Motion Pastor

Community

A word that stands out to me in the all of the language that Christians and pastors throw around is the word community. That could partially be because I like the way it rolls off the tongue, but there is certainly a connection with the deeper potential and power of the the word.

One thing that I notice more and more as I get older (maybe it’s always been there I just didn’t notice it as much) is how deficient most people are when it comes to true community. Don’t get me wrong, we have people that we go out to eat with, and guys to watch football with and the ladies have shopping comrades but that doesn’t satisfy the purpose of community. What are your football buddies going to do for you when you are going through a crappy season of your life? Quote statistics or the Cowboys record? That would be more depressing!

We need people that will walk through the fire with us. We need people that will call us on our crap, because you know we’ve got it. We need people to mourn with us when we mourn and rejoice with us when we rejoice. We need people that we can confess our failures to and have them pray for us so that we can be restored. And then we need to turn it around and be the same for them.

Jesus was the greatest example of this. Even the Son of God chose to immerse Himself in community. We weren’t created to do life alone. Isn’t it fascinating that even in the darkest moments of Jesus’ life when His spirit was grieved to the point of desperation that He took 3 guys with Him?

I don’t know exactly what this is going to look like for you, but I do know that it is a necessity to live whole and complete like God intended us to. Put yourself out there. Find a community. Be a community. Cut through the shallow and mundane and get into some real relationships that focus on the real and the raw.

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Fighting Tendencies

The phrase or excuse, “That’s just the way I am” gets thrown around way too often, especially in light of the Gospel.

We all have tendencies that are contradictory to the truths found in God’s word. To forfeit effort to be pleasing to God in a particular area because it’s not something that comes naturally to you is really inexcusable.

To take it a step further, it’s actually pretty selfish.

Think about it on these terms: Personally, as I have aged my natural tendency is to be more introverted. My wife clowns on me because I don’t like to go to certain restaurants that I feel like I have to really work to create relational energy. It would be easier for me to be a loner. BUT that’s not what is best for the people around me.

Your tendency is probably not much different. It’s something you have to fight or else it would take over. Maybe it’s difficulties with punctuality, or depression or sarcasm. Whatever it is, if it’s not life-giving then it’s the opposite.

I heard a quote one time that really encapsulates this notion. A pastor told a staff I was on, “Always do what is best for the church.”

I think we could hold ourselves to that standard on a personal level and even take it as far as “doing what is best for those around us”. Is my tendency affecting those around me in a dissenting way? Is my timeliness (or lack thereof) encouraging tardiness to others? Is my lethargic attitude rubbing off on the ethos of my organization? Are there hints of cynicism in my conversation that create negative shockwaves?

We can’t be crippled by the tendencies that have carried over from our lives prior to being a follower of Christ.

It doesn’t really matter who you were. It matters who you are. And the way that I’ve got it scored you’re a new creation.

2 Corinthians 5:17- Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

There Is Something In Your Eye

Proverbs 22:9 says, “He who has a generous eye will be blessed…”

I love that. The indication is that if you look for opportunities to be a blessing to other people then it will come back around. I am completely in love with the veracity of that principle.

What really seals my fascination with the boomerang nature of generosity is that it is plays out in practice, not just theory. The driving force behind this blog action is just to encourage you with the reality of this, put some skin on it if you will (yes that’s gross).

I bought a MacBook Pro several months ago on eBay. I already had one that worked like a champ, but I’m a sucker for a good deal. It shows up and all is well for a month or so. The screen freaks out and after several hours of trying to fix it myself  (being a self-proclaimed Mac guru), I give up and decide to take it to the repair shop. This is not a rant about their lack of professionalism, but they had the dang thing for about 6 months. Needless to say it was repaired for FREE! That’s a pretty good start to the story, but really only the beginning.

As I said before, I already had one that I worked like a scalded ape so I didn’t really need it. I just figured we could use it around the church somewhere. Then the generous eye kicked in. I have a guy who works with me on all of our videos and gives a ridiculous amount of time and energy to Motion. I felt that it was the least I could do to compensate him in some form. The going currency in our economy must be Apple products.

This was on Friday. Now to set the crescendo of the story up properly I have to let you know that I have been wanting a 27″ iMac for about a year and a half. I’ve printed out pictures, drooled over them, looked for sales, and even considered selling my one and only kidney to get one of these monsters. On Monday I was having a conversation with a friend about how my 4 year old laptop is struggling to keep up with the video projects I’ve been working on. His solution: Let’s go get you a 27″ iMac, my treat.

I would say that brings us full circle. He who has a generous eye will be blessed. My suggestion: look for ways to serve people, love them and meet their needs and who knows what will come around. I’ll close with this thought from the Psalms.

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

 

Last Call

Bartenders will give out the proverbial “last call” when it’s time to shut down. If you want a drink, you better get to it. 

While that is probably an awful analogy for the church, I think it’s a fitting one. This is a “last call” to all of those who are sitting on the fence pondering about whether or not they want to make Motion an integral part of their life. While you will always be welcome, this might be the last call for you to get in on the front end of all that God is going to do. I can’t think of a more exciting opportunity than to be on the ground floor of a move of God like we are going to experience. 

This is not an attempt to guilt anyone to responding. I honestly believe that if you don’t get in now that my only response can be, “I told you so.” I don’t want to have to play that card. I don’t want for you to have to wonder what might have been or what would it have been like if…. This is way to significant for what ifs. This movement that we are on the precipice of will be historical. I’m “fully convinced” of that. 

That may seem like an arrogant statement, but not in light of a leadership teaching that we heard from Stephen Webb of Elevation Church. He talked about how when we get to the point of realizing how great God really is, relishing in that truth, and the beautiful mystery that he chooses to use us in spite of us then nothing but incredible things can happen. 

There’s the call. The responsibility to involve yourself in something great rests solely on your shoulders. Answer the call.