Where?

For the past few weeks, the Carbaugh family has been visiting churches in CT, this for the next few weeks we will be in churches in New York, Virginia, Georgia, and Massachusetts. The weekend we are in Upper New York visiting a Church that was started in 1978. Since that time, they have grown out of three building and have started 5 other Churches in the capital area of New York. The have graciously invited me to spend 3 hours with the pastoral staff on Saturday and visit their services on Sunday. They are a great church, and I look forward to our worship together this week end.

In Your Face!

I certainly do not like to be confronted with problems in my life, but often times that is exactly what I need. There are areas in my life where I struggle. It's true, I am NOT perfect. I know that may shatter my image with some of you, but it's true. And some times...just sometimes...I don't like to deal with my own junk! And when I struggle to deal with it, sometimes God send someone to throw it up in my face.

Now, let me talk about this a little bit. When I say God sends someone to throw it in my face, I don't mean God sends someone to give me their opinion. Let me elaborate on this. My opinion is what I believe by examining the things that I see from the outside and is driven by my own personal thoughts. Notice that in this definition there are a lot of "I's". This is the problem Jesus was addressing in the story of the splinter and beam. Remember, Matthew 7:1-5! I could care less about your personal opinion...and Quite honestly, you should care less about mine! In fact, if people would keep their personal opinions to themselves we would have a lot less hurt in this world. (Example, the latest gaffe from England's prime minister while the mic's were still on!) Personal opinions should be kept more...a, what's the word...PERSONAL! Keep them to yourself!

When God's sends someone he sends someone willing to listen! Perhaps, I should spend more time here, but I fear you may not listen to it and skip to the next paragraph. (A little humor, but maybe you get the point.) When God sends some, they put aside their personal opinions and preconceived talking points and genuinely listen to what I have to say. But more importantly, they are listening to God himself. When God has a message to send, He is far more interested in the messenger listening to Him than listening to any other outside influence. For instance, God's message out weights our personal opinion, our misconceived beliefs, the sermon Oprah is preaching, the diagnosis Dr. Phil is making, anything Dr. Spock has to say, or for that matter anyone else! But when God places a message on the heart of his servant, you better pay attention!

Not does the messenger have to listen to God, but they must be willing to communicate the message in the power of the Holy Spirit evidencing His (The Holy Spirit) fruit. So there is both a message to communicate and a manner in which to communicate the message! Many of God's messages have fallen of deaf ears because the way in which the message was communicated was full of anger, condescension, greed, arrogance, etc. According to Colossians 3 these things are of the flesh, not the Spirit!

That's why it is so valuable to find a person who can "counsel" you and be God's person to get in your face! My counselor has counseled me to learn more about being a successful child of God, than a successful Pastor! I may need some personal space for a minute! You need to back up and get out of my face! That's a little too personal. He was right. The struggle in me and the exhaustion in me often comes from me "doing" too much and not "being". Do you know the difference?

Let me see if I can help you, at least let me tell you where my heart has been challenged. What would it look like if I were a successful Child of God? Immediately this list came to my mind:

• Read the Bible
• Pray
• Witness
• Obey
• Be a proper Steward with my money
• Eat less
• Exercise more
• etc.

Notice that my list always ends up as a list of things to do! And with that line of thinking, when I don't do these things, I am a complete failure. What if I told you that my thinking is being challenged! I can be so busy in the doing that I forget about the being. What if I told you that God is far more interested in your being than in you doing? Sometimes we thing that by doing more we can becomes closer to God. But do you know what that usually causes? It usually causes people to move further away from God! It did me. I was so busy doing things for God that I was missing many opportunities to be with God. Think this is a new problem, or just a problem I am having? Think again, and read Luke 10:38-42. Read closely..."one thing is needful..." WHAT? ...but God, the chairs have to be in place...but God, the restrooms have the be cleaned...but God, I must read 10 chapters today...but God, I must spent 1 hour in prayer today...but God... It is true that the work must be done, but what is needed first is to "be with Jesus." Have you been with Jesus today?

"Dear God, I confess that I have been more worried about the work of the ministry, than I have been about being with. I know that I am forgiven! So help me to choose that one thing that is needed. Help me to value our time walking, or driving, or setting in silence. I am glad to be your child more than anything else. I come to you for everything. I come to your for strength. I come to you for direction. I come to you for the words to say, or write. I want to be successful at just being your child! Thank you for sending Dave to get all up in my face. God, bring that change that is needed for me to BE. I love you Lord."

Church Mission and Strategy!

Okay, first, I know I am a day late, so if you looked yesterday for this answer and were entirely disappointed that it was not there, you can leave a complaint in the comment section! Anyway, to the the matter at hand. Thanks for all the insightful answers that were posted. Although the exact terminology was not used, you understand what we as a church are trying to do. Let me tell you the exact terminology that is found in our church membership information.

The mission of Pond Hill Baptist Church is "to direct people to be disciples of Christ."

The strategy of Pond Hill Baptist Church is direct people "to TRUST in Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord, to TRAIN people for a lifetime of devotion to Christ and to TEAM with people to reach out to those who may be living far from God."

Our church stationary says, "Directing people to be Disciples of Christ."

Now, the thrust of these simple statements is the Great Commission and the Great Commandment. But what is very obvious is that we have not done a great job of communicating the verbiage of our specific mission and vision, or that our wording is not "simple" enough for everyone to grasp easily. Let me say that is not the fault of anyone who attends Pond Hill. I even has to pull the Membership Seminar information to find the exact verbiage!! Not very simple huh?

Well, it will be!

This is what I am thinking today, so fell free to add your thoughts to mine in the comment section.

Where?

Okay, first, let me say thanks to those who have already responded to the previous post. On Tuesday, I will address formally respond back to that post. I must say that the mission of the church was established by Christ, but how we word that mission may change from church to church. For instance, in Simple Church, one church's mission statement was "loving God, loving others and serving the world". Clearly, the thrust of this statement is the spread of the gospel. In this simple statement, the church has wrapped up their mission in a easy to remember phrase that becomes a rally cry of sorts for all the function of the church. SIMPLE huh! At least simple to remember.

Okay, it's the weekend. May of you may be wondering, where in the world will Pastor be this weekend? Well, I will be in CT visiting two churches in the northern hills. One church is only about three years old, the other is about that same age as Pond Hill. One church is more traditional in format and the other is more contemporary. Both churches are seeing people believe on Jesus Christ and choosing to follow Him with their life.

Reading

Okay, I have officially started some of the sabbatical reading. Up until this point, all my reading focus has been school. Now, all that's left of school is the final exam, which will be done by Monday! I started with the book Simple Church by Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger.

Here's the point. I need your help. If you are a member or attender on Pond Hill, can you put in two simple sentences what the mission and strategy of our church is? In the comment section, white two simple sentences using the following format;

"The Mission of Pond Hill Baptist Church is... (This has to do with WHAT we are trying to do.)

"The Strategy of Pond hill Baptist Church is... (This has to do with HOW we will accomplish our mission.)

The goal of this little exercise is to see if we are operating with focus, clarity and cohesiveness.

Go ahead comment now. By the way, it should be kept simple! I will comment about this in a couple of day.

Where Have you Been?

Okay, so by now, you have probably noticed that I have not been that active on my blog. It was intentional! I have needed the past two weeks just to kind of rest and relax, and put my mind in a place that is capable to refocusing. I have not been doing nothing, but just have not written about it. I am entering my third week of Sabbatical leave. so let me recap some of the things that have happened.

The First Sunday away: This weekend my family and I went to New Hampshire. The purpose was to visit a good friend. Shannon grew up with this individual, I attended 1 year of college with he and his wife. they took over a struggling church in New Hampshire a few years back and the change has been incredible. This past Easter Sunday, they had just over 500 people in attendance. It is an exciting church, where God is honored and people can be impacted with the truth of the Gospel. Over the past few year, the pastor and I have spoken many times and he has become a great source of encouragement to me personally. (If you are reading this, thanks for you friendship. It has been more valuable than you can ever imagine. Only in heaven will you truly understand the impact you have made in my life.) It was an exciting worship service and I was drawn closer to God by being there.

The Following Tuesday Night: We were invited the following Tuesday to attend a Pastor Team Meeting in Massachusetts. We were guests, but were treated like part of the team. I thoroughly enjoyed out time there. It was refreshing to know that other churches struggle with the same areas Pond Hill does. These issues include: attendance tracking, helping visitors get connected, church signs, etc.

This past Sunday: The Family and I went to an early service at one church, then drove across town to another service. We attended two services at two completely different churches, one progressive and one traditional. We learned valuable information from both services, and more importantly we were challenged at each to trust God and his Spirit to overcome sin and sin's draw in our lives.

That brings me to today. After finishing my final project for school late last night, today I am going to disappear, not completely. I have a physical in just a few minutes, then its off to the Sleeping Giant for me to get alone with God and spend some quiet time before Him in reflection.

I'll blog again soon!

Godly Counsel

Do you need counseling? No, I am not trying to be funny, but I am a firm believer that every person is in dire need of Godly counsel. Why do you think God said that we was going to send the Spirit to be our Counselor? My thinking goes something like this...

1. God knows what is best for me.
2. God has given us the Holy Spirit to be a constant counselor.
3. Therefore, I need godly counsel.

God's counsel comes from many places. Often this counsel can be heard by simply listening to the Spirit, sometimes it comes from the lips of a close friend, but sometimes, you need to seek someone out that is skilled in listening and possess the ability to confront specific area of wrong thinking.

I am very grateful for for the counselors God has placed in my life. Specifically, for the next few weeks, I will be meeting with my friend Dave. This first of these meetings happened yesterday, and as usual, Dave has already challenged me and made me a bit un-comfortable. He does so with love and with the intent to help me fall greater in love with Jesus. Please pray for Dave and God's leadership in his life, pray that he will not hold back what he feels the would Spirit prompting him to say, and pray that I would be fully open (vulnerable) in our conversations.

Check back tomorrow and I will let you know a little about where I will be tomorrow!

My First Day

Well, it is finally here. Today is my first day on Sabbatical. I must confess, there is a lot of confusion about the specifics of a sabbatical rest (SR). So I thought I would make my first SL blog entry about the specifics on this event.

First, "what is a SR?" A quick google search renders the following definition..."a year or shorter period of absence for study, rest, or travel, given at intervals (orig. every seven years) as to some college teachers and now to people in other fields, at full or partial salary." For one year, our church entered into a discussion about how we would define a sabbatical leave. Here is the definition as it appears in our amendment to our church constitution.

"A sabbatical (also known as Sabbath rest or sabbatical leave) is a resource for pastors and their families. It is an extended time away from the routines of normal ministry and daily life. The sabbatical is to be given as a separate time away from the local assignment and not to be considered as the pastor's vacation time. It is a time of special renewal for the pastor that will bring personal nourishment to his soul, a deeper relationship with the Lord, and a clearer understanding of God's vision for the church. A sabbatical helps to prevent ministry burn-out and may give the pastor a fresh perspective for his ministry."

So in essence a SR is a time for the pastor to step away from normal responsibilities to rest, refocus, and re-energize. This is a very biblical concept. The need for rest was mentioned in the very dialogue of creation. (Genesis 2) In the law, God mentions a resting of the land so that it does not become un-fruitful. (Leviticus 25) Jesus often separated himself from his ministry to be ministered unto by the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 4:1-12 & Luke 5:16) Not to mention all the times Jesus separated himself from the disciples just for a time of pray. Even though a SR is a biblical concept, rarely do we see it demonstrated in a tangible way. I have heard the term used occasionally when a minister marriage was falling apart or when a minister was having an emotional struggle. But never have I heard it used preemptively and purposefully within the Baptist circles where I fellowship. So, it not surprising to me that people have questions, just unfortunate. (Hopefully, more on this later, unless you want to just right in Kevin and comment about the statistics about pastor's being burned out and leaving the ministry.) (Kevin is my friend from Broken Chains International and deals with this specifically!)

Second, "what is the reason for your sabbatical, Pastor Mike?" Well, honestly, I am tired. I have been running on empty for the past few years. My family, the greatest family in the world and my primary ministry, has bore the brunt of my exhaustion. I have been increasingly impatient, angry, non-existent, and withdrawn. Also, church endeavors have become more of a routine than a joy. It kind of feels like going through the motions not experiencing any real drive or excitement. (I am sure someone somewhere is say, "I can't believe he just said that…doesn't he know his church people may be reading this.") And it is true, so right now, if you are a member/attendee of PHBC, I do not blame you…apart from my call into the Lord's family and my call to my family, you are the greatest call I have ever received. I love each of you with all my heart. It is because of this that I cannot keep going through the motion any longer. I must step away for a small time of rest, to be ministered unto by the Spirit, so that I can come back a better under-shepherd for you.

The specifics of my responsibilities were outlined in my official request for SR. They include:

1. I would like to refous the vision for the future of Pond Hill Baptist Church. It is easy to establish routines that seem to work in the moment, and then never evaluate those routines compared to what other churches are doing. I will accomplish this task by the following:
   

• Reading and written review: I would like to read Simple Church, Essential Church, Building the Church as a Team, and Leadership Handbook of Outreach and Care
  
• Church Research: I would like to visit ten other churches and evaluate specific areas that are essential to the church (i.e. greeting, music, announcements, service structure, and invitation.
  
• Pastoral interview: I would like to conduct one hour interviews with 8 pastors to discuss the following: Outreach schemes, visitation, church growth, etc. These interviews will last approximately 1 hour.
  
• Pastoral Survey: I would like to conduct an online pastoral survey that would ask about the number one need of pastors, the number one difficulty of pastor's as well as outreach and growth methods.
  

1. I would like to spend some time in personal reflection out from underneath the normal burden of pastoral work. I would like to accomplish this by linking up with a local Christian camp for 6 hours per day of uninterrupted devotional time. I will dedicate this time to prayer, scripture reading, journaling and spiritual disciplines.
   
2. I will be finalizing my Masters of Divinity work and attending Graduation.
   

Okay, one final thought to the people of PHBC. I thank you for allowing me to be me and to learn together. I was a young 25 years old when you called me as your pastor, and I have tried diligently to teach and lead you closer to God. It hasn't always been easy, and there are probably many things I would change. But I would never have changed the fact that we have walked together. I have never held anyone at arm's length. I have loved you up-close and personal, some might even say a little too close. These years have been my greatest joy as well as my greatest heartbreaks. We have done it together, and I look forward to many more years of living, serving and growing side by side!