Excellence is not $$$

To continue with some thoughts on excellence this is a needful reminder…

Excellence is not $

There is a common mis-perception that excellence is the equivalent of expense, that the only way to display excellence is to spend the big bucks!  Truth is – this is  cop out!

Sure there is the reality of money and cost in any endeavor – but too often our lack of excellence is pinned on a lack of loot ($$$). The reality is that excellence is the product of effort not expense.

When someone cares about a product, a program, a message, or a business, they invest effort and whatever resources they have available and the result is often excellence.

Take the simple example of the “Front lawn”… a while back while in the car with a couple of my oldest children we passed a perfectly manicured lawn. My kids commented – “Dad look at their lawn, how come our lawn doesn’t look like that?  I responded “They have people that do their lawn” (Landscapers $$$)!

Truth is – that was a convenient excuse that ignored the reality of plenty of people with “excellent lawns” whose primary expenditure is “effort” (because they care!).  No matter the size of your endeavor, ministry, or work, excellence is within reach if you are willing to spend EFFORT!

If what we are doing is really for the Lord….can we justify anything less. So take a look around at the “lawn” you are growing at work in ministry, at home….is it excellent!?

A word on Excellence

I have been thinking about the topic of excellence…what it looks like, what it is, what it is not, and why it matters…to God.  You see it seems to me excellence in its purest form is spiritual rather than selfish. This means that some of what masquerades as excellence is really just grandiosity.

Here is the first in a series of random thoughts on excellence:

“Whatever you do, do well.”  is the biblical admonition of Eccl. 9:10 and if you take it with Col 3:23,24 (Whatever you do, do as unto the Lord) we find the heart of excellence.  If we are not careful excellence becomes our way of creating an impression with people – but the biblical heart of excellence is doing what we do in a way that sheds positive light on God (who after all we are serving).

Most of us can sense excellence before we can even identify why something is excellent. It shows up in the small things, like garnish on a plate, lighting and music in a room, the details of a business logo, the probing question of a teacher, the cleanup job by a contractor, the lip balm from your dentist, or the greeting at your Doctors office – it is the small things we notice.

Somewhere deep inside we make judgment calls on small things – we sense that how people treat the small things is also how they will address the larger issues of life.  That is why excellence is not just the biggest and best – it is actually the smallest and finest!

My 2 Worlds!

I love Spring time…I remembered that as I spent this morning on my front porch -  “ordering my world”.  Try that in February (at least the porch part!).

We all live in 2 worlds (you could argue more but not less) – one is our public life of work, family, relationships, etc  – filled with doing. The other is private, the inner man/woman that sadly gets overlooked as we  “do life”.  In his classic book and one of my favorites “Ordering Your Private World” Gordon MacDonald states that our public life is only as fulfilling as our private life is ordered.

He has a point, and I think he got it from another pretty famous book, The Bible where it says in Proverbs 4:23 “Watch over your hearts with diligence for from it flow the springs of life”

I find this deep need to order my life on a daily basis by beginning it with a time spent reading the Bible and in prayer. For me that prayer time is in the form of a prayer journal (kind of like a diary but written to God).

I have discovered a direct correlation between the quality of my time spent with God each morning and the satisfaction I find in my day spent “doing”.  We can’t decide what a day will bring but we can decide how we will start our day.

Back from Hibernation! Business and Faith Network…

Ok – what excuses can I use…I have been hibernating..or well… I am back!  I knew I was in trouble when I saw that my last blog post said “Merry Christmas” !

It has been busy and valuable stretch of time. Winter on Cape Cod feels like a time for refueling and I have always found the winter months to be the ones I use for planning, thinking, and strategizing on what God has next for us as a church and for me as a person.

I am going to use this space in the coming weeks to comment on a few things we are working on,  so I hope you will stay tuned. I want to start with a new network we just launched here called the “Cape Cod Business & Faith Network”.

This all started as I looked at the news everyday and the state of the economy and realized that as a church we could do something on a local level to help those involved in the Business community by creating a network to helped people blend their business lives with their faith. My Dad is a “business guy” so know the value of integrating faith with work. Besides, clearly this is a time where business “needs” faith!

The Cape Cod Business and Faith Network was begun to accomplish several significant purposes: “Bringing together business leaders throughout the Cape, the Cape Cod Business & Faith Network serves to help business leaders impact their communities, strengthen their businesses, and develop their Christian faith through vibrant fellowship and relevant information.”

From this purpose we have a Vision of business leaders from across Cape Cod excelling in business and deepening their faith. We see leaders recognizing the vital link between what we do with what we believe, between success and faithfulness, in a phrase… between business and faith….and so was born “The business and faith network”

Already over 50 Cape business leaders have signed up and plans for a 2nd meeting (April 20th) are under way.

You can find out more at the web site

www.businessandfaith.org

Till next time (and I promise it won’t be 3 months!)

Ben

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Friends:

In the world of church ministry – Christmas is a crush of scheduling and activities (that is my excuse for not posting since Thanksgiving!) – but ultimately it is worth it for the chance to communicate the message of  “The Birth” to a world that for a moment is a bit more receptive.  This years Christmas Celebration can still be seen on-line at www.capecodchurch.com/teachings and has been viewed over 4000 times in the last week!

Now for a bit more of restful time – I am looking forward to sitting back with our family for the few days – enjoying some “Ben & Bills” Chocolates – reading a few good books (Clive Cusslers “Arctic Drift” & Malcom Gladwells  “Outliers” )

I am looking forward to 2009!  Times of societal and economic uncertainty are perfect opportunities for God to show Himself strong. But before we get to 2009 – a deep breath of family and refreshment as we celebrate Christmas together.

Merry Christmas!

I love Thanksgiving!

Friends:

If you know me – you may know Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!  I mean what is not to love about a holiday built around family, gratitude, and Dinner!

My goal for today is to enjoy what God is doing…whatever that happens to be. I turn the big 4 0 in a couple of days and that has me thinking about plans, dreams, and stuff like that. In all of this I am trying to remember to enjoy what God is doing – not simply what I want him to do. I am blessed with a great family, loving church, and a God who chooses to use me in His service…I can raise a drum stick to that (and some Pecan Pie, a bit of stuffing, and some Mashed Potatoes!)

Oh yea’ on a more humbling note…we started off Thanksgiving Morning with our Annual Flag Football Game(s) – once again my team fell to “Team Al/Josh” – I am sure I have not heard the last of this!

Thanksgiving Football

Oh well – A great time with a bunch of the guys from Cape Cod Church.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ben

Speaking to a Blue State (of Mind)… (4 Questions for Discussion)

Below are 4 questions to engage a discussion about church, culture, ministry, and leadership.  Think it through and share your own thoughts by posting a response!

Question #1Who are we speaking to?

Who is the audience the church is seeking to speak too? How much of what we do is really preaching to the choir – carrying on conversations with those who already think pretty much like us anyway? Are people resistant to us – or to the message?

What do you think?

BF Thoughts: While we say we are reaching out to the larger “secular” culture it seems much of our (Evangelical Church) evangelistic thrust is towards people and regions of people who believe like we do politically and socially (but perhaps not fully spiritually). No doubt these people are more receptive but are we truly engaging the culture. Check out the book “The Big Sort”  with an eye toward how the Red/Blue political map coincides with the Evangelical movement in America.

Question #2 How do we convey authenticity?

How do we communicate authenticity – how does the “contemporary church” avoid coming across as contrived – a caricature of itself.  We all know authenticity when we see it – but what does it look like in the Church, in Christians, in Leaders?

BF Thoughts: Nothing worse than “being fake” – If the traditional church runs the risk of becoming and antique then the “Progressive Church” runs the risk of becoming a caricature of itself.  Where we accentuate the accessories of ministry – where “Hipness seems like marketing” – where “technology trumps substance” – where “music feels disconnected from worship”. With all of our accessories authenticity can seem like an afterthought.

Question #3 How do we address Politics?

Ikes – can’t believe I am even going here – so play nice! How can the church address the issues of the culture in a way that is above petty policy and candidates. How do we preserve our primary mandate of sharing the transformative message of the gospel. How is the role of the church different than the role of the individual believer?

BF Thoughts: People often object to “our” Politics (Policies and Politicians) more than our Savior – but in the midst of proclaiming “our” politics we lose the moment to declare our Savior. I am of the mind that the church is the ultimate earthly center for right and wrong – the place for moral authority – the proclaimer of  the ideas that policy makers need to make their case. But let them embrace us without us endorsing them. In the end I believe the source of societal transformation is the church -  If I thought it was in Politics I would have become a politician instead of a preacher. There is a valuable place for Christians to influence our society and government – but the church is not a PAC but rather God’s earthly agency for proclamation of salvation which leads to transformation.

Question #4 Where does communication count most in ministry?

Our ministry is all about “communicating” a 2000 year old message that is the difference between Heaven and Hell.  How we communicate in every area of ministry makes an eternal difference – where do you see vital communication taking place in your ministry and in the Church?

BF Thoughts: In ministry work God has chosen (the foolishness of ) “Preaching” to communicate His message – so that is tops of my list. Next down to me would be “Leadership Communication” where we – receive a vision, communicate a goal, then present a plan to the goal.

Ok – take your pick – or pick them all and share your thoughts and comments using the comment feature!

Good Reads….

I have been getting ready to speak to a group of young “ministry leaders in training” and as part of that effort put together a list of “Good Reads”. You can see some of the titles in the column to the right with a brief synopsis of each.  In the coming weeks I may highlight some of them in more detail in a blog posting.

They are all books…not Bibles!  Just a reminder – I share them not because I think they are perfect but because they were helpful, thought provoking, or just plain good writing. Enjoy!

BTW – people often ask me which version of the Bible I reccomend (lots of opinions on that one out there!)  in my own devotional reading I use the New Living Translation of the Bible in the Life Application Study Bible.  A great combination of readablilty, explanation, and practicality.

BTW – not all the books are specifically “Christian” in nature – but they all touch on issues that matter to the church and to the Christian.

Election follow up…

Well America has voted – we have a new President elect, constitutional amendments, and law changes across the land. If you are like me it was a mixed bag of disappointing results, and encouraging moments. The question for the Christian is – What now?!

The Bible does not let us down… 1Tim 2:2-4 says

“Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. 3 This is good and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.”

Paul is saying – Pray that Government would do its job of keeping the peace, so we can do our job of bringing spiritual peace through Jesus Christ. So I thought I might get us started with some simple thoughts on how we can pray for our new President Elect.

1. Pray for his success and safety.

2. Every President needs advisers – pray that God would bring into the new Presidents inner circle of advisers – godly men and woman who can be a biblical influence for our country.

3. Pray for a heightened sense of biblical values.  Campaigns are divisive events – unique in this campaign was both candidates willingness to invoke God and the Bible.  Our prayer now would be that the talk translates into action. God can honor the country that honors him.

4. Pray that the church would be invigorated to focus on what only the church can do – bringing the message of redemption and reconciliation to people.  We are reminded that the government is powerless to bring this to pass – it is the churches role and it is not accomplished through the ballot box but rather through the message of salvation in Christ, the message we carry!

Ok – that’s a good start!

Ben

The Big Election

The BIG election is almost here! I don’t often venture into political waters and in many ways this post maintains that distance. Ultimately I find the role of the church and my role as a Pastor to be the role of ideas – values – and a vision of how we can apply biblical truth to every corner of our lives. In the end no politician or policy effort can ever offer the kind of confidence that the truth of scripture gives to us.

The challenge of course is integrating the truth of scripture – with our world view and then (this week) fashioning a vote from that perspective.  Our vote usually comes down to our strongest influences. For some this ends up as party affiliation, for others cultural and demographic connections, and I hope for Christians it brings us to the influence of our “Values”.

As I said in a message about a year ago on this topic,  this always brings me back to the value of LIFE!

LIFE – How we protect it, respect it, define it, live it, and care for those in the most precarious stages of it .  As you can see this Value effects a wide range of issues, from the hot topics of abortion and gay marriage, to poverty, the death penalty, just war, education, and more.  This video connected these dots for me – I hope it does for you to…

I am excited that our country is in a place where each party offers us a groundbreaking first – as we consider for the highest offices in our land both an African American and a Female candidate!  As exciting as those prospects are, our responsibility as Christian voters is to evaluate candidates based not not only on personal benefit or cultural and demographic connection but on their relative support of our Christian values. Here is a link to a “voters guide” that covers a wide range of issues – offering the positions of each of the main candidates and their respective party – I hope it helps to clarify the “Values in our Vote”

2008-party_platform_comparison_guide1

On Tuesday our country will make an historic decision – no matter what the end result – Jesus is still Lord and His work is still our life’s purpose.

See you at the “Poll” !

Ben