the ballad of make do and get by

What is it about Church that we keep company with two evil twins we really should know better and not give the time of day to

Firstly there is make do, isn’t it funny in church life how easily we are ready to make do with stuff we wouldn’t entertain in our own homes, we have ac ouch that is looking worn and shabby so we give it to the church, it’s not good enough for our own homes but it will make do for the church.

Our vacuum cleaner is not as good as it used to be so we buy a new one with super suction and go faster stripes the old one gets passed to the church cos although it’s not good enough for our house it will make do for the church.

The second is get by, we get by without any real reason or purpose any understanding of strategy or destiny on our lives, we sort of float along with stuff we get by.

Perhaps the saddest thing is that we think this is OK , we think it is normal behaviour, well the more I think about it the more I refuse to live under a ceiling of make do and get by these attitudes have paralysed the church for far too long, so instead of a make do attitude I am going to adapt a make happen attitude, instead of giving cast offs I will endeavour to give my best, instead of giving the stuff I no longer want I will give the stuff I prize.

And how about this? Instead of getting by I will get a goal, I will get moving and motivated and stride ahead purposefully into all God has planned for me. I will no longer live by accident but live on purpose, called and courageous towards whatever giants stand in my way, and when I get knocked down I will spring back up, dust myself down, keep calm and carry on.

Will it be easy, of course not if it was everyone would be doing it, will it be fulfilling and adventurous and rewarding, you bet!

What I owe Mr. Young

I remember my schooldays and in particular one teacher, the perennial mad physics teacher Mr Young, I doubt if he would be that welcome in teaching these days as his methods where somewhat unconventional.

On one occasion he got the whole of the school to join hands around the whole building and passed an electric shock though us all, he submitted this to the guiness book of world records who turned it down on the grounds it was too dangerous.

On another occasion he went up to Daryl, the toughest boy in my class and punched him hard on the shoulder, Daryl responded by punching Mr young back just as hard, the class just looked on stunned. Mr Young smiled and said exactly Dasryl has just demonstrated that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, never forgot that one.

Heres the thing in my mock exams I messed around and just failed in Physics, when I got back to the class he called me to the front, here, he said is the most stupid man in the class, see a lot of you try hard but are not cleaver enough to get great grades but mr Gough who is cleaver enough but messes around will fail his exam not because he doesn’t have the ability but because he is stupid”.

I was furious, how dare he say that, I purposed to prove him wrong and get the best grade going, on the day the exam results were out we gathered in the school hall and opened our envelopes, Physics A+ I had did it, I Marched up to Mr Young and said, look at this , you said I was stupid and I would fail but I showed you, he smiled, yep Mr Gough, you showed me, well done, I knew you would”

It was at that moment I realised I had been played, It was also at that moment I realised that I owed Mr Young a big debt of gratitude, he not only believed in me but wanted me to be the best I could be.

Deep and wide

When I was a young man I learnt a song in Sunday School called deep and wide, many of you of a certain age and church background will now have that song stuck in your mind, for the rest of you consider it a lucky escape!

When I think of where we are at Bethel City Church at the moment it reminded me of that song deep and wide.

Deep because I see in the people at BCC a real hunger for more, they want more of the word of God, to see all the people at accelerate Thursday was immense, The subject was Christology and the people where riveted to what was said drinking in every word, there is a real desire to learn more, pray more, praise more and do more for the King and to see it unfolding is both humbling and breathtaking.

Wide, because we are increasing our sphere of influence, in the city, in the nation and globally. For the third week running we have seen people make a decision to follow Jesus, we have heard from a national leader this week how BCC is being talked about as one of the most exciting churches in the nation, He told us , people are watching you. We even had a report of one person in Slovenia saying they were from Stoke on Trent and someone from a Christian radio station there recommending BCC! How cool is that.

The year of expansion that we believe God spoke to us about at the start of the year is really starting to take hold, we are growing in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man.

A faster horse

The BBC ran an interview with a guy called Jonathan Ive last week, now while not many people have heard of Jonathan Ive I will guarantee a whole lot more would have seen, owned or wanted one of his creations.

Jonathan Ive is the designer for apple, he is the man responsible for the Imac, IPod and Iphone some of the most iconic and well crafted computer gadgetry on the market. The BBC reporter who interviewed him ask the question “ do you ask the public what they want before you design a gadget, the answer was never, he went on to tell the story of Henry Ford who was asked why he never asked the people what they wanted before he designed the model T “simple” said Henry Ford “ if you asked the people what they wanted, they would have all said a faster horse”

In the same week we asked the people of Meir what they wanted, the two most popular answers that came back were 1. a mobile phone shop and 2. a frozen food centre, so Bethel City Church’s ring tone and freezer centre will open in meir early next year, only joking, what we will be providing is a community pastor to love the area, a quality central hub and coffee shop on the main street. What we want to do is put Meir on the map and let them know they are not the forgotten area of Stoke on Trent while at the same time championing Jesus to the people of Meir. I hope we are able to give the people of Meir what they didn’t know they wanted.

Getting what you didn’t know you wanted is a great thing, like me getting my first iPod, Paul getting that experience on the Damascus road, the six guys at BCC last week who made a decision to follow Jesus. Or getting a car when all you thought you needed was a faster horse

making Dad proud

I was helping my dad set up his computer on the weekend, I asked for his password at one point and he gave it without hesitation, I joked with him that he shouldn’t have done that as I could steal all his money, he turned around looked me straight in the eyes and said “son, you could have the shirt off my back if you wanted.”

Wow, I saw in that moment the unconditional love that my father has for me, I have had quite a few discussions concerning grace recently looking at the love my father showed towards me reminded me of the grace of God, of the tremendous love and sacrifice and gift that God has given freely to me.

Put something else came into mind when I had that moment with my dad, I remembered all the times we spent together, teaching me obedience, right from wrong, a strong work ethic, making me a man. He did it because he loved me and he wanted the best for me. To be honest it didn’t always feel like it especially when I was being disciplined, but that is what he did.

I also remember how great it feels when I make him proud, to be honest I am 41 and I still want my dad to be proud of me.

I also want my heavenly father to be proud of me, I want to hear “good and faithful servant“who wouldn’t.

So accepting and living in that grace it is time to mobilize, to roll up our sleeves and to take this land for our father, after all, he is worth everything we have.

Risky Business

I was talking to a friend the other day about what we were doing at BCC to re-purpose church and he asked an interesting question on how we do this, whether it is by stealth or more direct, his assumption was that a direct approach could lead to an increased risk of people being unable to cope with the changes introduced and leave, a valid question to ask.

As I thought about this I turned the argument on it’s head, Perhaps one of the reasons church is in a malaise in the UK is for the reasons he mentioned, that people are scared of the risk of losing people, therefore church plays safe & boring and as a result denies the very call that brought it into existence, too often the people we are scared of losing are the ones preventing the accessibility of church to others.

James preached a message last weekend on the house of Ahab V the house of Jehu which I think it is safe to say polarised some of the people, the majority found it stirring and rousing, a small minority took offence, but sometimes tough words have to be spoken especially when you are involved in the risky business of building church for future generations.

We are breaking the mould at BCC by majoring on positive elements and modelling this in church. We are looking to champion those who are faithful, servant hearted, who are behind us and are willing to but their weight behind the leaders of the house, they are strong and mature and united in their pursuit of God’s great adventure. We also realise that some people need help to manage and adapt to changes and that not everyone’s journey is at the same speed, these people need our support and encouragement, they will get there.

Too often in church we allow our time, energy and focus to be taken up by those people who are whingers, negative, gossips, immature (not young there is a difference) who are quick to find fault and slow to praise. These are the people we should give the least time to. They are not with us, they are not connected, in truth for your sanity and theirs if they are not willing to change, to fall in line and to follow they are best off leaving.

The trouble is we don’t want anyone one to leave, we are called to love people and we do love them, if your anything like me you take it personally when people go, it hurts! but in truth they could be the blockage preventing you and your church moving to the next level. Perhaps if they are not enjoying and flourishing in the expression of church you have, the most loving thing you can do is help them find somewhere they can belong and prosper. We don’t seek to cause offence and upset people but we need to be true to what we have been called to be, this is a risky business and safe won’t hack it.

We also have to face up to the reality that some of these people will take the big black rain cloud with them everywhere they go, the fact that they are comfortable in their disfunctionality means that no matter how much energy is expounded towards them they will never change, they will never grow up, if fact they will always be a drain of resource, Time and emotional energy. It took me a long time and lots of sadness and fruitlessness to realise that.

The good news is that God will build his church, he will put in place the living stones required, if we concentrate on the people who are connected, who crave discipleship, who want to belong and be assimilated to the great project that we are on with, who will not just watch each others backs but will support and watch the backs of their leaders as well. These people are sold out on what we are doing, they are for us; they have the sweet smell of the DNA of the house.

I have witnessed both sides, over the years I have seen people leave in a sulk because they have not got their own way, so be it. I have also had many emails this week from people in the house full of encouragement, love and support. We owe it to those guys to take more risks, to be bold and audacious, to press forward, honestly it is a privilege to serve such people and all is well with my soul!

Standing in Faith

I have come to a conclusion; if you are not standing in faith for something then you are not standing in faith.

I have the great privilege of being on primary leadership in a expanding exciting church, one that is seeing fantastic growth not just numerically but in depth and maturity. I am experiencing the sort of thing only a few years ago I was dreaming about.

However in my dreams I only saw the benefits, in my dreams there was no mention about how much hard work it would entail, the cost it would take, or the squeeze that comes with this type of growth.

At the moment we are standing in faith for finances to come in to enable us to continue with the great projects we are on with, where we are on our journey this seems an ask, I f God does not come through then we are in trouble, the good news is that God as not let us down yet, as we have earnestly sought to do his will and be on with the projects he has given us every time he has come through for us.

So we stand again, but I am convinced that if I cannot stand in faith for this then I have no right to move to the next level, if I cannot deal with the side effects of my dreams then I have no right to have those dreams.

Some things you can’t do with the past

You cannot reside in the past, however lovely it was it is now gone, I got a friend we call him glory days because it’s all he ever talks about, don’t get me wrong the past was great but you have to ask why he isn’t having great adventures to talk about now. You cannot remain in the past, you become dated and irrelevant and no matter how hard you try you cannot return to the past, not unless you are in Lost or doctor who any roads. While we are at it don’t regret the past, by all means learn from it, use it as a launch pad into your future and honour it and those who have gone before you but you cannot relive it it’s gone and God has forgiven and forgotten  about it.

Pass the source (part two) soapbox or stimulus

Interesting fact from twitter is that 60 % leave twitter not long after joining, I suppose the good news is that 40% stay and certainly you can see the growth happening.

Something else I have noticed following certain people on twitter is the different way people us it.

For many it is a social interaction, we have the tweets to tell us what people are doing, what they have eaten, how they are feeling etc, before I joined Twitter I felt this would be very boring and mundane but strangely found it OK, I suppose with only 140 letters you can quickly scan through what you want to read.

What has annoyed me (along with the spam problem) are people who seem to use it as a soapbox, to explain, there are people who constantly voice opinions yet seem reluctant to join in any debate to what they write, this seems to me old fashioned mindsets manifesting in modern communication.

The reverse of this is also evident in twitter, those who use twitter to gain insight, to stimulate thought and check for the pulse, I enjoy this type of interaction as it models a learner mindset eager to gain information and insight from the tweeter or blogger.

so which model do you prefer soapbox or stimulus?

Pass the source (part one) unprecedented times

When I was growing up I craved mentors, Guys who could guide me up to the next level, to be honest I found that I outgrew a few which is still a cause of great upset to me which also serves to spur me on to be a great mentor for the generation below me.

Indeed a lot of my mentoring came from guys I had never met, Frank Dimazio, Robert Clinton who through their books enabled me to grasp principles and explore truths in the bible that equipped and enabled me to discover the call on my life. Their wisdom helped me in my study of the bible and disciplined me in prayer and character building.

Later on other guys appeared, Andy Stanley, Erwin McManus and Mark Batterson in recent years have ‘mentored’ me along with many others

While only a few years ago that mentoring took place when new books came out now it is much more accessible. Through blogs and social media such as facebook and twitter we have almost instant access to our mentors. We can also interact with them like never before.

We also have access to our peers too, As someone who operates in the second chair I have gone out of my way to identify people in similar situations all be it further down the road and looked to make contact with them, as the bible says Iron sharpens iron.

The fact is we are living in unprecedented times when this is now available excites me that the convergence of ideas and talent can help us move forward in our journey of discovery. Yes I know that God dictates our pace just as I realise that a million mentors cannot replace the instruction we have through the Lord, But mentoring is a biblical principle and one that can only help us grow and mature. I love the fact we can spur one another on to great works!

Nothing though beats personal mentoring so I am most excited about the great guys and girls emerging from Bethel City church, we have some great people who I am sure will go on to do bigger and better things than I could ever imagine