echoes of redemption | steven dilla

I did a post a while back where I said, Anything I do alone in ministry is a failure. If you hang around me long, you know I am fasinated by the power of a team.

There is something amazing about connecting with people in such a way that we accomplish something together we never could have accomplished alone.

One of my goals as a leader is to stay ahead of my team. If I can pave the way for where they are headed - for what is next - then I feel like I have succeeded in serving them. The tuff part is, the more talented the team, the more work it is to stay ahead of them. Here’s what I’ve found that helps:

• I must have alone time to refuel/recharge/refocus before I can lead effectively. This alone time is less about leadership of the team (quote above…) and more about self leadership in preparation for leading the team.
• I have to cast the vision to individuals before I cast it to the group - this allows me to see their reaction, learn their concerns and shape the way I cast to the group. (It also means there is always someone for which staff meeting is a rerun of a conversation we had the other day.)
  
• I will often get the vision for what is next and  work with one or two people on the team to pave the way for the rest of the team. Getting ahead is not easy, but if I work with the most gifted people in the room, it is significantly more simple.

Extreme poverty seems to float to the top of the list when you think about the massive needs in our world today. What is most interesting to me is to realize you don’t have to go over seas to find cases of extreme poverty.

Right here in America there is a poverty so extreme it has left many in our country dreaming of a life they cannot have. The poverty is spiritual poverty. It is common across all walks of life. It even jumps the labels we put on people. There are people who affiliate with no religion that are struggling spiritual poverty - there are also those who call themselves Christians who are wrestling with spiritual poverty.

Spiritual poverty is deceiving because those living in the deepest poverty feel like they are rich.

Jesus talked a lot about having a rich spirit. In many ways, you could call spiritual fullness one of His life messages - a message He delivered to those in spiritual poverty. The irreligious. The religious elite. Spiritual poverty was just as rampant then as it is now.

The question for us today is two fold. First, are we following Jesus and allowing Him to lift us from our spiritual poverty and fill our spirit? And second, have we joined Him in fighting against spiritual poverty?

Reflections on the One Prayer Fast

Last week we did a communal fast at Fellowship Church. It was a week full of listening to God and caffeine headaches.

Honestly, Friday was my most difficult day. Friday’s are my day off and I spend most of the day at home, disconnected from the folks I normally do life with. One of the biggest things I learned through the week was the power of strong Christian community.

Isolation primes us for attack. In my case, the cravings were stronger and the reasons to quit were more clear than ever - I lacked focus because I lacked friendship.

Fortunately my awesome wife was there to help - coming up with creative dinner ideas and helping us make it through the home stretch.

Lesson of the week: Community is the context for growth.

(One Prayer Fast Day 5)

I would love to hear some of the things God has shown you over the fast. Post your journey!

(One Prayer Fast Day 4)

There are so many people doing this fast - it’s been incredible to be a small part in something so big. The first time our church fasted like this, I was a little taken back by some of the things people ate or didn’t eat on the fast. 

Things that, by my interpretation of the guidelines, had no place in the fast were common place with a couple of people and families. On the other hand, things I felt were 100% okay, others abstained from.

This time is no different. A friend of mine walked into a meeting the other day with an Izze. For Emily and I, we drink these all the time and we’re not doing carbonated beverages during the fast - so an Izze would be off the list (and highly tempting). But for my friend, an Izze is a huge sacrifice from the normal cuisine.

Ultimately I’ve come to realize that fasting is about sacrifice. And everyone is sacrificing right now.

What we’re doing  has so little to do with what you eat and what you do not eat - it has everything to do with the focus you hold, the sacrifice you make and the discipline you build.

The community is fasting. But that means different things for different people, because we are all at different places in our walk with God (not to mention our diet!). The important thing is that we build each other up, help one another and don’t get caught up in legalistic judging.

When the community fasts, it is just as much about community as it is about fasting.

(One Prayer Fast Day 2)

There are big differences between communal and personal fasting. With One Prayer, our community at Fellowship Church has united together in a communal fast. Below are some of my personal thoughts on communal fasting and my experiences thus far (as well as in the past).

• When we fast together we find the strength, accountability, encouragement and power that God has built in to our Christian community. This requires a certain level of openness, but without a doubt, the people who journey through the fast with us are people who are surrounded by the support of the community God has placed them in.
• Leaders need to share openly about their struggles in a communal fast. The first time Fellowship Church fasted, I will never forget watching a video blog Ed did. He shared his struggles and I thought - he’s struggling too? There was vulnerability for him to share this and it encouraged me that I wasn’t’ the only one stretched by fasting.
• When we fast together, and allow certain foods and disallow other foods, it builds discipline. The Bible teaches us there are essentially two options in life, good and evil. These two options are not all that far apart and it takes spiritual discipline on the part of the Christian to live in a dark world, but not of it. Fasting from certain foods builds discipline. It focuses the mind, trains the heart and helps us grow spiritually to prepare for the battles ahead.

Anything I do alone in ministry is a failure.

As a leader, a pastor - someone God has given the task of caring for His Church - if I’m doing ministry alone, I’m failing.

Ministry is all about mobilization. 

It is about raising up other pastors and training them to lead people. It is about empowering people to do things they would never have dreamed of doing. It is about brining the Body of Christ together to accomplish something no one person could accomplish apart from the Body of Christ.

But so many times I find myself doing ministry alone. Raising no one up. Accomplishing small things because there is no team to accomplish great things.

On a side note, Solo-ministry is a big reason why it is so difficult for me, and so many other pastors, to take a day off. God has called me to lead the teams He has placed me over - and He’s called me to take rest in Him. So it’s simple:

If I’m doing what God has asked and it’s taking more time than God has asked, I haven’t surrounded myself with the people God would want.

(Thanks to Anne Jackson and this post for stirring that last thought.)

I was reading in Genesis 1 yesterday and was hit with the question: Why did God separate light from darkness - why didn’t He destroy darkness? It could have all ended there - just light, no darkness.

Then I realized, as long as there is free will, there will be separation. Options. Choice.

In Genesis 1, God does a lot of separation. Just in the first three days, He separates light from darkness, waters in the sky from waters on the earth and seas from land. Later in Scripture He separates the Temple from the people, the Holy place from the rest of the Temple and the Most Holy place from the Holy place.

Most Christians today, when you ask them what Holiness is, will say, “separation.” God is Holy. He is separated. He is different.

Yet so many Christians make their lives about destruction. 

Is there destruction in Scripture? Absolutely. But notice, it does not come at the hands of a merciless God. It comes as the result of a people not choosing the path of light. It comes as a consequence of darkness. 

There tends to be little mercy in our Christian culture today. It’s easier to destroy another human’s heart than it is to help them heal from their separation. It’s easier to destroy organizations, causes and ideals than to separate our lives from them and still remain connected to the people as a source of light.

Maybe our lives should be modeled more after Genesis 1 - separation. Instead of trying to destroy things in the world that oppose God, we should separate ourselves from them. I’m not talking cultural disconnect, I’m talking Holiness. God remained sovereign over the darkness, we should remain connected to the people who are in darkness as we serve as ministers of reconciliation.

Last week I spent some time flipping through the first half of the Psalms. I was looking for major themes, similarities that jumped out, stuff I miss when I’m reading one at a time. Here are three major thoughts from Psalms 1-75:

• There is an inseparable link between God’s character and His blessing. God is totally authentic. Every interaction He has with us in an overflow of part of His character.
• David cried out a lot - but he wasn’t needy. In Psalm 73:26 David says, My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart; and my portion forever. I’ve always loved the power of the thought of God as our portion - all we need. Everything. No seconds, extras or fillers. God is it. For David, God was his portion and when he cried out to Him, every need was met
• Many Psalms begin in lament and rise to trust. David would cry out to God and through his time with God, David would be built up in trust for His Father and end His prayer with his life submitted faithfully before God.

One thing is for sure, David’s relationship with God was unlike anything else. It was a blessing David never knew to ask for, yet certainly did not take for granted. He was totally dependent on God, yet he wasn’t outside community on earth. His God was his portion and his community was support to that relationship, not substitute for it.

If you’ve been following the Scripture links out of my posts the last couple of days you noticed I switched to YouVersion for my online Bible.

Really it’s more of an online community around the Bible. You can highlight a verse (or verses) and post links, videos, comments, audio files, etc all to the verse.

Check it out -> YouVersion.com