Last Sunday, in my sermon I spoke of how we have this life to determine our eternal accommodations. Like I often say in funerals, there are no make-up exams, no do-overs and (if you are a golfer) no mulligans.  My friend, John Faulconbridge, was in the service.

Less than 24 hours later, John had a massive heart attack; shortly after John was, like the Salvation Army would say, “promoted to Glory.” That euphemism for our passing is appropriate for my friend, John. He was a West Point graduate, a very proud veteran, and most importantly a follower of Jesus.

John’s funeral service is tomorrow at the church. His burial will be at a later time at the Oklahoma Veteran’s Cemetery. John just recently took the buy-out General Motors offered their salaried employees. He and Becky had plenty of plans for these years. He was 67 years old.

When I was younger, 67 years old seemed very far away and very old. It doesn’t now. It seems young(ish). I want to put the adverb “only” in front of the number “67.” People are supposed to live a lot longer than 67 years these days. My brother-in-law ran a marathon for his 70^th birthday. 70 is the new 50. 

Whenever someone passes away suddenly, I am shocked once more into the reality of our need to be ready. No one is guaranteed any days. We all have an expiration date, but unlike milk jugs we don’t know when that date is. My point: Be ready. This week was a familiar, yet stark reminder. 

Part of my job as pastor (or as my friend Steve Hack refers to me, “shepherd”) is to do all I can to make sure that the flock is ready for the greener pastures in Glory. It’s remembering that all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10:13). We still need to accept that invitation. It’s free. It’s available to all. But we need to accept and then live into this calling of following Jesus. This sounds a little too transactional: Say a prayer; Get your fire insurance; and bingo, you’re good to go. I don’t mean it that way. Being ready is about encountering Jesus, then formed by Jesus to be a part of the mission of Jesus in the world. John lived into that Jesus calling. There may not be a West Point to be in the Lord’s Army, but John answered the call and wholeheartedly served Jesus.  

As a Shepherd/pastor, I hope to always have the same confidence about the departed loved one as I will have tomorrow when I step behind the pulpit to officiate John’s funeral. He loved Jesus and wanted to serve Him. John was ready for his unknown and unexpected expiration date. I hope you are too.

40 years ago (has it been 40 years? Yikes!), when I was a summer intern from Olivet Nazarene University at the Alanson Church of the Nazarene in Northern Michigan, Pastor John Carr, told me, “You’ve got to play with them to pray with them.” He meant that a pastor (or any believer) has to earn the right (via showing that one cares) before people will trust you to talk to them about spiritual matters.

He was right, of course. He’s more right now. (Can one be “more right”?). There may have been a time when cold calling on people by knocking on their front door; spewing out the Four Spiritual Laws or the Romans Road or some other evangelism plan; led to people trusting in Jesus. It might have worked then, not now. Knock on a stranger’s door these days, and you might be greeted with a Glock 44 instead of a crock of honey and crackers. 

These days you need to “play” with them first.

This was proven last Friday as we opened Central Park. Our neighbors nearly outnumbered Central folks with the arrival of the first official day of the park. Kids were sliding on the slides; swinging on the swings; and seeing how fast the merry-go-round could move. Several of the parents talked to me about our church; thanked us for building the park and talked about their intention to “try the church out.” 

You’ve got to play with them (literally). I told one neighbor one of our key commitments at Central Church is “to be the best neighbor.” His response, “You are!” Of course, that’s what we want to hear. 

It’s not 1990. In 2023, people want to know you care. They are more suspicious than ever. Many have been hurt before in their religious experiences. They have seen and heard of too many faith based organizations that have broken the trust of those they were so-called serving. The news of Christians is not always positive. 

The way to combat such thinking is to show folks a deeply religious experience can be different. Caring for the spirit, soul and body seems like a positively wonderful Christian thing to do. Paul wrote (in the verse all good Nazarene’s have memorized): May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23). 

That’s exactly what Central Park is hoping to accomplish! Through our efforts to care for the spirit, soul and bodies of our neighbors, we will have opportunity to share with them the sanctifying and peace infusing work of God!

Every year, since my Bad Axe preaching early years, I get away for four or five days for reading, research and prayer as I plan out the following year’s sermon calendar. I have found that I need a map for my upcoming preaching calendar to be balanced and well thought; and I need to seek the Lord and study to accomplish that goal.

I take this responsibility extremely serious. I believe Paul was writing to me (along with Timothy) when he wrote: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. (2 Timothy 4:2). Paul’s instruction to Titus applies to my pastoral responsibility too: Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives (Titus 3:14). Moreover, I hope to accomplish what Solomon spoke of in Proverbs 9: Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning (Proverbs 9:9). 

Here’s your pastoring 101 lesson: Preaching isn’t easy in the 20^th century. I suppose that’s why so many pastors are throwing in the towel, and why young women and men aren’t heeding the call as eagerly as they once were. It’s hard. People are more fearful, angry and can be downright mean. The divisiveness in our country is rampant (election years are the worst, by the way). Sometimes it seeps into the church. People often want their way, their message, and their agenda preached. Paul’s stand in Galatians 1:10 is mine too. He wrote: Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. In the end, the preacher is responsible for what is proclaimed from the platform. Andy Stanley correctly stated, “The cross is our invitation to live for the approval of One, not everyone.” Jesus must be preached and He is to whom preachers must answer. 

I’m thankful for the time to get away and listen to the Lord. I’m looking forward to a great year of preaching in 2024!

“Everything rises and falls with discipleship,” I wrote in response to John Maxwell’s old teaching that “Everything rises and falls with leadership.” Making disciples is what Jesus calls us to do (See Matthew 28:20) — not build churches, platforms, big budgets or ministries. Make Disciples. Period. But that doesn’t mean, John Maxwell was totally wrong. Leadership does matter. We need disciple making leaders. To that end, I have created a new term “Discipleaders.” The word placement is important. It’s not leaders making disciples, but disciple-makers with leadership qualities is the need for the 21st century. 

What does a Discipleader look like?

A Discipleader is a person first committed to growing spiritually themselves. You can’t teach what you “ain’t” got. Discipleaders are seeking God for themselves, then teach from the overflow. As such, a Discipleader is prayerful, in the Word, a seeker holiness in heart and life and generous. 

A Discipleader is on the lookout for those who also want to grow in the Lord. Young Christians need to be invited to be mentored and discipled. Not all are ready, not all have the desire. Discipleaders are looking for those longing to be taught the ways of Jesus.

A Discipleader is patient. By definition new believers are not immersed in the ways of Christ. They potentially make mistakes, fail, and sin. A discipleader doesn’t quit on people very easily. Discipleaders are persistent.

A Discipleader is humble. It’s learning from the initial, rookie discipleaders, as Jesus reminded them, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all” (Mark 9:35).

A Discipleader is relevant. They are moldable. They are not static but look for new ways to teach age old truths. Not always will the disciples-in-training be younger than the discipleader, but frequently they will be. A discipleleader must stay somewhat current (admittedly, I am a fuddy-duddy, and my use of the word “fuddy-duddy” proves it). 

A Discipleader can communicate truth in love. It’s the “John 1:14 Model.” Jesus was full of grace and full of truth. Truth means I’m going to be honest no matter what. Grace means I’m going to love you no matter what. 

A Discipleader duplicates her/himself. A church with one discipleader may grow a little. A church full of discipleleaders will grow exponentially. 

A Discipleader cares about one number and it has nothing to do with attendance and budgets (Jesus didn’t tell us to get hung up on those things). Its baptisms. Discipleaders are baptizing folks and then following up with a discipleship path that leads to more discipleaders.

Are you a Discipleader?

Forgive my nautical lingo (I just returned from an Alaskan Cruise), but have Christians in America missed the boat?  Not “missed the boat” regarding heretical tangents (although a case could be made that in some corners of “evangelicalism” – even the name itself—has turned heretical). Have we blown off-course (again the nautical language) regarding our main emphasis?  

It was John Maxwell, the leadership guru of the 80’s and 90’s, who famously said, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.”  Maxwell made the point to thousands of pastors and church leaders (and made himself wealthy) by touting this message in multiple books and even more conferences. But was he right? Is leadership the determining factor for the rise or fall of the church and in effect Christianity in USA/Canada?

From the title of this blog, you can probably guess my response. The rise and fall of the church in the last century was determined not by leadership, but by another “ship”: Disciple-ship. Sadly, that “ship” hit the icebergs of consumerism, church growth strategies and, not a little bit of pride and arrogance. 

Jesus gave us our sailing orders. He commissioned the church (see Matthew 28:20) to make disciples. Not make leaders. Not build churches. Not even to “make” Christians (that’s His territory). Our mission is to make disciples. We are to teach people to obey all the things of Christ and to baptized them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That’s it. 

Name your pet peeve about the modern church: Too Materialistic? Too Nationalistic? Too Political? Too Misogynistic? Too Racist? Not Biblical enough? Not committed. Not loyal. Not caring or compassionate? Bottom line: Not Christ-like.

All of those ills are remedied not by leadership alone, but by discipleship. We haven’t taught people how to be disciples of Jesus Christ. We have (you guessed it) missed the boat.

The big question: Is it too late to get on board the disciple-ship? With Christ as the Commander-in-Chief (see what I did there), it’s never too late. The church must take an inventory and recognize its current reality. We have done an extremely poor job in discipling people. If nothing else, Covid exposed this. The massive decline in church attendance; lukewarm churches; those feeling the need to “deconstruct” their faith; the disconnect many experience in the church; young adults leaving and not returning to church; pastors quitting at a record pace; the politicization of the church (and many other ills) are not the result of poor leadership (although admittedly we’ve had poor leadership too), but the result of leaders not emphasizing discipleship.

Years ago, Willow Creek church did a study of their people and determined that their church was a mile wide and a millimeter deep. Seeker sensitive worship experience built a crowd, but not many disciples. (Reminder: Jesus didn’t commission us to build a crowd). The church in America has the same malaise—seeker sensitive or not. The ship is sinking because we didn’t follow the orders. We built crowds, churches, programs and platforms—just not many disciples.

What’s needed? A return to the basics. Emphasis on the age old Christian practices: Prayer, Bible reading/teaching, fasting, and the fellowship of the believers (see Acts 2:42). It’s confessing we’ve blown it (not a difficult assessment given our current reality) and praying that the ship hasn’t already sailed– leaving us high and dry. 

The Christian fleet needs Leader-ship, Fellow-ship, Partner-ship, Friend-ship, Steward-ship and Wor-ship but without the flagship of Disciple-ship, we’re sunk.