Scott Cheatham’s Weblog

Yesterday, I baptized a lady by the name of Peggy.  Peggy recommitted her life to Jesus earlier in the week and surprisingly, she had never been baptized.  When I explained to her about the reasons for being baptized and also the fact that Jesus modeled it for us, she wanted to follow the Lord in baptism also.  Since Peggy is in a hospital here in Denver, I wondered if the staff would allow a ceremony in their chapel.  They did and on a beautiful sunny Friday morning, Peggy came dressed in her hospital bathrobe and 20-25 of her closest friends.

Immersion baptism wasn’t possible but the staff at the hospital made every effort to bring what they could to the ceremony.  I explained that this was all about the heart and the actual act itself would be God honoring regardless.  The hospital is Catholic in origin and it’s beautiful stained glass sanctuary let in a marvelous prism of light.  The many colors danced in the sunlight as a cup of water from the baptismal font was brought forward for me to use by the hospital chaplain.

As her husband poured the water onto her head and I began to pray, I saw tears welling up in her eyes.  Her body is ravaged and doctors are doing all they can but in this moment, God’s Holy Spirit moved in a way no human being can ever hope to move.  I was reminded of the scene of Jesus’ baptism when he came up from the waters…

And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him;
(Matthew 3:16 ESV)

The presence of God filled that space as we baptized her in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  People clapped and some raised hands in praise to the Lord.  Peggy hugged me tightly and thanked me for my time.  As a servant of God’s, I could see no other place I would rather be.

After shaking hands and posing for pictures, I left the family to their celebration.  Only God knows how the medical processes will work.  But on this day, Peggy confirmed to her God, her family, and friends that the Holy Spirit’s work had just begun and her eternal destiny is now secure.  It’s all about God.  To Him be all the glory and honor.

The sunlight on my face as I walked back to my car was warm and welcome.  God’s presence was amazingly powerful as I thanked him for calling me to serve Him.  I’m still awed that he called me out from a successful career to serve Him in a place where I knew no one.  He has guided me every step of the way and never failed me.  I love Him.  That’s enough.

Be blessed this holiday weekend.

In his book “The 7 Practices of Effective Ministry”, Andy Stanley asks his readers to start the process outlined in his book by doing one thing: Clarifying the Win. What is it you are shooting for?  What steps do we take to get there.  As a pastor, our church meets quarterly to remind ourselves what business we are in.  I regularly mention it from the pulpit.  We are in the business to create transformed lives.  To use a term coined by pastor and author Nelson Searcy, we track RTL’s or “Radically Transformed Lives”.

It’s easy to get caught up in the daily administrative work that must be done to keep a church moving forward.  It’s easy to create a lot of “busy” work to give yourself and others the impression that you are effectively using your time.  This applies in all areas of work but in the pastorate it can take the form of many little tasks that would be better delegated or those that could be done more efficiently.  This week, two very different people made decisions to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior and thus, began the process of RTL’s.  One is perhaps nearing the end of his life (only God knows) and the other is in the very beginnings of her adult life and is having a child.  Both saw need of a savior and both have now inherited eternal life from the Master and Creator of all things.

To be certain, those mundane tasks must be done.  But as I sat outside on my porch last night and began to consider the week’s events, God used it to bring back a point that I always try to keep front and center.  HIS kingdom is what matters.  While the “other” things have value, if they are not being tweaked to bring about repentance and RTL’s then they need to be scrapped no matter how nice they look and no matter how much they keep us “busy”.  If all my energy isn’t being poured into RTL’s, then I’m wasting my life energy that He gives me.  Even pastors need a re-calibration from time to time.

In your business, as a pastor or otherwise, have you Clarified the Win?  As a Christian serving in the local church (if you are not the pastor), let me ask you…Are you working toward seeing yours and others’ lives changed?  How many RTL’s are you seeing?  While Salvation begins the journey, we are called to disciple and mature in our faith.  In business, we should celebrate the wins in our company.  Even when I worked in radio, our department (On Air) celebrated accoplishments from time to time.  No matter how small it was, it was our time to keep our team together.  In the church, we celebrate as lives are transformed for God’s glory.

If you’ve not taken time lately to “re-calibrate” and find out why it is you are doing what you are doing, now would be a good time to do it or at least make a note to ponder it at your next break!  May God Bless you today.

The “Leadership Network” recently released a report claiming more young adults are flocking to megachurches than has been reported in the past.  As with any of these types of reports, it’s hard to gauge hard numbers because it really depends on who you talk to.  If these folks stopped by many of the coffee shops I’ve visited in Denver and spoke to the young adults there, it might be another story entirely.  However, their report can’t be ignored and it’s worth looking into.  Some initial observations from this report include:

The study, Scott says, shows that people who attend megachurches aren’t radically different from those who attend Protestant churches of all sizes. “But the complex organizational structure, multiple programs, and large scale social formats often create the possibility for interaction and involvement in ways that are different from smaller churches,” he says.

This is something that caught my eye.  Many young adults I talk to disdain the “complex organizational structure” of most mainline protestant churches they’ve attended.  In fact, I’ve recently had one young family tell me that the polity of such a structure is what is driving them away from their church because they feel they cannot get involved because of having to take so much time to get “in the system” of leadership.  While scripture is adamant about not putting a neophyte believer in leadership until they have grown some in the faith, this family isn’t that type.

As for the “multiple programs and large scale social formats”, I could see this one easily.  There’s a tension to manage when a new church is starting because there isn’t enough people to start “multiple programs” and yet, new attenders are conditioned to believe that’s the driving force of the church.  Social interaction can happen at any level but we as a culture have come to expect customized programs based on our ages, wants, and desires.  This isn’t just the case in church circles either.  Look at the long list of specialized programs offered at places like recreation centers and larger shopping malls.  Fast food operations tout in their advertising “Have it YOUR way”.  With this as a standard, it’s only natural to expect that the mentality of “my way” would carry over into church.

Then Jesus went to work on his disciples. “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how.
(Matthew 16:24 MSG)

I wonder how many truly take this verse to heart?  Another key comment in the report summary was this:

..Attenders report a considerable increase in their involvement in the church, spiritual growth, and needs being met at the megachurch.  Yet, 45% of megachurch attenders never volunteer at the church,  41% don’t participate in small groups, and more than 30% give very little money.

This part baffled me.  If you read the first part, it just doesn’t jive with the second does it?  If you’re not helping others and learning more about God’s Word, how can you grow?  Tithing is one of those issues that new Christians like to debate but the reality is the practice is more about obedience than money.  Once I embraced the fact that nothing I had was truly mine but given to me by God then I realized that I needed to be a better steward of my resources.  The financial crisis we are in now highlights the fact that money isn’t the end of all things but simply a resource that has be managed.  But according to this report summary, many will not give anything and probably a larger percentage give sparingly.

When it becomes more about the programs than the Bible, when serving OUR needs becomes more important than serving others, and when OUR wants are more important that Jesus’ we will have an unsettled heart and never be satisfied.  We will search endlessly to fulfill our desire not knowing that it could possibly be the wrong desire.

As the deer pants for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. (Psalms 42:1 NLT)

When our heart beats in unison with God’s all the other things fall into place and our perspective is changed.  When our desires focus on us rather than Him, then we will search for a “copy” that satisfies us…

For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to right teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever they want to hear.
(2 Timothy 4:3 NLT)

So I take reports like this to heart.  It’s sobering to see the reality of what the 21st century church is becoming.  We must seek to engage the culture but we must balance that with a rock solid commitment to never waver on the doctrines of our faith.  The balance is harder and harder to find.  And it’s not about megachurch versus small church.  This report summary focused on megachurches but I dare say this battle is being waged in churches of all sizes.

What do you think?

There’s not much for me to write about today..  In the past few hours I’ve had some interesting conversations about church.

When a church isn’t growing is it the pastor’s fault? If it grows, should he get all the accolades?  Surely the Pastor must LEAD.  He has to.  But in the same vein, people have to be willing to get their hands dirty.  Real growth comes from real sowing.

When a church baptizes more folks than they average in attendance in a month, is it really growth? Where they really changed?  I was asked my thoughts about a real situation involving a pastor.  For the sake of discussion I will use a hypothetical.  Pastor Whizbang averages 75 in service but yet he claims to be baptizing 15-20 a month when he meets with other pastors.  The question then becomes, why isn’t his average attendance climbing by AT LEAST half of that?  Are these people coming to worship?  Or are they just notches on a bible belt?  My take on this and this is what I told my friend…I don’t consider it a “conversion” of any kind until that person has shown by his or her fruit that they are committed.  I’ve baptized many folks but many of them fizzle out and aren’t involved.  Are they really converted?

Should we play secular “rock” music in our worship service? This one’s a hot button topic I’ve heard recently.  Some churches use a secular song with a message that ties to the message series or message itself.  Is it right or wrong?  Ah, the buttons that could be pressed.  I see it this way…I have about 20-22 minutes of music each week.  I want that music focused on the Cross and on Jesus Christ.  And more than that, I want the music focused on what HE has done for us and our response to that, not about ME or I or anything self-centered.  You can tie in songs to work with your message or series if you take a little time.  I know others will disagree with me on this one, but I figure those that want to hear Green Day or U2 will tune it in on their car radios when they leave worship.  We only have a few minutes to get their attention and focus on the main thing.  Maybe I’m old fashioned…

I had a good friend who reads here regularly comment to me that I might give off the impression I’m being negative and critical of others.  I respected his words and have taken them into account here.  I have in no way meant to be critical of these practices..but I do believe we can question them.  That’s what real learning is about right?  These are my convictions.  Your mileage may vary!

Now on to the rest of my day…I wonder what conversations lie in store next.

Ed Young nails it good here. Those of you that visit my Facebook page would have seen this a few days ago. Thought I’d share it here too. It’s worth a watch!

Pass the cheddar if you want your church to grow!

I’m all for free market capitalism but I have to ask, why are some well known pastors charging a small fortune for their “kits”? If you are in church work, you know what I mean.  There are kits on how to grow your church, kits on how to retain visitors, kits on the biblical discipleship of others, and soon I’m sure we will have kits on how to make kits!

I don’t begrudge someone for selling an idea they came up with but how am I going to benefit by spending $200-$300 (or more) on a “kit” to retain visitors?  Aren’t their some good books on this topic already available for under $20?  If these well-known pastors were truly wanting to grow the kingdom this way, wouldn’t the kits cost under $100 so that any church could afford it?  If I were offering my stuff that I wrote myself, I would likely go the Anthony Coppedge way and charge under $10 for an ebook or something of that nature.  I guess I’m just thinking out loud as I read my blogs.  One pastor whom I’ve followed for years has gradually built up his “brand” and is now selling his stuff while his name is hot.  Good for him.  I really mean that.  I just wish that we could see a more “open source” type of market for this stuff.  I mean really, it was all drawn from the bible anyway so who gets the royalties there?

I write many bible studies, discipleship studies, and follow up lessons for new converts.  I’ve looked at others’ materials for this and have written and adapted my own unique sets for each area.  I guess I could fancy these up on CD and provide full-color graphics and sell them as kits but it seems they wind up on my thumb drive and I give them away to other pastor friends while loading up some of their stuff.  This “open source” sharing is ideal for spreading ideas.  Even on this site, I have a limited copyright for my writing as long as it’s not repackaged for profit by somebody else.

Better still is the work it takes for you to research and write these types of materials yourself.  Read your bibles daily.  Pick up a guide like Jerome Smith’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible and use it thoroughly to research topics and write your own material.  That’s what I did.  This July, I will be taking a few weeks away from the pulpit to focus my writing (no vacation!) on new lessons we will be teaching on how to use our bibles and related study tools more efficiently and effectively so that our congregation’s collective biblical literacy will rise.  Along with this, my church and a few of my friends’ churches are meeting to consider the idea of a “Bible Summit” day long conference that will focus on this very issue.  Our hope is to offer the material and seminar for free or a love offering only so that we can share ideas, build relationships, and grow our churches without paying a small fortune.

What kinds of materials could we put together if we worked collectively on such ideas?  I would be willing to hear your ideas on an “open source” site to share such “kits” and help each other.  Perhaps “thinking out loud” has its benefits.  I’ll be looking forward to your response.

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
(Proverbs 16:18 ESV)

Last week, another high profile pastor was forced to resign his church due to sexual indiscretion with his personal assistant.  I say “high profile” lightly because I think the “rock star” mentality many of us in ministry give certain peers is unwarranted.  The very attitude such idol worship can create ultimately leads to the destruction of the person as witnessed in this case.  In fact the pastor himself admitted his ego had gotten in his way and he was selfish.  I am thankful that his public admission was written in a humble tone and acknowledged the path that led to his tryst and subsequent resignation.

My purpose here is not to criticize nor is it to point out one man’s sin.  The reality is each of us in ministry is not worthy of the banner we hold high each weekend.  We ALL have sinned and without God’s gracious forgiveness, we would get what we rightly deserve.  I feel for this man.  I have followed his ministry as a pastor and church planter because I’m doing the same thing and am always curious as to what works when you are trying to reach people.  Some of my ministry friends elevated him to a much higher pedestal than I would think even he would be comfortable with.  That’s the danger of being a church planter.   We can get quite caught up in numbers and how many we “baptize” each month/week/year and forget why it is we do what we do.  The pressure to sustain that kind of momentum can get dangerously high and force us to take our eyes off the one thing that WILL sustain us and that is our personal relationship with Christ.  In those moments of high stress, high pressure, and low quiet time with God we leave ourselves open to attack and a pretty woman is always hard to ignore if you are red-blooded man.

I write this as a warning to all of us to beware.  My brother who fell here has already asked forgiveness, has already been forgiven by God, and is on the road to repairing his relationship with his family.  My prayer is for their family first.  The church he led is hurt and rightly so but it will recover.  I pray for that too but first and foremost I lift my brother up to God and ask for peace for him.  I ask for quiet place alongside a stream where God can meet with him and fill his soul with the good things of the Lord.  I pray for a strong arm on his shoulder from God to get him back on the path of service to others.  I pray also for the assistant in this story.  She has been wounded also.  I pray that God restores her and that she will allow His forgiveness to flow in.  In the process, I pray for the community of faith in the blogosphere who knew this man to join collectively and pray for him and not berate him for a mistake that all of us have the potential to make.

When I was getting ready to leave for Denver, I had a pastor friend of mine in Missouri speak to me about such “accidents”.  It was there, he gave me some imperatives in ministry that I’ve never forgotten…

• Do not EVER meet with a woman privately or publicly by myself.  Always have my wife and/or her husband (if married) with them.
• Do not EVER travel with a woman unless there are peers with us (so you are never alone).
• Never discuss family problems (and they happen in pastor’s families too!) with a member of the opposite sex.
• Date your wife!
• Romance your wife!
• ..and never EVER say you wouldn’t do something because you do not know what you would do if the circumstances were just right (in other words, read the proverb I posted at the beginning and apply!)

Can I ask you, my reader, to take a moment and life up this man, his family, and those involved?  You do not need to know his name although I’m sure many of you do.  But as a body of believers, let’s not shoot our wounded but rather, join in prayer as best we can to ask for his restoration and for him to be made whole again.

Thank You.

Who are the 10 people every pastor should fear?  Pulpit Helps posted a list yesterday that had me laughing because I’ve met all ten of these folks.

Here’s the list – Enjoy!

Just off the top of my head, I remember vividly person #7.  I had a guy who attended for a little over a year before deciding we weren’t deep enough for him and his family.  They have since left the church they moved to after they left us!

And then there’s #9. When we were auditioning new guys for our worship leader’s position, I had one very talented guy ask me if he could set up a table to sell CD’s after his audition.  We never scheduled him for the service.  I just moved on to the next guy.  My fears were confirmed when another pastor friend of mine hired him for a time and then let him go asking me “why didn’t you tell me about him if you knew!”..

What Is Growing?

What is the church today? What is our purpose?  What are we supposed to be doing?  How are we doing what it is we are supposed to be doing provided we are doing what we are supposed to?  Confused? I am of late.

Let me backtrack a bit.  I’ve been reading some books on “Organic” church.  I might add I’m enjoying them a lot but wondered if I hadn’t been organic all along?  Was I fundamental too?  Could I be a fundamental Christian while being organic too?  All of my adult life, I’ve been told I’m a fundamental protestant.  I’m told this is because I believe the bible is the Word of God.  I believe it to be true and I hold it in highest regard as God’s rule of faith and practice in the life of a believer.  I’m a teetotaler so that really makes me fundy so I’m told.  I don’t drink alcohol and haven’t since my 20’s.  I don’t see a need to overpay for it with everything else that’s available to drink.  I don’t want to ruin my witness to my friends and neighbors and want to be controlled by the spirit, NOT the spirits! (Props to Greg Laurie for that word picture!).

I see a need for the church to get back to the true worship of God.  Serving Him while serving others.  Growing in my faith by deepening my knowledge of His Word.  Making the Word a priority for my church families to learn and apply to their own lives.  I stress growth in the spiritual disciplines.  I want our church to be a praying church, a church that meditates on His word (Joshua 1:8), and a church that seeks to fulfill the great commission of Jesus.  So what am I?

How do you define the new verbiage of faith?  20 years ago we were either Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Assemblies of God, or Four Square.  Today, the denominational lingo has left us and we are either Emerging, Missional, Fundamental, Organic, or Seeker Sensitive.  I love being a part of my denomination, the Free Will Baptists.  I think it’s important that my church identify with a tradition that goes back hundreds of years in establishing God honoring churches.  I’m proud of who I am and where I’ve come from.  So what does that make me?  Is my church pigeon holed because of it?  Or..Can we build something different that honors God, our tradition, and is still very “organic” to those we serve?

Perhaps a blog series will develop from this.  My point is, if you read the blogosphere for long, you will see the various camps slinging word grenades at one another.  I must shake my head in wonder and ask myself how this honors God and how it builds His kingdom?  How will this war of words win one soul to Jesus?  At 42, am I too old for this?  I don’t think so.  I just feel like I have one foot in the past (and a glorious one it has been), and one foot in the present (what great opportunities await!).  Can I have the best of both and be unique?  Do I have to label it?  Do you?

Your thoughts are welcome and encouraged.  Please add to the discussion…

Yikes! A Large Man Coming From the Water!

This week I had the pleasure of speaking with an old friend of mine who works in youth ministry on a bivocational basis.  He is currently looking for a job as many are in this current economic climate.  As we were talking, he related a story to me about a recent discussion he had with two large churches (1000 or more in weekend attendance) about positions they were looking to fill.  In both cases, the positions were in youth ministry and were full time.  For brevity’s sake, the conversations were pretty much the same.  They had advertised the available position but what my friend said next floored me.  In one case, the church had received over 500 resumes.  In the other church’s case, it was well over 350.  850+ resumes for two positions in churches less than 90 miles apart.  Really?

I wondered aloud to my friend: “How many of those people truly were ‘called’ to that job and how many were looking to pad their resumes?”  He didn’t have a good answer but we both knew the inevitable conclusion.  In both cases, the “personnel” committees had to review these resumes and started by culling out those who had less than five years experience.  They then pulled only those who had graduate degrees (a B.A. wasn’t enough!) and they still had over 100 resumes each for their positions.

In another instance locally in my area of service, a pastor who had left a mega church (averaging 7,000+ in attendance) some four plus years ago recently pulled the plug on a church plant he started (averaging about 400 a week) so he could take a position at a large church up the road from his.  Rumors are flying in both directions and I have my private thoughts as to what led to his leaving but the question I ask is, “Was he really called to plant the church?”  The church plant tried to soldier on after he resigned several weeks back but in the end, elected to close its doors.  Apparently, too much wounding had occurred for the faithful to try to heal.  They felt it better to let the church scatter elsewhere rather than move forward.  Also, a lot of money had been spent and the “lifestyle” of this church required more funds than were coming in after the pastor resigned.

What has been lost with all of this is one vital aspect.  That is one of relationship.  What relationship does the pastor have with his people?  There’s so much more that can be written here and I think I will plan another blog series to address it.  More and more though, I’m seeing the benefits of being simple in design and function.  David Browning’s book on “Deliberate Simplicity” is an eye opener of a book that  spoke to much of what I’ve already been feeling as I see the excesses of the modern church all around me.  A few months back, I had written a series of posts on “How Much Is Too Much?” I’m still trying to find out the answer.  I think the next few years may bring me the answer I’ve been looking for.