I was 5 seconds from confessing that I made a mistake in the way we did our stripped service today at New Passion.
But….I can’t confess making a mistake by being obedient to what I felt like God wanted us to do.
I felt God wanted us to do service the way we did service, so I have no apologies for that.
I found this statement by Perry Noble today as I was surfing through some of his old blog posts:
Leadership doesn’t mean we play it safe…it means we are the first to face our fears and embrace the unknown so that the path is cleared out for those who follow.
As the pastor I am always faced with an onslaught of two choices: 1. Obey or 2. Disobey. 1. Take risks or 2. Play it safe. 1. Do hard things or 2. Stick with what comes easy. And with each choice made, there is only one person responsible for making the right choice. Me. My leaders are responsible whether or not they follow well.
The service today was VERY unconventional for our church, but churches do “Family Services” all the time, while churches who have to meet in secret (I.E. Underground churches) consistently meet with the family together. BUT, here’s what I must confess….
- I don’t completely think things through at times, so a couple of things caught me by surprise….
- As a young child I attended service with my parents A LOT and I was taught to sit in a pew and listen or at least kneel in the pew and draw.
- I never thought 15 kids would be running loose, I expected some noise and some movement, but I imagined kids would physically be with their parents (like our first family service last year).
- Since I never imagined kids would be running wild, we didn’t have a plan in place to prevent that kind of chaos.
- I am not convinced that my whole team was completely on-board with this decision, much less the entire church, I saw a few people VERY Uncomfortable, but that’s why I have to make these decisions. Some people may have enjoyed the chaos to try and ‘teach me a lesson‘ to not pull something off as crazy as this again. It’s clear to me everyone has not grasped the vision of what we are doing when they have to take a dismissive stance on what’s taking place. It’s basically saying, “Blame the pastor…don’t blame me!“
- So I did make a mistake and that was a lack of planning and a lack of instruction in the beginning to ask parents to keep their kids with them in their possession (part of my defense is being in the middle of the ocean without phone or internet access for the last 7 days).
- Saying that, I am 100% happy we did the service the way we did it and I think it was the right thing to do!
So, we live and we learn on the rest of it 🙂
Here’s what I hope was the outcome of the service:
- I hope people were uncomfortable. Sometimes it requires us to touch the stove when it’s hot to believe we’ll get burned. Sometimes we have to ‘show’ people what we are talking about through the discomfort of reality.
- I hope everyone gained a new respect for the various children environments that we offer every Sunday morning and the “extra” elements that our team work hard to provide (I.E. Information banners and tables, Coffee and refreshments in the Cafe, Etc.)
- I especially hope that people grasp the vision that our PassionKidz environments are a huge tool both in leading children to a passionate relationship with Jesus as well as adults. This is why it’s important to have committed workers every week in these areas.
- I hope people understand that whether we are a huge crowd or a small group, we are missing the point if we walk away or send people away saying MORE about the band or the pastor or any other ministry environment instead of declaring, “The Lord- He is God!” (1 Kings 18:39)
- I hope people grasp the fact that outside of Jesus…everything else might be ‘good’ (Lights, Band, Graphics, Video, Etc.) but it’s not ‘essential.’
I am excited about the growth we’ve experienced at New Passion but I don’t want it to be growth based on our talent alone, I want it to be growth produced by the Holy Spirit moving in people’s lives. Jesus calls us to a life of carrying our cross and yielding ourselves to Him and His way…that’s a very unpopular and uncomfortable message. Jesus had a lot of observers, but few engagers. I pray the Holy Spirit leads people our way who are willing to make Jesus their primary focus and will abandon comfort for the sake of the gospel. As David Platt says in his book Radical, Jesus Christ was the youngest minichurch pastor in history. Many liked the idea of being one of his disciples, but few were willing to pay the cost. As any pastor, I hope we continue to grow, but I hope it’s in a way that pleases the Lord.
So my prayer for New Passion is that we would be so in tune with the Holy Spirit and be so willing to allow him to have HIS way that our people and those who come through our doors will walk away saying, “The Lord – He is God!”
P.S. The Grove and The Ridge (and the Cafe) will be in full operation next week 🙂
