Lost in Faith

What is the purpose of Tues/Thurs, First Friday, and Coaching meetings? Are they a leader’s group? A leader’s community?

The answer to both is yes.

It is a place where leaders are challenged on a weekly basis thru systematic exposure to Biblical truth in an atmosphere of authenticity and grace. Where they are personally attended to and coached to grow in their leadership skills, marriage and personal life as a result of their being in the group. I would venture to say that most leaders get more face time together or at least as much as leaders give their group members.

If by community you mean a group “who have formed themselves around a common mission that calls them on a dangerous journey to unknown places, a mission that calls the church to shake off its collective securities and to plunge into the world of action, where its members will experience disorientation and marginalization but also where they will encounter God and one another in a new way,” (Alan Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways, p. 221) then possibly yes.

I say possibly because this requires a series of ingredients. Depending on the ruthlessness of our internal journey, how much we are exploring and exposing our temperaments (wetness) and have learned to live by faith instead of comfort, will determine the intensity that we feel the community or communitas as Hirsch describes it. Our willingness to explore one another and offer ourselves to be explored as well as the intensity of our shared commitment to the mission plays a significant part in the outcome.

Those of us who have been around for awhile tell the battlefield stories of yesteryear. We prayed diligently for each other and our seeking friends and all we had were each other to stay encouraged and to keep moving forward. In those days Shoal Creek was hard! Today by comparison it is easy and I think it hurts us because we’ve lost some of our ruthless commitment to God’s mission. How many of us, old and new, “Wander through our Athens (neighborhoods and workplaces). Look at the cultural idols. Let this break our heart and burden our mind. Let godly passion drive us to say “Give me Athens or I die.” Then confidently take the gospel to those who’ll see its uncluttered message, trust its validity, and receive its Savior—Jesus Christ. (adapted from Ed Stetzer’s blog at Resurgence)

I would venture to say, if we are all honest, our God is our comfort. We do “church” not as an expression of our passion for God’s heart in this world but as an activity that gives us a sense of purpose (often my God!), eases our guilt, gains us better relationships, provides friendships, etc. It is a fair exchange of goods and services or a good return on investment. But what if it wasn’t? What if pursuing God’s heart in this world provided nothing in return. Would God be enough?

The parable of the soils depicts the seed that sprouts but the cares of this world; my marriage, my kids, my job, etc choke off the spiritual life. I think the cancer resides in viewing God as one of many things I balance rather than my sole/soul source of life. Could it be that Jesus meant this when he said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26) Maybe it is not about balance but about an irrational commitment to our Redeemer; an unreserved trust of our Redeemer.

We’ve (or at least I have) grown up in a “James Dobson” world where family is king. Dare I say, Idol! Being a good Christian is being a loving husband, nurturing father/mother, raising my family, providing for college, being financially responsible, etc. I wonder if we don’t get what C S Lewis says, “You can’t have second things if you put second things first. You can only have second things if you put first things first.”

Could we be settling for quaint middle class existence dusted with a little cultural Christianity, when God longs for so much more for us? Could it be on the other side of an irrational commitment to God as our sole source of life* is a marriage or parenthood or vocational satisfaction that we’ve never even dreamed of?

I am way off the reservation! It must be the long plane flights and two drives to the lake!

Back to Leadership Community! Part of me wants to say, “You get out of it what you put in to it!” And I do believe that is a big piece but I also know that time is a big issue. I’ve been meeting with men on Tuesday for at least 12 years. It wasn’t until the 2nd or 3rd year that things broke for some of us. Like physical exercise, it is perseverance that makes the difference. Change is seen not in weeks or months but in years.

Tuesdays for years for me has become a band of brothers who have a ruthless commitment to God and me. It didn’t just happen and I am not sure exactly how it happened but it is fixed in my schedule now, whether I get back from the lake at 12:30 am and only have 4 hours of sleep or I’m in bed right after 24, I am going to be there. No doubt if I only get 4 hours of sleep the night before Tuesday will be a loooong day. The privilege of peering into my friend’s world and having them peer into mine while Biblical truth surrounds us is too good to pass up.

I wish I could give this to each of you as a gift but it is something I’ve acquired. My attendance and presence on Tuesday (and now Thursdays) has been a discipline that is now paying huge dividends.

Because I’ve been down this road, I am asking the same of you, to make your leadership group a priority and to not just attend but be present. Be willing to explore your fellow leaders and give us the privilege of living in your present life not just your past life. Let us live in your confusion and be the love of God in the flesh to you. I am confident, if you do these things, that you won’t cross the 3 year mark and wonder why you come.

*When I say sole source of life, I mean that we organize our time/life in such a way that everything, marriage, children, job, financial security, etc, is subservient to our relationship with God. We treat our relationship with God as if it was our oxygen hose so that anything that threatens the hose threatens our very existence. Every piece of the material world that shapes our soul to want what God wants get the first piece of our life and nothing gets in the way of that happening.