The Window of Opportunity

There was recently a discussion in sports talk radio here in Oklahoma regarding the window of opportunity for Assistant Coaches being hired for a Head Coach position. The conventional wisdom as the analysts put it, is that there is a window of opportunity for Assistant Coaches that will not always stay open. There was also the discussion of coaches having the opportunity to move to a "better" job. If the window of opportunity closes, then you may be subjected to toil in an area that is substandard for your talent and you may always have the tag that you could have done so much, but....

After examining this conversation with some deep thought, I began to think about a conversation that I had with a senior minister in my community who has preached for over 60 years, but has never served as pastor. He has in fact served as Interim Pastor for several churches, but was never called as the Senior Pastor. During our discussion, he told me that he knew that God had called him to pastoral ministry, but he never seized the opportunities when God opened doors for him. From his perspective, it should not have been those small rural churches with only 15 members extending a call to him, but rather those urban churches that had a vast amount of members and resources and only needed that final piece of the puzzle: A pastor with a good relationship with Lord and the ability to lead his fellow man. Unfortunately for this great Man of God, it does not always work according to his plan. Therefore his advice to me was to better discern the voice of God and move when he says move.

This leads to the original statement regarding the window of opportunity. Although I am only 30 years old, I have been preaching for 10 years and been extended a total of 10 calls, only to not accept any of them. I have always been under the belief that an Associate minister should get a blessing from his or her pastor to leave and I have never received that clearance. Not because he did not feel that I would be successful or that I was not ready or even called into that area of ministry, but more rather because he feels that the need for me to be at our church is greater than the need for someone else to have me at their church. Additionally, he has always had a thought that I would assume the pastorate there upon his retirement. It can get difficult waiting on your opportunities to present themselves with the right circumstances where everything seems to fall into place. Could it be that I'm too loyal? Could it be that I desire too much? Could it be that I am where I need to be? Could it be that others are telling the truth and I am just not listening? Or most importantly, Is God talking and I have somehow unintentionally pressed the mute button? To be honest, I am not sure what the answer is, but I am watching the window while the answer is being revealed.

The discouragement of "church"

I recently had the opportunity to be involved in a church meeting at a local church in our community and I was very disturbed. The meeting initially had a positive direction until there was a discussion about some changes being made to the edifice to make it more attractive to visitors and more functional for the current and future members. One of the things that was absolutely disappointing was that the church needed new pews, but the older members were so attached to the old ones that they had worked hard to purchase that they began to beome intensely angry with the pastor for even mentioning that a change needed to take place. It even got to the point that one of the older couples in the church began to exclaim that maybe they needed a new pastor who would appreciate their old pews. How trivial of a matter! I certainly am not suggesting that we do not honor those who made sacrifices to get us where we are, but I am suggesting that they allow us to honor them by continuing to advance what they have started. It can be discouraging to youth and young adults to feel as if they have no say or part in what happens at their place of worship. This also happens to those who have served long and hard to make the church a beacon of light. The older they get, the less they are heard. A happy medium should be met and we must understand that we will not be excited about everything that takes place, but at least we can appreciate it if it benefits the overall ministry.

I've been away

Life has been treating me in a fair fashion over the last few weeks. So much so that I have been away from my blog for several weeks. Between the music ministry and the preaching ministry, I have been absolutely inundated and just void of free time. Thank God for the opportunity to remain busy! I've even been so busy that I haven't been able to watch my pitiful Dallas Cowboys move from the best in the league and Superbowl favorite to mediocre and on the verge of missing the playoffs. Just my luck, the 'Boys regained a little bit of strentgh by beating my Tampa Bay Bucs. That is so terrible that both of my teams had to play each other. I guess I was destined to win and lose on the same occasion. Nevertheless, I look forward to contributing to our blogging universe with my perspective of the faith. I've been away, but I am back now!

Becoming an ice tray church

In my first book entitled, “Church the way that God intended”, I have a chapter that brings us to the attention of how we should be as a church by focusing on something as simple as an ice tray. Here is an excerpt from “Becoming an ice tray church”:

The dynamics of church as we know it is often so convoluted that we have simply over analyzed worship and the basic part that we play in it. While it is true that we are one body with many parts, the fact of the matter is that we are one body. God never intended for us to develop some splinter cell attitude where we are operating with an ‘us against everybody else attitude’. That is why God wants us to become an ice tray church. When you fill an ice tray with water, each individual compartment is its own entity. It starts out by itself and will become just one lonely ice cube. It, however, does not have to be this way because the ice tray is designed so that each compartment can share with another. As one gets filled with water to the point of overflow, water does not simply stop flowing, but it flows right over to the next compartment until the whole tray is filled. Does this mean that the water has to stop flowing? No! It can continue to flow as long as the person who is filling the tray chooses. It should also be noted that the more ice that is available, the better job it can do collectively rather than independently.

After the tray is completely full, it is then given its next assignment which is to freeze. While the tray is freezing, it is imperative that it is not taken out too early because it will damage the developing ice. The ice must be developed properly because it is such a travesty to look for whole ice only to discover that the ice is partially developed and is not adequate for its intended use. This can also be stated of underdeveloped Christians; Nothing is worse than trying to search and find people who you feel are chasing God only to realize that they aren’t completely what they should be. Does this mean that we are not going to make mistakes? No, but when people look at us they should see ice and not Jello. We should be shaped in the image of our tray, but we should be solid and not wobbly, shaky, or flimsy.

A lesson in patience

Life, with its intricate twists and turns, has a way of sucking the energy out of us and leaving us nothing but a battered, empty shell. At least it seems that way sometimes. I have been bombarded with personal problems for about a week and sometimes it just seems that it would be easiest to call it quits. Compound that with the fact that it can be hard to serve as an Assistant Pastor while waiting your turn and it can be downright frustrating sometimes. As I gleefully watch the elevation of those around me, I can't help but have a sense of uneasiness from the perspective that my turn will not come. I would not have these thoughts cast off as jealousy, but rather I am just questioning the lack of movement in my regards. I hear from pastors that say I am long overdue, while there are some who say that it took them many years before they got a chance to exercise their call and I may just have to wait a little while longer. God's timing is essential in every move that we make, but when do we know that it is His timing and not our own? It is imperative that the minister places his/her entire trust in God and put no confidence in man. It may seem like a harsh statement, but life has a way of teaching you that not every person has your best interest at heart in the basic sense, but they will have heart for you if their heart is for God. So while I wait, I have learned how to wait patiently for I know that God will come through. Therein lies the message; God will come through. Meanwhile, I will let "patience have her perfect work."

BOOMER SOONER!!!

I am a diehard Oklahoma Sooner fan and I am proud to say that my team is once again the Number 1 team in the land! Now I would much rather be #1 at the end of the season, but I will take this as a start because we have not been #1 since 2003. Hopefully we will take home the crystal ball at the end of the season.

On a somber note, my Dallas Cowboys didn't show up to Texas Stadium against those Washington Something-or-others. Nevertheless, my Tampa Bay Bucs won. Maybe both of them will win next week.

I'm so happy!!

Today I took a pause to reflect on the goodness of God in the lives of his servants. I thought about the fact that some really awesome ministers are getting the opportunity to exercise their God given talents to lead His people as He chooses. Some are being sent to lands far from their upbringing, while others are moving just around the corner. Nevertheless, the Kingdom of God needs sincere ministers who are sound in doctrine to testify of the richness of our Lord. My wife says that I am a great encourager and I pride myself in that, not to be boastful or self centered, but because I truly love God's people; Particularly those who carry this precious treasure that he has given us - - -His Word. I am genuinely jubilant and ecstatic to see all of this hifting in God's Kingdom for the betterment of all.

I'm finally here!

After a considerable amount of inquisition from different people, I have decided to try my hand at this new phenomenon called blogging. I made it! It is my intentions to bring to light some of the concerns of the minister, particularly from the perspective of those who sit in the number two seat. I have served as the Assistant Pastor of my local church for seven years and while there are some who have served in this role longer than I have, I feel that God has given me some things to share. I pray that this "journal" will be a blessing to all who sojourns by!