Book Learnin' is Awesome!

I'm reading Earl Creps book "Off Road Disciplines:  Spiritual Adventures of Missional Leaders" and it's (to use a Gary Lamb Term) FREAKIN' AWESOME!   It's been kicking my butt every page... It's kindof like the book of James in the Bible... Pulls no punches, goes straight for the jugular. 

Where it hit me most recently was in the chapter called "Witness--The Discipline of Spiritual Friendship."   I've blogged before about having a mobile office at Panera Bread and Momma Goldbergs as well as having one in my house.  Well, over the past few weeks, I've been spending a lot more time at the home office and  I've unintentionally isolated myself from the world I say we're trying to reach.... I can say with all honesty that NO ONE has stumbled into my office at home wanting to have a spiritual conversation.  But, the more time I spend at the other places, I constantly run into people to talk to... For someone who is easily distracted, that's not good when you've got a lot of stuff to do.  So, that's why I moved back to my home office.  And it never dawned on me that I was short circuiting a critical area of my ministry... being around disconnected people.  Sure, when I was alone in my office at home I got a TON of work done... I even finished a message by Wednesday... but I missed out on being with the people I most want to communicate with.

In the book Creps talks about factors that can disconnect us from the disconnected.
1)  Vision Drift--He says "vision is often determined by who you spend most of your time with."  WOW!  I have to constantly balance my time between my family, investing in leaders and spending time building friendships with people who are far from God.  The more time I spend with Christians, the more desensitized I will become to those who I'm trying to reach... making them much more difficult to see.

2)  Ministry Drift--Even if I'm at Panera or Momma G's, If I am constantly buried in my work and never look around to see who's in the place... I'll give the impression that I'm unapproachable, busy, and I'll unintentionally make "ministry itself something that blocks my relationship with the disconnected rather than building it."

3)Schedule Drift--As our church grows and my ministry and schedule changes... I must be prepared to reevaluate my schedule to accomodate these changes...Otherwise, I'll find myself doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results.  (someone said that's the definition of insanity!) 

All these 3 factors are at work in my life every day... So, I have to be intentional about maintaining the Vision... doing what my friend, Shawn Lovejoy, says "Be Mean about Vision".  Constantly communicating it and embodying it.  I must always remember that my ministry is to PEOPLE ... not  Preparing Messages or  Producing Videos...those are TASKS associated with my calling... my calling is to PEOPLE... especially those who are living life outside a relationship with Jesus.  If I get more caught up in ministry tasks than the people around me... I've missed it!... I must protect my schedule... being prepared for changes and being ready to say NO to good things in order to say YES to the Best things!

This book is called Off Road Disicplines... and, as the name implies, it's certainly NOT for those who are looking to "DO" ministry in a nice, clean, scheduled, predictable environment... This book is reminding me of the Adventure and Heart Pounding Action that God called me to live as a Christ Follower.

Comments

[shawn lovejoy]

Keep doing it, man! Proud of you! Stay the course!