Tag Archives: Rest

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Pastor/Leader Life Cycle

I just completed an Updated/Expanded version of The Emotionally Healthy Church that is to be released in February, 2010. So this led me to quite a bit of reflection on what is the process for pastors and leaders to engage EHS, especially now that 30+ churches (as of last spring) have finished the Church-wide initiative. 1. Begin the Journey The most important thing we can do is to engage the message in our own lives, and to apply personally the powerful biblical themes explored in this book. Begin reading Emotionally Healthy Spirituality (Nelson, 2006) and/or The Emotionally Healthy Church (Zondervan, 2003 and 2010). Remember, we lead out of who we are. 2. Introduce to Leadership (EHS in Small Group) Gather a small group of your key leaders around The Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Workbook (Willow Creek Publishing, 2009) and begin providing an experience for your leaders to “go beneath the tip-of-the-iceberg” in. Read more.

What is Success?

As thirty churches have finished up the EHS Church-Wide Initiative and I have continued to interact with Pastors around North America, I am now convinced that defining success is a critical question for us in leadership. Sadly, it has been defined narrowly as numbers and budgets. I don’t think I am going too far in saying that may be idolatry and the very antithesis of the mustard-seed nature of Jesus’ kingdom. To do leadership in the church differently is no small challenge. The following is my first draft for success as a Senior Pastor (for me): 1. Walk in Integrity – with God, self, and others. This is reflected in a sense of peace, rest and a life filled with communion with Him. 2. Experience a joyful marriage with Geri where our we serve our children and others out of a cup that overflows. 3. Provide leadership in short, mid and long range issues that is thoughtful, prudent,. Read more.

Rest and the Double Life

Last Sunday I preached on “Rest: Learning from Jesus” (John 12:1-8). I loved preparing, praying, thinking, and delivering it. I felt exhilarated when it was over. My schedule was relaxed after church. I met with a single mom and a couple of others congregants and visitors. I then realized I could make my 14 year old daughter’s soccer game. Geri and I generally take turns and I had been at Saturday’s game, but I thought it would be great to surprise them both. So I got into my car and began driving like a maniac – cutting though lanes, squeezing between cars in NYC traffic, pressing just a little harder on that accelerator. In the process, I cut off one of our associate pastors who was watching all this and laughing hysterically with his 17 year old in the car! They had just heard me preach my magnificent message on “Rest: Learning from Jesus.” When. Read more.

Rule of Life NLF Part 2 (with commentary)

This is the second of four sections on the Rule of Life I have been developing for New Life Fellowship Church in Queens. We have only just begun to pilot it. My concern is to keep us faithful to our charism, that is, our unique grace and calling. I think we are in great need for fresh, creative ways of understanding who we are as God’s people and His call on our lives. I know I need this personally. What amazes me is that every week has more to do in it than available time. I don’t know how I ever lived without that 24 hour Sabbath each week!! In a conversation with Basil Pennington that I had with him before he died (he was a Trappist monk for 55 years and prolific author), he shared with me how he longed for greater time with God, more contemplation now that he had just “retired.” And that was from a monk having 7-8 Daily Offices. Read more.

Finding Rhythms in an Interrupted Life

I am convinced living rhythmically is one of our gifts to our 24/7 world and a key to walking with God. Yet my life, like most, is full of interruptions. I love and affirm Wayne Mueller’s words in his book on Sabbath and our need for rhythms: To surrender to the rhythms of seasons and flowerings and dormancies is to savor the secret of life itself. Many scientists believe we are “hard-wired” like this, to live in rhythmic awareness, to be in and then step out, to be engrossed and then detached, to work and then to rest. It follows then that the commandment to remember the Sabbath is not a burdensome requirement from some law-giving deity — but rather a remembrance of a law that is firmly embedded in the fabric of nature. It is a reminder of how things really are, the rhythmic dance to which we unavoidably belong. Yet last week I experienced a classic challenge of having. Read more.

Driving in the Right Lane and Spirituality

I have finally identified one of the core issues to my walk with Jesus Christ – driving in the right lane. Try it for a week. Okay, a day. Then try driving in the right lane and do nothing else but drive. No radio, phone calls, tapes, etc. It is a Sabbath activity for me and has been for some time. It is exhilarating. But I have not not been able to integrate this into my work week. Why? It is deep, I suspect. Very deep. Ruthlessly eliminating hurry (Dallas Willard’s famous phrase to John Ortberg) captures what, I believe, is one of our critical issues as followers of Christ in our culture. In New York City we are famous for finishing people’s sentences, speeding to red lights, fighting for a seat on a subway or bus, and “attitude.” Traveling around North America, however, has shown me that we don’t have a patent on the problem. Multitasking, continuous partial attention, and trying to. Read more.

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