Blessed Mediocrity

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Here is a good quote from Kent and Barbara Hughes’ Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome:

We are aware that it is possible to suppose that by refusing to quantify success (as for example, by size of congregation and staff, or numbers of souls won, or books in print, or degrees, or breadth of influence and prestige) we are encouraging mediocrity.

Far from it! Instead, think of what it would mean if we were faithful, living in profound obedience to God’s Word and working long and hard at our tasks; serving with a foot-washing heart; loving God with all our heart, soul, and might; believing what we believe; praying with the dependence and passion of Christ; living pure holy lives in this sensual world; manifesting a positive, supportive attitude in the midst of difficulties! If that is mediocrity, then give us more of this blessed mediocrity – for it is success! (p. 111)

Student Responses to Baxter, 2

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I am once more teaching my Pastoral Ministry class and having students read Baxter’s Reformed Pastor. Last time I posted some student responses to reading this book. Here are a few more from this years’ interaction.

“I have never understood, the way I do now, the weight and burden of taking on the responsibility of shepherding the blood bought people of God. This book has caused me to say, ‘Oh, so this is what I am supposed to do.'”

“A pastor is not someone who can just teach, but rather he is someone who has a deep care for his congregation and shows that care in the way he lives and interacts with others.”

“Nearly every sentence is directly applicable to the contemporary pastor.”

“I would have come out of this book with less had I been able to simply dash through it at a page per minute…. I was forced to work things out as I read them, forced to map out trains of thought as I went. It was very worthwhile, and I will relish reading more in the future that was written by dead holy men.”

Eagle Projects International

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Let me take the opportunity to let you know about an excellent ministry known as Eagle Projects International. My good friend Phil Eyster is the founder and president, and I have had opportunity to travel with EPI to Ghana and Nepal. This is a thoughtful, intentional ministry which takes the gospel to difficult places seeing people converted, churches planted, pastors trained, and the kingdom advanced.

The latest two blog posts are a good introduction to the places they minister. I especially encourage you to read the entry titled “Because He Knows We Will Go.”

Success

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There is a flood of things I want to comment on here, but I have not been able to give much time to it recently. I will begin briefly here by touching on one thing which ties together three recent things that have been on my mind:

Kent and Barbara Hughes’ book, Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome
D. A. Carson’s book, Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor
And a visit from a pastor friend from Nepal

I have benefitted from each of these in numerous ways, but together they have served as a strong word to me concerning my own ambitions and my view of success. I hope to comment on each of these further, but here I will make some basic points.

The Hugheses and Carson directly challenge the common ideas of what constitutes pastoral success today and call us to faithfulness before God and among His people. Both point out how little God is impressed with our accolades and the difference between the praise of man and the favor of God. These are not new points, but important and helpful ones. I stress these points with my students but can so easily be drawn into pursuing success in worldly terms (praise of man, accumulation of accolades, notoriety and publications). This way of thinking leads us to pursuing our own glory under the guise of pursuing God’s glory- a despicable thing! This way of thinking weighs us down with demands and tasks that may not be God’s calling for us, leading to unnecessary exhaustion and weariness. This way of thinking sets us up to envy other believers when they are blessed rather than rejoicing- precisely because our true interest is the advancement of ourselves rather than the advancement of the Kingdom.

My friend from Nepal then served as an embodied example of this selfless, joyful service as he related quite matter-of-factly accounts of the suffering he and others endure, their deprivation all the while exhibiting a deep and winning thankfulness and contentment. He is not known here in the West. He has no books in the works. But he is pouring out his life in preaching the gospel, leading people to faith, discipling them, mentoring pastors, overseeing the establishment of churches and quite literally seeing the gospel impact his country. He would remind me that we each have our calling and that his work is no greater than mine. I find my self humbled and exposed.

Lord, let me daily live in such a way as to hear you on the last day say, “Well done.” And let that vision free me from the allure of the praise of man and self-glory. Then I will know the pleasure and freedom in walking in the calling you have given me.

2008 Founders Conference

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The 2008 Founders Conference will meet this June in Owasso, OK focusing on church planting and revitalization. The title is Lengthening the Cords and Strengthening the Stakes: Renewing and Planting Local Churches and features Ed Stetzer, Voddie Baucham, Andy Davis, Tom Nettles, Don Whitney, Ted Christman, and Phil Newton.

The conference website talks about how gimmicks can mask the lack of health in a church and that we should instead seek the God-ordained means of church renewal. This echoes a key theme of mine- using God-given means rather than humanly devised gimmicks.

From the conference website:

The 2008 National Founders Conference will explore the place, necessity, and some of the God-ordained means for church renewal and church planting under the theme, “Lengthening the Cords and Strengthening the Stakes: Renewing and Planting Local Churches.” The conference theme has arisen out of the many questions conference organizers have fielded regarding local church reformation and planting new churches. These themes go hand-in-hand, revealing the desire for healthy, vibrant, and reproducing churches. Conference speakers bring a wealth of experience and expertise in both the strengthening and lengthening of the church.

I will not be able to attend myself, but I wanted to pass on word for any that might be able to go.

Touchstone Magazine on Not Diluting Bible Stories

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Readers of this blog may have seen my concern about how far too often modern bible stories water down the truth of the biblical account seeking to make them more palatable to children but in the end distorting the biblical witness. My brief article on this from several years ago is part of what prompted me to begin this blog.

This month’s Touchstone magazine includes a great article which examines how many children’s Bibles dilute the story of Jonah in this way. The subtitle captures the key point:

In Removing the Fear from the Story of Jonah,
Children’s Versions Remove the Gospel, Too

I encourage you to read the article. Also, Touchstone is a great, stimulating resource. I greatly enjoy the magazine and recommend it to you.

Scougal once more

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Here is another powerful excerpt from Scougal’s sermon “The Importance and Difficulty of the Ministerial Function”. There is a need to recapture this gravity today. Then, under this weight we must cling steadily to the cross which alone bears us up, empowers us and gives us grace to stand.

“But if the negligence and miscarriage of a minister hazards the souls of others, it certainly ruins his own; which made St. Chrysostom say (words so terrible that I tremble to put them into English), – If a man should speak fire, blood, and smoke; if flames could come out of his mouth instead of words; if he had a voice like thunder and an eye like lightning, he could not sufficiently represent the dreadful account that an unfaithful pastor shall make. What horror and confusion shall it cast them into at the last day to hear the blood of the Son of God plead against them, to hear our great Master say, ‘It was the purchase of My blood which ye did neglect! God died for these souls, of whom ye took so little pains!’ Think not, therefore, to be saved by that blood which ye have despised, or to escape the torments whereunto many others are plunged through your faults!’ By this time I hope it appears that the work of the ministry is of great weight and importance; that much depends on the right discharging of it, and that miscarrying in it is the most dangerous thing in the world.” (p. 235)

Scougal, on the Gravity of Pastoral Ministry

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One of the items I have required in my pastoral ministry class from the beginning is a sermon by Henry Scougal entitled “On the Importance and Difficulty of the Ministerial Function” (found in The Works of Rev. H. Scougal, ed. By Don Kistler). This time around I required the sermon again but failed to supply a copy!

Some industrious students however discovered that the entire book, including this sermon, is available on Google book search! I recommend the book to you. It includes Scougal’s Life of God in the Soul of Man which has had significant impact over the years in the lives of men such as Wesley, Whitefield and more recently John Piper (see the preface to The Pleasures of God).

This sermon is based on 2 Cor 2:16 where in discussing the weightiness of preaching the gospel Paul asks “Who is sufficient for such things?” Here are some quotes to allure you to read the whole thing.

“it [the gospel] proves a vital savor to those who receive and obey it, but a most deadly poison to all who reject and despise it.” p. 228

“And shall we undervalue the price of His blood, or think it a small matter to have the charge of those for whom it was shed? It is the Church of God we must oversee and feed; that Church for which the world is upheld, which is sanctified by the Holy Ghost, on which the angels themselves attend. What a weighty charge is this we have undertaken! And ‘who is sufficient for these things?'” p. 234

“But certainly the greatest and most difficult work of a minister is in applying himself particularly to the various persons under his charge; to acquaint himself with their behavior and the temper of their souls; to redress what is amiss and prevent their future miscarriages. Without this private work, his other endeavors will do little good.” p.241

“Now this supposes a great deal of care, to acquaint ourselves with the humors and conversation of our people; and the name of ‘watchmen’ that is given to us implies no less.” p.252

A Thousand Miles Away

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I am going through some old books and in one book of poems by a Perry Tanksley I came across this poem entitled “A Thousand Miles Away.” It is a negative counterpart to my “Bedtime with My Boys” and a good reminder of the value of reading to and talking with our children.

My boys would burst into my room
And find me in my chair,
And they would ask advice or tell
One of their exploits rare.
But I would wave them on and say,
Whenever they inquired,
“Perhaps you ought to run along;
Tonight I’m very tired.”
And I’d go right on reading news
As they would beg to stay,
But I ignored them like they were
A thousand miles away.
Ah! Things are different now and I
Would give my all in fact
To have them burst into my room
And see them trooping back.
Ala it’s not to be because
My sons grew strong and tall
And moved a thousand miles away-
So far they seldom call.
And it’s not that I want them here
If they are called elsewhere,
Nor is it that I doubt their love.
I’m sure they really care.
But I can’t help but wonder what
The outcome might have been
If I had laid the paper down
And talked to them back then.
Of course, I can’t take these things back
But for my sons I pray
That they’ll each take time with their boys
Before they move away.

Teach Children the Gospel

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I have just read on Tom Ascol’s blog about a publisher of children’s Sunday School curriculum who decided that the cross is too violent for pre-schoolers and as a result they would skip the cross and resurrection in their Easter curriculum! You can see a letter of explanation and defense of their position here.

This is mind boggling. I would be hard pressed to do business with such a publisher again.

This sort of dumbing-down, anesthetizing approach to Scripture is what originally led me to searching out solid children’s material and eventually to starting this blog as a small way of passing on recommendations to others. Children can handle much more than what people today think and by giving them sturdy truths we will rescue them from the spiritual and moral anemia and spinelessness so prevalent today.