27 Tough Questions Pastors Ask

Last month at our annual pastor's conference, the founder of The Hardy Group, Dick Hardy, spoke. The Hardy Group is a growth consulting company for pastors, and has had tremendous success across all kinds of denominational, social and regional lines.

What struck me most was how practical and down-to-earth Dick Hardy was. Though he's helped hundreds of churches, from the biggest to the smallest, he was approachable and accessible to everyone. He even gave his personal cell phone number to the entire audience! That was impressingly genuine.

But what I'm most thrilled about is his newest book, 27 Tough Questions Pastors Ask. He made copies available to us, and asked us to write a review. Well, it didn't take long to find something valuable inside the cover of 27 Tough Questions, before I connected.

Lately at our church, we've been seeing a groundswell of interest in prayer. We made a small adjustment to our bi-monthly prayer meeting, and overnight the attendance shot up! But that's not all! The results of our prayers shot up too!

After one Sunday evening prayer meeting--where we prayed for new families--we saw 16 new families the very next week! 16! Prior to this we averaged about 5 total per month. Wow!

So, back to the prayer closet we went. After the next prayer meeting--again praying (among other things) for new families, we saw 6 new families the following week! It was amazing! However, upon further investigation and follow-up, we discovered that of these 21 new families, only 5 were from the local area. The others were out of towners. So, now we're praying more specifically: "God, please send new families--from our area--that need You, and Your presence."

What's this have to do with 27 Tough Questions? No sooner did I open the book and begin working through the easy chapters when I came across this statement: "There are three cultures that are critical to the success of any church. They are...A culture of prayer...A culture of change...and a culture of ministry to young families." (pp.34-36) As excited as I am about the spike in the culture of prayer, we need to foster the other two cultures as well to see the growth numerically and financially--in addition to spiritually.

Thank you Dick for your valuable insights and assessments. I've already gleaned a lot, and will keep 27 Tough Questions on hand to glean much, much, more!

Love Like a Hurricane

Chances are, you haven't heard of John Mark McMillan. But you may have heard of his product.

John Mark McMillan is a singer/songwriter who released his debut album--The Song Inside the Sounds of Breaking Down--in 2005. One of the songs from this album has been a huge hit, in spite of the fact that it is best known by the five other artists who've covered it, rather than it's writer, McMillan.

The song has tremendous sentimental value because McMillan wrote it in a season of personal pain following the death of his close friend, Steven. Steven was a youth pastor, and one day during a church staff meeting he prayed out loud, "Lord, if it would shake the youth of a nation, I will give my life today." That very same night, McMillan was awakened by a phone call telling him Steven had been tragically killed in a car accident. That's when he penned the words to the song, How He Loves:

He is jealous for me loves like a hurricane
I am a tree bending beneath
The weight of His wind and mercy
When all of a sudden I am unaware of
These afflictions eclipsed by glory
I realize just how beautiful You are
And how great Your affections are for me
Oh how He loves us so
Oh how He loves us
How He loves us so

Over the last several months, my family and I have gone through a personal "hurricane"--back-to-back family deaths, depression, discouragement, etc. But through it all, John Mark McMillan's words have spoke to us in a deep, profound way. Because, even though it seems like the relentless wind, rain, and storm of the season would overcome us, the hurricane of God's love was even greater! His love is like a hurricane--greater than even a category 5 monster that threatens to reshape entire cities! Centuries ago, a young shepherd learned and understood what McMillan found true during his season of pain: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for You are with me" (Psalm 23:4, NIV)

If you're going through a difficult time, let me encourage you to reach out to a Heavenly Father that loves you like a hurricane! He's with you, for you, and never let's go--because He loves us!

What Kind of Man is This?

"Jesus got into a boat and his followers went with him. A great storm arose on the lake so that the waves covered the boat, but Jesus was sleeping. His followers went to him and woke him, saying, 'Lord save us! We will drown!' Jesus answered, 'Why are you afraid? You don't have enough faith.' Then Jesus got up and gave a command to the wind and the waves, and it became completely calm. The men were amazed and said, 'What kind of man is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!'" ~ Matthew 8:23-27, NCV

When I was in the sixth grade, my family moved from Kansas City, about 45 minutes south to a small, rural town -- Cleveland, Missouri, population (now) 679. The house we moved into sat on two and a-half acres, and had a pond in back. It was a great place to live for me and my two younger brothers, because we had more room to roam than we ever knew what to do with.

One disadvantage, however, was that we were forced to share all that acreage with my least favorite creature in the world: snakes. Ribbon snakes, black snakes, and copperheads were common as well as an occasional water moccasin. It could be my imagination, but I recall legends of 8-foot rattle snakes roaming those parts, and stories of 16-foot boa constrictors that preyed on 10, 11 and 12 year-old boys. While living in that house I developed a serious fear of snakes. It started as a fear, grew into a paranoia, and then morphed into a full-blown phobia. I was petrified of snakes.

One warm summer evening, one of those critters crawled inside the house, and was inching his slimy, slithering body up a door frame. I was frozen in terror. My Dad, however, sprang into action. With super-human courage, he confronted that vermin with his trusty square-edged shovel. He disposed of the evil attacker in short order, rescuing me -- and our family -- from certain death. After tossing the remains of the intruder outside, I looked at my Dad with a new sense of awe and amazement, wondering, "What kind of man is this?"

The gospel writer Matthew shares that God views our storms in the same way my Dad viewed that snake. He wrote, Jesus, "got up ... gave a command ... and it became completely calm." (v. 26) Just like my Dad handled my great fear of snakes with great calm, Jesus handled the furious storm with great calm. The sea became as still as a frozen lake. And the disciples were left wondering to themself, "What kind of man is this?"

Through trust in God, we can have the kind of courage we need to overcome life's storms. We can fear less and trust more. Whether our fears are of snakes or storms, we have a heavenly Father ready to handle any fear we'll face. That's just the kind of Father He is!