Leaning Forward

Say it well and say it right

Most public speakers eventually end up with some egg on their face. Some gaffes from the pulpit or rostrum are legendary, remembered by all of the practitioners who thank God every day it wasn't them who said it. Of course, some aren't suitable for print on a Christian blog, or any public venue for that matter. Still, they tickle the funny bone and usually leave us tip-toeing around the outline next time so we won't be the next victim.

Most are kind of old hat too, nothing new under the sun, and all of that. Like the dignified pastor who asked the congregation to stand at the start of the annual baccalaureate service for "Pomp and Circumcision" (the correct  song is actually "Pomp and Circumstance"). Our church family gets a little tense when I describe abiding in Christ, the word "abide" in the language of the New Testament literally meaning "pitch your tents". Think on that one for a minute to discover an unfortunate malapropism that strikes many preachers, that lurks in the shadows every time I pass through those texts. Or, the day the nervous young man said to the student body, upon receiving a class award, "from the heart of my bottom I thank you". Or, the preacher who said that the devil isn't a pigment of your imagination. Say what? On and on and on. You see, the variety of these goofs is as numerous as the people who stand in front of a group week after week. It's the nurture of the beast. Yuk!

Some people say nothing very well. In fact most politicians have mastered the black ops of being eloquent and verbose and politically correct, while being equally evasive, as certain as nailing Jello to the wall. It's the rope-a-dope thing from a dais, maneuvers to put an Ivy League education on display without substance. Let the speech writers put some spin and polish on the rhetoric, and whatever you do, in word or in deed, be as fuzzy as possible. Our frustration with government and institutions is often the result of the double-speak and forked tongues of bureaucrats and professional politicians who know how to blow smoke at us all the time. 

Communicating faith is far too significant an assignment for similar word games. We've debated the age-old message/messenger thing long enough to know the correlation between what is said, how it is said, and who is saying it. In the final analysis, the content of our message must the constant of our mission. Forsooth, inasmuch as thou verily esteemeth it, thou canst not articulate the corpus of this glorious communication in a tongue unknown to thine inheritance. That is to say, how you say it matters too, Jack. So, there is this dynamic tension---saying the right things in the right ways.

Our congregation is starting a new Saturday evening worship service. Of course we believe God has directed this launch as a means of communicating faith to the people in our community, especially all the younger adults who live around is in such numbers. They are our neighbors and we want to share faith and community with them. To believe we can do the same old things in the same old ways to bring them to this service is just naive. A cultural revolution is taking place in our world and many of us are just plain unaware of it. Several years ago God placed this ministry on my heart, and we have been intentionally navigating in this direction all along. I have no doubt that our launch team and musicians and leadership, myself at the front of the line, will deliver the right message, yes, in the right way.

And, what's a little egg on the face once in a while? I mean, being authentic and all means clay feet, toungled tangs, and putting your foot in your mouth on occasion. Just don't wear golf shoes when you do it--- 

It is what it is, sometimes...

OK, genius, in proper psycho-babble, please tell me why you see the contours of shapes in the picture stage right---a sphere in one, and a pyramid in the other. Well, of course, there must be a sensible explanation of this anomaly. I just don't know what it is. Seems to me it has something to do with the other objects that are specifically drawn with a symmetry that gives the impression of the shapes. I don't know! Go figure.

Like hundreds of other picture games and optical illusions this is just another indication that things are not always what they seem, that in fact, regardless of what pop culture says, it is not always what it is.

This was apparent to me a couple of years ago when I served on the jury in magistrates court. We had an automobile accident on the docket involving a young man charged with DUI. It would be a second offense for him and he was looking at some serious punishment. So, the court marched in their legal eagles to handle the prosecution, and our young boozer paraded a team of defense attorneys that would have made the folks @ Boston Legal salivate. Witness after witness went before the court. After a couple of hours I was wondering if they were all intoxicated or smoking something illegal. There was only one accident, one plaintiff and one person charged. And, thirty-eleven versions of the collision. It was a mistrial, the jury deadlocked. You see, it isn't always what it is.

Lately I've been studying all the research about reaching the Bridgers and Millennials. Prep for our new Saturday evening service is more than reviewing a couple of Bible verses and winging it from the stage on that first evening, September 12. So, I've been crunching the numbers generated by such imminent researchers as Ed Stetzer, Richie Stanley, Jason Hayes, Thom Rainer, Robert Webber, Tim Stevens, Dick Staub, Reggie McNeal, George Barna, and Leonard Sweet, just to mention ten of them. These guys can tabulate some findings---charts, statistical profiles, means and medians, averages (as if average was the goal), surveys, focus groups, opinion questionaires, and coin flips. Significantly, the numbers correlate from study to study. They did it well.

Trouble is, their conclusions often vary. You see, a group of humans can see exactly the same thing and derive very different outcomes. What is this about? Well, that's not such a mystery. You see, most of those guys are boomers or at the least busters. They've been basted in the juices of their own generational cohort, marinated in the influences of their times. They just cannot analyze the data outside of who they are. Except when compared to the unchanging truth of Scripture our views are just our views, our particular take on things. 

Here's an example. I've read at least four different interpretations of Acts 13:36, "For when David served God in his own generation, he fell asleep...". One translator depicted  the word "generation" as the times in which David lived. Another, the people of David's cohort, his own peers. Still, to another, "generation" was his household, and finally, there was a reference to the royal line. I suppose this is why some people get out a box of snakes at worship, some baptize by sprinkling, and still others won't use musical instruments in worship. Depends on how you look at things, huh?

So, what's the deal here? Whose conclusions are going to rule in deciding the landscape of this new opportunity to reach our community? Well, we have a launch team and they are actually people in the cohorts we're targeting. We're going to listen to them as one decision point. Of course, there are other filters too, to insure we're not chasing shadows. You know, like the Bible, the mission statement of our church, the covenant that binds us, the context of our ministry, our elders---you know, the staff and leadership team. These will all figure in the process.

Oh yes, and illumination. You know, the forgotten process by which the Holy Spirit interprets the Word of God to us and teaches us to apply it to our lives. My prayer is that this reality is what will separate our preparation from many worldly attempts draw a crowd.

Jesus said, "---for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say" (Luke 12:12). That's what will keep us on the same page, and what will define what is as what is.

Glory.

Hot wire the brain

OK, honestly, energy isn't the problem here. Drink bold, dark roast coffee throughout the day and you'll have enough caffeine coursing through your veins to power a small city. If you run a little low, you can always chug a bottle or can of the more than 200 energy beverages that drive the high-octane culture today. If you don't want to be a maniac about it, you can just sip some green tea, take a ginseng capsule or pill, stir a little bitter orange into your hot tea, or taste some savory, luscious sugar powered snack and you'll get a boost that will see you past just about any brownout. No, if you're low in the energy department there are a good many solutions.

The trouble here is brain power. That's the new thing I'm always nagging God about lately,usually running a quart low of whatever it is that makes the synapses in the brain fire at peak efficiency. Shoot, there are supplements for that too---Co-Enzyme Q10, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Gingko Bilboa, Rocky Balboa, DHA and a whole list of other omega-3 fatty acids---all marketed to boost brain efficiency, memory, and other cognitive functions, that is, if you can remember when to take them. Forsooth, they still may not be the ticket, a case of too little too late. I want someone to invent a hot wire system to jump start my cerebrum, snap some electrical impulses through the lobes, sharpen the edges of a blade worn dull by, well, whatever. Strings on the fingers and emails to self aren't cutting it any more.

You see, staying on top of your game is the deal now. And, the $64,000 question (go here to find out what that means) is, how to make it happen, how to keep your edge and hang onto your jersey for another season or two. There are many options. You can read, talk to other people, enter an encounter group, watch instructional videos, 'er DVDs, attend meetings, seminars or conferences, go back to school, lose weight, have a face-lift, do the hair thing, which improve thinking skills only by making you feel better about yourself, or when all else fails, plagiarize. The axiom of the age among preachers is, "if you have eyes, plagiarize." Questionable at best, especially if what you're stealing isn't state of the art too.

Sadly, the bucket rule existed before the bucket list. It's like this. Your mind is like a bucket. From the time you are born you start putting knowledge into your bucket. Finally, when you start showing signs of being long in the tooth, your bucket gets full. Eventually things start falling out. What falls out first is what you put in there last. LIFO for you accounting types. That's why you can remember something that happened forty years ago but can't for the life of you remember what you had for breakfast this morning. It's the bucket rule. And, nothing makes the bucket bigger. In fact, if the truth be told, the bucket actually shrinks with age, if you can actually imagine some people with more reduced capacity.

No, living on the leading edge isn't about age anyway. It's about knowing who you are and where you are in the journey, committing what you have, limited as it may be, to the Lord's purpose, and gapping your particular weaknesses with the strengths of others. And then there are the lasting things, the eternal things, you know, the mind of Christ we should all be seeking, the thought processes of keeping focused on the things that matter, daily going to the spring for freshness, sharpening the saw, as they say. Lest we forget, by the way, daily depending on his grace to sustain and guide. Yes, to be sure, doing it his way. Shoot, forget the supplements and snake oil---

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Romans 12:2

---to be made new in the attitudes of your minds---Ephesians 4:23 

Scouring the stax of wax with The Chester

After an early morning at the office and the usual Monday morning deadlines, and then when the boardmeeting of LifeWorks Charleston ended after lunch, The Chester and I went record shopping.

OK, what exactly is a record. Well, gramophone records, AKA vinyl records, were the primary means of commercial music recording and reproduction for most of the twentieth century. Designed to play on a record player, or later a device called a turntable, these discs could rotate at 78, 33 1/3, or 45 revolutions per minute. Most boomers like me juked to vinyl records throughout our teens and college years, and grudgingly gave in to the 8-track and cassette crazes later. The vinyl record shaped our lives and defined many of the mannerisms and colloquial language of our younger years. My mother told me many times a day that I sounded like a broken record, a reference to the repetitive whining of childhood. One of my early heroes was a local DJ (that would be disc jockey), who spun the stax of wax down at WQOK, Greenville, AM radio of course. Blah,blah, blah. Drifting down memory lane with The Drifters---get a life.

So, The Chester is a record collector. Like seeking fine antiques he loves scouring the local junque stores (Goodwill, Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, and Thrift Stores) in his search for good records. Define good: preferably 40's type war and big band music, but just about anything recorded back there somewhere, desiring a collection of all the great arteests (no gansta rap or funk included), thank you. He has thousands, measured by the inch: one inch = five (5) long play (lp) records, in jacket. And, of course, he has record players stored away, diamond needles, converters for the 45 rpms, and now new techno devices that permit him to convert to cassettes or, get this, CD's. MP-3? No, he isn't there yet.  Still analog. Hold it, that would be high fidelity. You know, like Benny Goodman, Harry James, JoStafford, The Andrews Sisters, and hundreds of people you never heard of but he fondly remembers, the music and lyrics of the war years, torch music, love songs.

So, today we scoured the stax of wax, boxes of moldy vinyl records of every generation---Bobby Goldsboro, John Denver, Waylan Jennings, The Temps, The Animals, Psychedelic Moods, Roy Acuff, The Fifth Dimension, Glen Campbell, The Mamas and the Papas, The Stamps Quartet, and yes, after four stops, a Harry James Orchestra and trumpet recording with songs that he doesn't have. Success.

And, to boot, this whole thing was thoroughly Biblical. In the Book of Nehemiah, the people who returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls of the beloved city "...searched for the family records but could not find them"  (Nehemiah 7:64). Evidently, they didn't take care of them the way The Chester does. You see, we know where they all are. Stored and cataloged in his man cave in Greenville, each one carefully chosen because every single song means something to him.

So, for the day: gas $25.00; Harry James Long Play album $.50; time with dad, priceless.

My new over-glasses

OK, this is a great idea, and frankly speaking, I'm a little surprised some entrepreneur hasn't cashed in on it before now. But, this week I bought in to the newest geezer craze, yes friends, the ever popular over-glasses, that is, large sunglasses that fit over my prescription glasses. Mine are black with mirror, polarized lens that block glare and assist my vision in bright  sunlight and at night, not quite like the ones pictured at above. Still, this is just another indication of our market driven economic system, a time when some innovator provided a new wrinkle on the old sun-shade thing and put them on the market just when us boomers were turning, well, 'er, wiser. Pretty cool!

Of a truth it's not such a new idea. Mountain skiers, boaters, divers, bikers, race-car drivers, and spacemen have all understood the practicality of goggles. Mostly these were shields worn over existing eye-wear, either to eclipse the glare of the sun, shelter the delicate visual equipment from the elements, or enhance optical acuity in some way. So, the over-glasses are just an extension of goggles, and they look a little better than a face mask or helmet out in daily wear. Yes, some shyster on TV sells them and they're not Oakley's or Bebe's or DKNY or Ray-Ban. They do keep the sun out, however, at around $24 a pop rather than the $300 prescript Ray-Ban's I lost the other week.

There's more. Over-glasses are a good metaphor of biblical worldview. You see, over-glasses don't correct my vision problems. Eyeglasses with a prescription from an Ophthalmologist or Optometrist are designed to do that. But, unless you get those glasses that change themselves, which have proven difficult for me, you need strong sun-glare screening too. So, you pop them on and have both.

When I became a Christ follower he corrected the self-centered myopia that gave me eyes that cannot see. My biblical world-view provides the over glasses that help me to see things more clearly, to block out the glare and blinding reflections of a sinful, stained world, and help me stay focused in a world that is so distracting. These over-glasses protect me from the harmful rays of a system that would distort my vision and escort me away from the guidance that He provides. It is a wonderful way to look at the world, the vision of my biblical over-glasses.

That Jesus healed many blind people is no random happening. You see spiritual blindness is the way of the adversary, to offer images and sight that blinds people to the reality and working of our God through Jesus Christ. Jesus' touch heals our blindness. Eyes opened and focused we can serve him. But, that old adversary is still out there mucking everything up. When we put on our worldview over-glasses we can see things through a new lens and understand more clearly who we are in Christ.

The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.
Matthew 6:22

The off button

People with a mature moral compass don't depend on the government to legislate everything. Shoot, when something objectionable comes on television we just find another channel or hit the off switch. Same with the telephone, the radio, surfing the internet, reading material, Facebook, Twitter, or any of our modern toys. I mean, there is a certain amount of personal autonomy stirred into the human species and rather than depend on the Cookie Monster to define all of the boundaries of life, we should learn to exercise a little of it.

Of course, there is a rub here too, you know. It's the autonomy thing, the way we choose to announce system shutdown in some areas where some accountability may be expected. It's a fact, millions hit the off button on many of the responsibilities and commitments that actually make the world go 'round---you know, like parenting, marital fidelity, sobriety, honesty, integrity, industry, and all the other traits we love in others but resist personally. And, to boot, we brag about it, the autonomy thing, that is. Do your own thing, be your own person. You're in charge.

Sadly, sometimes we have to move to more drastic matters to shut out the things that bother us. The off button isn't enough to eliminate the nuisances that interrupt. So, now, personal autonomy unplugs the power, shuts the systems down, maybe even throws the stupid thing into the garbage or the trunk of the car. There! Now you see who's in charge!

Some people even stop listening to God. And, we're about as creative in this category as in any in expressing our individuality and rule over life. Why would anyone not want to hear from the Sovereign of the Universe, the Lord God Almighty, the One who was, and is, and is to come? Shoot, that's easy. Because God doesn't say what we want to hear. As Jeremiah stated it, because what he says brings us no pleasure. So, it's the off switch or the power plug.

Where am I in the journey? God will tell me and show me. Unless I'm not listening. OK, this is my topic this morning. Will I be listening? You can count on it.

You see, his sheep know and listen to his voice.

reTHINKING Saturday, again

Ed Stetzer, Richie Stanley, and Jason Hayes did some research recently re: the younger unchurched and released their findings in Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches that Reach Them (Broadman & Holman, Nashville: 2009). OK, the numbers speak for themselves and as they say, it is what it is, meaning, you just about have to trust them. Now, just for the sake of argument, you can debate their conclusions and disagree with their assumptions line for line and precept upon precept. I mean, we all have an opinion. But, the numbers say what they say.

At the heart of their work is one assumption that has me reTHINKING the Saturday thing yet again. They indicate from analyzing their work four classifications of the younger unchurched set:

1. Always unchurched (never been involved)
2. De-churched (having attended as a child)
3. Friendly unchurched (not particularly angry at the church)
4. Hostile unchurched (angry @ the church or having some negative experiences with the church)

This, of course, is interesting. I'm glad I read it. You see, for a long time I had just assumed that most of the younger set were ambivalent toward the church, that is, mostly indifferent, the church being considered an unnecessary component of faith. This being the case, the work of church leaders with a heart for the young would primarily be a matter of PR, helping the young to like the church again, to see the necessity of church in the greater spiritual sphere.

These knowns, however, indicate that most of them have some baggage re: the church, the typical likes and dislikes, perhaps even phobias regarding the role of the church in spiritual matters. Yikes. This is a whole new enchilada, a consideration of a different stripe. In this regard, it is intensely personal, more that selling an entire cohort on the idea of the church, but rather seeking to overcome experiences that may have shoved them away from church in the first place.

This registers big on the Saturday night worship planning meter. It is also why authenticity is the deal here. The fact is that in spite of the four categories and the partculars that may slot a younger person into one of them, there is a common denominator that links them: none are in church. For one reason or another they don't want it. It doesn't appeal to them. Something in church life either pushed them away or allowed them to slip away, or never appealed to them in the first place. Overcoming these biases too often becomes the raison d'etre for churches seeking to reverse trends. As a result, the institutional church and its leaders can seem defensive or critical, or lose sight of the real goal, that is, reaching people with the Gospel for Jesus.

So, I'm reTHINKING Saturday, again. This kind of thing will be a regular feature for me over the next couple of months as we seek to genuinely reach the growing demographic of unchurched younger people around us. You see, it's more than adding a cool worship service or more techno capability. It's about the vast number of younger unchurched around us and God placing us in such a mission field.

Stretching

Google "stretching" in the images portion of the search engine, scroll through the possibilities long enough, and you'll finally come across the picture that makes the point you're after. Like the older babe in the picture stage left. This gal is obviously a little long in the tooth. Since I don't know the caption that goes along with the photo,  I've made up my own story-line, just to be sure no one misses the point.  In my version, she's a ripe old 87 and in stretching for her daily 10K jog around the park next to her home, an assisted living facility in Los Angeles. When the run is over, she'll shower, dress, and go to her day job as senior personal trainer at Gold's Gym.  At he end of her shift, she'll grab a salad at Wolfgang Puck's bistro and then go to the community college, where she teaches a class in computer graphics three nights a week. On Wednesday nights she's the praise band drummer at the Baptist church around the corner. 

The stretching deal is really a metaphor of life. You see, our God is continually stretching this woman, you know, pushing the envelop with her,  growing her day by day, moving her beyond the limits of her own personal resources and into the untethered unknown of His gracious provision. She's never too old to learn and never beyond God's use of her for His purpose. Her age isn't intimidating to her, but there are most likely some young bucks standing in awe of her just out of the cameras vision. If she felt led to do the Iditerod she'd most likely be game. She's quite a girl. No doubt.

Of course, that's all fiction. But, there must be some can-do spirit in an older woman who can still do that. Shoot, most women in their twenties can't stretch like that. In fact, many of us can't stretch period, either physically or metaphorically. It's a shame, but a great percentage of us stop growing and stretching early on in our adult years, physically, emotionally, and, oh yes, spiritually.

Underneath the veneer are core values that guide us through life. One of mine is that God is shaping and sculpting and stretching us all of our days, challenging us to grow deeper in our relationship with Him through an ever-changing personal communion with the Lord Jesus. This faith relationship is fresh and dynamic, giving us newness and perspective regardless of our physical limitations or the actual circumstances that may in fact confine us at times. The biblical record provides a roster of great men and women that God stretched beyond their capabilities to accomplish the things that He so constantly placed in front of them. We remember them---Abraham, Sarah, Moses, David, Samuel, Deborah, Isaiah, Mary, Peter, Paul, Timothy, Lois---and pages of others because they all believed that everything is possible with God.  

Our new Saturday evening contemporary worship service is going to be a stretch for many of us. But, that is how our eternal God chooses to accomplish His redemptive work in His world, by stretching the people He has called to the task.

You see, He is able to do exceedingly more than we can imagine. We just have to let Him stretch us a little. Isn't that amazing?

The nuances of faith talk

Communicating faith can happen in a variety of ways. Scroll through Scripture even a little and you'll discover the diversity of the people and methods used by God to tell the old, old story. That the Good News was made to be spoken is hardly arguable. Certainly, living the life should affirm and declare the commitment of every believer. Still, no life is adequate as a definitive arbiter of faith. It must be verbally transmitted if we are to be true to the biblical standard.

The how question is, of course, open to a good bit of debate. Schools of proclamation have formed over the centuries to spot-light the several means of making the Gospel known. Lifestyle evangelism, biblical exposition, story-telling, teaching, reasoning, topical preaching, prophetic announcement, street corner proclamation, confrontation, even moralizing, have all found adherents in church history. Today, the predominant camps line up behind either pure Bible exposition, topical exposition, or conversational engagement. Which is truest to the biblical standard is certainly open to discussion!

Jesus most often taught, but he did preach the Good News of the Kingdom on many occasions. Our Lord was also the master of story-telling, his parables being the truth in common images. Simon Peter was a definitely a preacher. The Apostle Paul could alter his style according to the hearers---preaching in many diverse locations and situations, consistently teaching, and reasoning from Scripture when the audience was up to it. Regardless, people were amazed when any of them spoke, whether when preaching, teaching, conversing, relating parables, or raising the discourse to an intellectual, reasoning level.

This is because the truth is always the truth, however we may disguise it. Incredibly, God chooses to honor and bless the faithful communication of His Word. Speaking the words of faith does not rely so much on the ability, wit, cleverness, studiousness, or style of the speaker but rather on the degree to which that message reflects the truth of the Bible. This is the message the Holy Spirit uses to bring lost sinners to Jesus. I mean, the greatest witness I ever knew couldn't thrill or mesmerize a crowd. That scared the daylights our of him.  He kept a Bible tract in his shirt pocket and used it on hundreds, perhaps thousands, of occasions to share the truth of faith with others. God used him.

My personal reading for the next month will examine a good bit of research about the nuances of faith talk to younger people, the bridger and millennial cohorts. I'm slightly intimidated by the prospect of speaking faith to the people who choose to attend our new Saturday evening worship. My prayer is that God will change me, that is, give me the grace to adjust to the listeners the way the Apostle Paul did and the strength to overcome some old habits. They are not bad habits necessarily, but they may not work in this setting. 

There is some good Biblical precedent here. Luke wrote about it when he reported Paul's ministry at Thessalonica: "As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ..." (Acts 17:2-3). Here, Paul was in dialog with his listeners, a delivery hybrid of argument, discussion, consultation, maybe preaching. In the main, he used several delivery forms in these verses, language stressing a dialog, a placing of something before them for consideration, an argument to prove a point, and the standard terminology for proclaiming the message. he went at them from several angles.

It reminds me that there are nuances in speaking the language of faith and that us preachers need to be aware of them, and be open to using them as we announce the Good News of the Kingdom. Here's the promise I pray every time I speak for Him: "...for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you  should say (Luke 12:12). Yes, prepare carefully. Know your audience. Then depend on Him to provide the right words.

What a blessing! What fun! Bring it on!

The don't do list.

So, I've been reflecting lately on the shape of our upcoming Saturday evening worship service and making a few decisions about what it is going to mean for me. OK, I know it's not about me. Yes, I am reminded every single day that I am not the center of the universe. Still, I am a nearly sixty year old preacher trying to connect with a younger cohort. This means some major adjustments on my part, more than fine tuning in the delivery department, over-coming a few old habits, resisting some ingrained preacher mannerisms, you know, learning a new trick or two. At this point, I've been asking God, my wife, and our staff to give me some fresh pointers about how to approach this new Kingdom opportunity. So far, the list is a group of negatives, that is, things I cannot be if this service is to reach the demographic we've targeted---you know, ages 18-30, the vast number of people who live in the apartment complexes that surround our campus. So, this is not my "to do" list. Rather, it is my "don't do" list.

1. I cannot try to be cool. Yes, Elvis, I'm too old for coolness and must avoid the temptation to dress down and take on a persona that is not me. One thing I've read about the younger cohort, they can sniff inauthentic five miles away. If authenticity is the thing, then I'll have to leave off the sleeveless stuff, hip-hugging jeans, and funky hair-do for something a little more suited to my age. I'm thinking white double-breasted polyester leisure suit, black shirt, white tie and belt, two-toned black and white wing-tips. What do you think?

2. I cannot come across as preachy. OK, I R a preacher. Habits are ingrained from 30 years of three points and a poem exposition, sweating a little, maybe even un-doing the tie on occasion, that is, when I am wearing a tie. I'm thinking this message should be more conversational, less scripted,  clearly articulated, with a specific point in mind. Good Biblical exposition is always necessary for understanding a text, and well, this is church don't forget, and there will be a Bible based message, truth without mixture of error. But, a harangue is not on the agenda. And, I may need to learn some new vocabulary since mine is right out of the Baptist church primer---verily pledge thee my troth, beds of affliction, missionaries on the home and foreign fields, and the announcements prayer my grandfather used to pray---Lord please be with the Women's Union as they meet at sister Smith's house, 221 West Street, at 6:45 Tuesday evening.

3. I cannot be church-lite . The younger adults I have spoken to in our other services have made it very clear they expect Biblical truth when they come to church. Over and over they have emphasized that their peers don't desire compromise and that they will respond to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. They have indicated that this age group will respond negatively if they perceive that we are dumbing down the message or throwing softballs at them. So, this can't be Bible-lite time or devolve into an encounter group or psycho-babble thing. It must be relational and genuine. How is Humpty Dumpty as a Metaphor of the Sinfulness of Mankind, as a topic?

4. I cannot be a shock-jock. Oops, this group can't handle tip-toeing around certain topics and certainly doesn't want their preacher conversationalist to pull any punches in speaking the truth. Yes, it is fashionable today to bridge the chasm separating cultures with crudeness, topical insensitivity, and street language. But, hey, folks, this is church and we must maintain some standards that mark us as different from the world. So, this Saturday night spiritual facilitator will address the topics that need to be addressed, but in language and manner that honor's God.

5. I cannot be someone else. Hello, anybody home. Some church leaders, preachers, worship pastors, and church staff members so model their ministries after other people that the fine lines of their own identity get lost in the process. It kills me to read the blogs today, when some guys cannot write a decent sentence without mentioning Pastor So and So or quoting Preacher Watchamcallit, hanging on the words of some communicator they're trying to mimic. Shoot, our church called me to be their pastor and preacher. They didn't call anybody else. I'm pretty comfortable in my own skin and I think I'll just hang on the words of Jesus and not try to be like anybody else.

The "to do" list gets smaller, but the "don't do" list is growing! Here's praying for the new thing that I'm always talking about it happening in me.

Amen.

P.S. Thanks to Jeff Larson for permission to use his cartoon. He does fantastic work and I appreciate his generosity in allowing me to use his humor. Thanks, Jeff!