church (Acts 2) that so many today claim to model.

Young pastors might like the idea of being "organic;" but the growing and great churches of our nation all have detailed plans, well-defined strategies, and high accountability. Realizing that real disciples make disciples, it stands to reason that church leaders should be setting the example by leading people to Christ, seeing them baptized and taking them through the process of discipleship. Too many organic church leaders feel they are exempt from the Great Commission and their only responsibilities are to study and teach. This explains "why" they dislike goals, reports, and accountability... because requiring those things would expose their lack of productivity to the church body that they serve.

It all boils down to the fact that too many pastors want the title of "Pastor," but they don't want the responsibilities of the Office. They will answer the questions of an Ordination Council, but they don't want any accountability after that. They want to preach, but they don't want to build a church. They want the full-time pay check, but they don't want to work a full-time schedule. It is time for some older, seasoned pastors to pour into the lives of these young pastors and help them see the awesome responsibility of their calling. It's time to teach, train and raise the level of accountability. It's time for Church leaders to lead God's army against the darkness. The time is now and the souls of men are hanging in the balance! Let's get our mechanics in order and sharpen our irons, so we can cut the organic myths that are stifling real ministry!