As we continue to allow chapter 4 of Paul’s second letter to Timothy to guide our conversation about leadership in the church, we’ve arrived at a massively encouraging and massively challenging collision of ideas.

“Command and teach these things. Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young,

but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”

- 1 Timothy 4: 11-12

Those are the classic young leader verses, aren’t they?

And I love them – don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young!  Right on!  When I read those verses, I can’t help but think of the amazing things I’ve seen college students do right on the campuses of DC.  Any one who doubts the power of young leaders needs look no further than the thousands raised to free young girls from the sex trade or the hours served at Daybreak and The House or the lives changed right on our own campuses.  Young people can do amazing things for God and I believe that more than almost any one else on the planet.  So, be encouraged that Paul believes in you as well.

But don’t miss the challenge there either.  Set an example. Not just an example when it comes to preaching in jeans, ordering the trendiest lattes or following all the right new indie bands.  Paul’s going for something truly revolutionary – set the example in speech, life, love, faith and purity.  Wow.  You want to be a leader for God?  Then those five areas have to be central to our lives.  Can you imagine a church where the young were gently nudging their elders towards greater love and faith?  What if we took the lead?

The thought is as powerful as it is simple.

As I fired up my computer earlier today, I happened to catch the date – July 25th.  Relatively unremarkable as dates go; no offense if it’s your birthday, anniversary or something like that.  Just saying, in my world, July 25th isn’t really that big of a deal.

Except…

One month from now, The Gathering will be meeting in the Kay Center at American University for our first service of the semester!  Yeah, Mason and UMD get a bonus week of summer in there once again.  But AU is the lead-off hitter and one month from now, that Kay Center is going to be packed with students looking to celebrate Jesus.

Wow.  That fires me up.

By the way, I didn’t post that to send you spiraling into some sort of “summer’s going by way too fast” depression.  Keep enjoying summer and living for God wherever you are.  But I’m hoping you might start praying towards what God has in store for us a month from now.  It’s going to be here before you know it…and I, for one, can’t wait!

So, it’s been over a week since my last blog post.  Yeah, I’ve managed to stay somewhat engaged with Twitter.  But blogging - not so much.  Simple explanation, by the way – I honestly just didn’t have time. I wasn’t in some sort of spiritual funk, I wasn’t hating life, blogging or you.  I just never seemed to find a few free minutes.  That seems crazy to say now.  But it felt even crazier to live out this past week.  It’s been a blur of leadership training, creative meetings, planning meetings and some precious time with really good friends.

All of that is my way of saying, life can get pretty crazy.  It seems like the more you want to live for Christ, the crazier it can get at times…and so far, we’re just talking about those seasons of life where you’re loving everything you’re doing!  When you factor in the really difficult times, it can get almost overwhelming.  Please, make no mistake about it.  Ministry can be filled with difficult times.  Days are long, budgets are short, expectations are high and people sometimes blow it in massive ways.  Friends who you love greatly take a vacation from God and it rips you apart.  Projects don’t always come together the way you want.  Bosses don’t always get it.  And the list just goes on and on, right?

My point in saying all of that is not to depress us.  But to get us ready for the amazing truth we find in 1 Timothy 4:9-10.  Yes, this is the next installment of posts on Christian leadership.  Look at Paul’s words:

This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance (and for this we labor and strive),

that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.

- 1 Timothy 4: 9-10

Did you catch it?  ”We have put our hope in the living God.”  Our hope isn’t in the people in our ministries, our programs, our buildings or our budgets.  It’s in the Christ who defeated death and reigns victorious today.  Our hope is a Risen King who has all authority in heaven and one earth.  The One who formed the heavens will guide our days.  What a beautiful hope we have in Him.  Hope that carries us through the crazy good times and the crazy bad times. Hope that will carry us to heaven when our time here is over.  That’s real hope, it’s our inheritance as children of God and it’s more than enough to fuel us for ministry.

I started a series of blog posts yesterday about the basic principles of Christian leadership.  In many ways, they are basic principles for the Christian life but they work their way into the lives of leaders in some unique ways.  All of the principles I’m blogging about in these posts are coming out of Chapter 4 of 1 Timothy.  We looked at verse 6 yesterday and today’s principle comes right out of verses 7-9:

But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.  It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance.

- 1 Timothy 4: 7-9

Principle #2:  Godliness Takes Discipline

You’ve got to be careful with this one because no amount of self-discipline, no matter how great, will produce godliness in us by itself.  It must be joined with the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.  Our sanctification is a supernatural, spiritual work.  But that work comes alive in the soil of a disciplined life.

Paul was fanatical about this one.  Look at a few other things he wrote on the topic:

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

- 2 Timothy 1:7

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.  Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

- 1 Corinthians 9: 24-27

Bottom line – an undisciplined life never produces godliness.

Let me leave you with just one example.  How many of us struggle to implement principle #1 (being constantly nourished by God’s Word) because we just don’t get up early enough in the morning?  The alarm clock goes off and we hit snooze 7 times.  Then we sprint through the shower and rush off to class or work.  There is no spiritual solution to that problem!  The answer is discipline.   When the alarm goes off, get up!!

What other applications can you think of for this principle?  Leave a comment and share it with the rest of us.

We’ve been talking a lot as a staff team at The Gathering about what it looks like to be an effective leader in the church.  There are so many different leadership theories, books and models that if we’re not careful, our minds can get so lost in those details that we forget the simple core principles of being a leader for Christ.  The principles that matter most come straight from the example of Jesus and the word of God.  Over the next couple of days, I want to share those principles with you through this blog.  I’ll post one a day in the hope you will be as challenged, encouraged and inspired as our team has been.  Whether you are a small group leader, a student leader, a coach, or maybe just feel God tugging you towards leadership, these principles all apply to you.  And, as God gives you the strength to apply them to your life, they will transform your leadership.  We’ve been using Paul’s first letter to Timothy as our guide and really focusing in on Chapter 4, so let’s start with verse 6 of that chapter for today.

In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus,

constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.

- 1 Timothy 4:6

In order to be a good servant of Christ Jesus, we must be constantly nourished by the Scriptures!

It’s so simple, I know.  But I also know how many of us struggle to live this out.  Notice that we are to be constantly taking in the Word of God – not just going to church once a week or listening to the occasional podcast.  If you want to be effective for God, you’ve got to read your Bible every day.  For what it’s worth, the only way I’ve ever been able to do that in my life is to make sure it’s the first thing I do when I wake up.  If you can do it consistently some other time of the day, great – but let’s be honest about your chances of success.  Once the day gets rolling, life seems to take over and then by the end of the day, we’re all so tired that we just can’t stay awake to read.  If you’ve never made a habit of reading first thing in the morning, try it.  It’ll change your leadership and your life!

But also, make sure you’re being nourished by the Word.  Having your eyes slide over the pages of the Bible is not what we’re going for as followers of Jesus.  It’s got to sink into our minds, our hearts and the fabric of our lives.  Ingest it, meditate on it, figure out what changes you need to make in response to the truth you just read.  Slow down enough to take it all in.

Let me end by saying this.  I know how simple it sounds.  But I am also 100% convinced that if every single leader in The Gathering was constantly nourished by the Word of God, we would see things happening on our campuses that are so far beyond anything we’ve experienced to this point.  I pray we would be those kinds of leaders.  I pray we would know God that well and be used by Him to change everything on our campus.

Enough of my words…go read His.

I spent a good portion of my weekend doing yard word.  For the record, I’m being a little generous with the use of the word “yard” when it comes to the tiny postage stamp of grass that sits behind my townhouse.  But, whatever – it needed a lot of work after an extended time of neglect.

Here’s a condensed chronology of my thought process throughout the experience:

- I HATE YARD WORK!!!

- I seriously need to pay someone to do this kind of stuff.

- Wait…you’re a pastor, you can’t afford a that.

- Guess I better get okay with doing it myself.

- What’s wrong with me?!?

-  How many people in Haiti or Rwanda or any other country you name would love to have a yard to take care of?

- No need to go international with that question.  There’s plenty of people right here in DC that would love to have this “problem.”

- Maybe you should whine a little less there, McG.

- Father, thanks for even providing this place for me to live in.

- Yard work really is a form of stewardship – I’m just taking care of what God has allowed me to use for a season.

- Wow, I’m an idiot – yard work isn’t a chore, it’s worship if it’s done in such a way that reminds me to celebrate God and His goodness in my life.

Paul wrote, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31)

Interesting – just a small shift in our attitudes can turn the mundane tasks of life into times of worship.  Even yard work.  Even that thing you are dreading today.

I spent years of my life thinking that the words Christianity and freedom were polar opposites.  Christianity was synonymous with rules, regulations, rituals, control and all things not free.  On the other side was this longing in my heart for freedom – a longing to embrace life, to be fully me, to be the person God created me to be, to live boldly and challenge convention.  To think that my longing for freedom could be satisfied in Christ would have seemed laughable.  But look at what the Scriptures say:

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. – Galatians 5:1

On this day when we celebrate our national independence, our personal and our political freedoms, we should also be reminded of our ultimate freedom.  Only Christ can free us from the chains of sin, guilt, shame and, most stunningly, death.  Followers of Jesus are the freest people the world will ever know.  Not even death holds power over us.

So, celebrate today.  Celebrate a country where we are free to worship as we chose and write what we want and gather for any reason or none at all.  Celebrate a cross and a King who called us to eternal freedom.  Celebrate both by never returning to the yoke of slavery.

Happy 4th!

John

I just spent the last 57 minutes of my life making a “to do” list.

I’m not sure what your reaction to that is – but my guess is pity factors in somewhere.  No worries, I totally get it – I don’t really think of myself as the list making type.  For some reason it seems boring, restrictive, freedom limiting, administrative and the kind of thing generally reserved for old people with nothing much to put on their list anyway.  I’ve often said things like “I’m too busy to make a list of all the stuff I’m busy with!”

So, I get your reaction.  But I don’t agree – I honestly feel great now that I’ve made my list.  Let me tell you why.  For the past six weeks or so, I’ve had this feeling that I’m facing an overwhelming sea of work.  In fact, I’ve felt like I had so much to do that I really didn’t know where to get started.  It’s amazing how much clarity comes just from writing it all out!  Knowing exactly what I’m up against somehow makes it all seem more manageable, easier to prioritize and like I’m somewhat in control.

I don’t care how busy you are (did you catch the part where I said I was writing for 57 straight minutes?!?), take some time to get the whole mess out there on paper.  I promise, it really does help.

Now, I just need to figure out how to start crossing things off the list…

Ever feel like you just don’t have enough space in life?

I’m not talking about space for your stuff and I’m not talking about space in your room or apartment.  I’m talking about space for your soul to breathe a bit.  The kind of space that gets stolen meeting by meeting, phone call by phone call, errand by errand and email by email.  We all carry around a never ending “to do” list, there’s always one more person to spend time with, one more thing to do and one more project to tackle.  And if we’re not careful, we find ourselves so over scheduled that there isn’t any more space to just live.

And it’s killing us.  It’s robbing us of joy, happiness and contentment in life.

Space to breathe is not a luxury and it can’t be a pipe dream.  It must be ingrained in the rhythm of our lives and that takes intentionality.  We all need to fight for space.  Space doesn’t just happen.  You have to make it, chose it, create it.  Look at how intentional Jesus was about creating that space in His life:

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. – Mark 1:35

I know we all want to do the same.  The only question is whether we’ll be intentional about it.