Small Group Superhero!

Today at Northeast, Bob Cherry stepped out on stage wearing a red cape, playing the part of "Super Pastor."  He shared how, early in his ministry, he did everything around the church: preaching, teaching, visiting, writing and printing the bulletin, roofing, and so on. He then taught us about the Old Testament role of the priests, who acted as mediators between God and man, and discussed how many churches still work from this Old Testament model in which the priest (or pastor or minister) is expected to and actually does almost everything.

The problem, of course, is that this model is totally foreign to the model and teaching of the New Testament. In the New Testament church, everyone is a super hero. Everyone has a part to play in Christ's Body. We are all priests (1 Peter 2:9). Most of us who have been around the church for awhile know this. We've read passages like Ephesians 2:8-10; 4:1-16, 1 Cor. 12, and Romans 12. We know it, but do we really live it?

Each member of your small group is a super hero! Each one has been given super powers called spiritual gifts. Each one should have an important role to play in the group. Each one is a priest.

Do you see your small group this way? Is everyone empowered to use their gifts to serve others in the group in their own unique ways? Does each person have a role that matches up with their gifts, passions, and skills?

I visit a lot of small groups and I see a lot of super hero small group leaders who somehow have come to believe they must do everything in order for the group to thrive. I talk to some of them and they tell me things like, "Well, they're just not ready yet to share leadership in the group." My question: Why is that? Why have you not developed them and empowered them? Why don't you believe in them?

Leaders who do everything for the group enable the other group members to sit and do nothing. They send a clear message that says, You can't ... You're not able. But a leader's main responsibility is to say, "You can do all things through Christ who gives you strength. You can do it! Give it a try! This is a safe place to step out of your comfort zone. I'm behind you!" People will grow when they are in this kind of environment. People do not grow when they are always playing it safe inside their comfort zones. People don't grow with super hero small group leaders!

Discuss this with your group! You can hand out a list of possible roles for your group, discuss what gifts and talents are involved in each one, and let group members take ownership of at least one. You can download the form from HERE.

It's time to take off the cape and get everyone involved. This will change your group! (It can also change your church and the world.)

When Jesus Isn't Able

Jesus went back to his hometown, and Mark 6:5 says, "Jesus wasn't able to do much of anything there—he laid hands on a few sick people and healed them, that's all" (The Message).

When I read this last week, it took me by surprise. Jesus ... not able to do much of anything? In the midst of healing thousands, calming storms, raising dead people to life, and feeding thousands with a Lunchable, Jesus experienced a "failure." Of course, his power was sufficient. It always is. But their stubbornness and unbelief was the obstacle to his work having any effect. The problem was not in Jesus' power; the problem was their hearts, which were hard, shallow, or full of weeds (see Mark 4:1-20 and my post about it here).

We can only imagine Jesus' dismay over the fact that he could not bring healing or insight to these people, his own friends and family. Jesus was simply too familiar to them. They knew of the Jesus from the past--the son of Joseph and Mary--but they did not know the Jesus of Today, the Son of God who had the power to bring healing and transformation to their lives. So he moved on to other places.

Hmm.... does this still happen? Have we become too familiar with Jesus (and the way we've always done things) to be healed and transformed by him? Do we know the Jesus of the past from Bible stories we learned as a child, or do we know him and how he is working Today, in our midst?

As you meet as a small group, move beyond the stories of what Jesus did. Talk about--better yet, experience--what he is doing. He is indeed present in your group meetings--right now. Don't just meet to study the Jesus of the past through Bible study. Be sure your hearts are softened and prepared to experience his presence, power, and purposes Today.

Otherwise, Jesus may have to move on to other places.

Jesus' Power to Multiply

In whose hands is your small group?

This morning I read from Mark 6, which includes the account of Jesus feeding 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish. I love Wiersbe's illumination in his commentary:

The miracle took place in His hands, not in theirs; for whatever we give to Him, He can bless and multiply. We are not manufacturers; we are only distributors.

—Warren Wiersbe, Bible Exposition Commentary - New Testament

What are you holding onto in your own hands today? Your small group? Your family? Your finances? Your ministry? Your job? When we place what we've been given in Jesus' hands--an act of surrender and stewardship--he has the power to multiply it. In his hands, he provides superabundantly--to overflowing (John 10:10).

Would you like to see your small group grow and multiply? Would you like Him to bless your life? It's not so much about your methods, your goals, and your abilities. It's about putting the group--and your very life--in Jesus' hands and then being a faithful steward in your role.

Time with My Friend

A friend is someone I will make time for. If someone offers friendship to me, it's a rare privilege, but if I do not make time to be with him, we are not friends. Moses understood this.

"The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend."

- Exodus 33:11

This is the kind of relationship with God I desire, that he would talk with me "as a man speaks to his friend." In Moses' time this was a very rare privilege that was unavailable to the rest of the Israelites. But today this kind of relationship is accessible because of Jesus. He called his followers (and that includes you and me)  his "friends" (John 15:15).

 Moses pleaded with God to not give up on his people but to continue to personally go with them on their journey. God reassured Moses, "you have found favor with me, and you are my friend" (Ex. 33:17).

I have favor with God and I am his friend, not because of anything great I have done, but because Jesus has made it accessible to me--and you. Both Moses and Jesus modeled this friendship with God by spending time with him, abiding with him.

As someone who desires to be a leader after God's own heart, friendship with God is available to me--what a privilege! My response is to to stop from my busyness, rest, abide, hang out with God for awhile today, spend time with my friend. That's what I'm going to do. How about you?

Who a Leader Listens to

A leader must know who to listen to.

When Moses failed to come back down the mountain right away, the people went to Aaron. "Look," they said, "make us some gods who can lead us...." So Aaron said, "Tell your wives and sons and daughters to take off their gold earrings, and then bring them to me." All the people obeyed Aaron and brought him their gold earrings. Then Aaron took the gold, melted it down, and molded and tooled it into the shape of a calf. The people exclaimed, "O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of Egypt!"

- Exodus 32:1-4, NLT

Aaron had been chosen by God as Israel's High Priest. And yet he totally blew it. He was a leader who led the people the wrong way. His intentions may not have been bad, but he listened to the wrong voices.

As a leader, I have to be careful not to lead God's people to worship anything other than God! Regardless of how much people ask and plead and push--no matter what seemingly great ideas they have, I must not give in. A leader after God's own heart learns to listen to one voice above all the babble of human voices. A leader after God's own heart has spent enough time with God to know and follow his voice and lead others to worship and serve him only.

Some of those human voices will be very strong, and we will be tempted to listen to and follow them. Some will reverberate with reason and a certain power and authority, yet God's still small voice is more powerful to the leader after God's own heart. Some human voices promise popularity, power, position, and even prosperity, but the leader after God's own heart does not give in to them.

What "golden calf" have I made for the people I lead? Numbers? Buildings? Organization? Programs? ? The success of my church or ministry or group? Is it time to stop, ask for God's forgiveness, and turn back toward the one true God?


Oh, Father, you have called me to leadership in your church and I want to follow you because I know your voice! Amid the babble of all the other human voices competing for my attention, I desire to hear your still, small voice loud and clear. As a leader after your own heart, Father, help me to stay true to you and your way so that I may lead people to worship nothing and no one else but you.

Follow the Instructions

I love building things, but I hate following instructions. So, I often end up with extra pieces ... or find I've skipped a step, so I have to take half the thing apart and rebuild it ... or the "completed" project just does not work. I end up having to look at the directions anyway to see where I went wrong. It was like that when the Israelites were building the Tabernacle and it's like that today when God is using us to build our families, our small groups, or his church. He told Moses,

"They must follow exactly all the instructions I have given you."

- Exodus 31:11

It was not enough that God called and gifted specific people to build his Tabernacle, they were to do it exactly the way he had instructed them. It's the same today. He calls us and He gifts us to carry out His instructions for His church.

God did not provide detailed instructions in the New Testament for building his church as he did for the construction of the Tabernacle or Temple in the Old Testament. Or maybe he has, but the instructions are different.

The New Testament church is about relationships, not structures. God now resides in the hearts of his people, not in buildings. God now provides grace-based guidelines rather than legalistic regulations. Therefore his instructions today are relational in nature. They are about how to be in relationship with him and one another.

Yes, we still need to follow God's instructions, and when we don't, his church does not work very well. There are "extra pieces" that don't seem to fit. We have to constantly go back and try to fix things that are not working. Or the church just does not seem to work at all. So we finally go back and see what the instructions say:

• Love one another
• Carry each others' burdens
• Serve one another
• Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another
• Honor one another above yourselves
• Submit to one another
• Teach and admonish one another
• Bear with one another
• Encourage one another

Imagine if we followed exactly these instructions the Lord has given us!

It's OK to Bowl Alone

Yesterday I went bowling alone, and I enjoyed it immensely. I was in Evansville, Indiana, with my son Dru and his friend Christian who were in a bouldering competition. I had a couple hours to kill before the comp actually started, so I puttered around Barnes & Noble and then went bowling. Around the fourth frame of the third game, I thought about the book, Bowling Alone, by Robert Putnam, which describes the decline of community in America since 1950. But I was really enjoying my time bowling alone! And then I thought of Jesus and how he often got away from the crowds to be in solitude.

"But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed."

- Luke 5:16

It may be surprising to hear a community junkie like me say this, but I believe that being in community and being in solitude are equally vital for our spiritual and emotional health. They form a symbiotic relationship. As the church today we are doing a great job promoting community, but a poor job promoting solitude.

In Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer said,

Let him who cannot be alone beware of community . . . Let him who is not in community beware of being alone . . . Each by itself has profound pitfalls and perils. One who wants to fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation, and despair.

Father, help me to live a balanced life in both community and solitude. Help me to enjoy times alone with you and times together in community. Help me to be more Christ-like ... to not fear being alone, but to often seek time away from the crowds and the groups to be alone with you.