Make the Most of This Opportunity

The following is an email I sent out to our church family today - part of a series of posts & emails we've sent out in preparation for Resolution 2014.

This is it. 2013 is rapidly coming to a close and a New Year is here. As a church family, we are going to make the most of this opportunity. As we resolve to spend every day with Jesus - as we seek Him like never before this year - I want to encourage you in a few specific areas and ways that I believe will set you (and us) up for success:

• Have a plan. As we emailed you yesterday about one example (the YouVersion reading plan) and have posted several others on our website, the important thing is to have a plan. For many of us (who find great motivation and normalcy in structure) this can give you direction and even a bit of inspiration. What's your plan?
• Write it down. On one hand, I highly encourage you to WRITE DOWN YOUR GOAL/PLAN. If you already keep a journal, write it down. You can go back and remind yourself of WHAT you committed to and WHY. And on the other hand, if you don't keep a journal - a written record of what you're learning in God's Word, what you are praying about & who you are praying for - make this a priority. I have struggled with this in the past, but when I have taken this step it has been incredibly powerful. And if you're a parent and don't want to do this for yourself, do it for your children or your grandchildren. Keep a journal that you would want them to read 10-20 years from now. If that doesn't motivate you, nothing will.
• Find a friend. Don't walk this road alone. For several reasons, there is great power in walking this journey with someone else - in a friend (or friends) knowing the goals we've set and encouraging and challenging us to stick to them. There is no greater or more foundational place to find this than in a Missional Community. As the New Year begins, there is no better time or opportunity to find the biblical fellowship and focus that come with living on mission together.
• Live under grace. Over the next 365 days, while our aim is to spend "Every Day With Jesus", that is not our ultimate goal. What we truly aim, hunger, and long for is to KNOW GOD - to know Him more today than ever before. We desperately desire to know Him - His heart, His character, and His will for our lives, our families, and our church. And mark it down: You will mess up. You will have a bad day. A really bad day. You may very well miss a day of Bible reading. You may abandon your journal for weeks. God will not be mad at you or condemn you. This is not a new law for you or me to follow, but a plan to lead us where we desire to be. Live under grace. With yourself and others.

Have a plan. Write it down. Find a friend. Live under grace.

2013 was a great year. 2014 is going to be amazing!

Happy New Year!

Hiatus

No, I haven't forgotten I have a blog.

I've had people ask me over the last weeks & months, "What happened to your blog?", "Why aren't you writing on your blog anymore?", "Did you run out of things to say?" I'm pretty sure we all know that last one is the farthest thing from the truth. That said, I haven't really had an emphatic or exclusive answer or resolution to this question. Truth be told, the only answer I could give is a very short one: I don't know. So I've started looking back, retracing steps, and trying to pick up the trail of when and why I began neglecting this online mouthpiece of mine. Here are the things I have sensed have played a role in all of this.

1. Busyness
At the beginning of 2012 I had to take on some responsibilities at The Brook that I had not faced in quite some time. This wasn't anyone's fault or the result of anything other than just the Lord allowing us to walk through a new season with new mountains to climb. But over time - as you walk with the Lord - you begin realizing that most mountains He leads you up are going to be worth the trek up the hill. It has definitely been worth it. And while I've actually had some folks tell me along the way, "Brian, it's not your job to have to deal with all of that!", I see things differently. While I understand and appreciate the sentiment (and I do ultimately believe that we should be working toward "Doing the things that only we can do"), there are times as a leader that you have to be the one to roll up your sleeves, hammer through it, and just plain flat work hard. Life gets busy sometimes. Leadership gets even busier.

2. Changes
While most of my life has been an open window over the last 5 years, there are changes and challenges we have walked through over the last months in our family that I have chosen to keep private. Not hidden, just not plastered up publicly for everyone to see. To give you a 2 cent version of a million dollar story, here are just a few of the changes that have gone on in the Mayfield home:

• Last year we chose to homeschool Libby & Nathan. It was one of the greatest decisions we have ever made. (That's a blogpost for another day) This year we enrolled them at Providence Classical School in Huntsville. So far, it has been amazing. (Another blogpost for another day)
• Last year we began working with the Harris Home for Boys in Huntsville. There we met a young man named Dre. At Christmas, for the first time, Dre came and stayed with us. This began an almost every other weekend ritual of Dre coming to our home. Finally, through much prayer, conversation, and counsel, we came to the conclusion in the spring that Dre was supposed to come and live with us full time. The government would call him our "foster son". We don't really care about those words. He's part of our family. This is Dre's senior year in high school and Morgan is homeschooling him to help him prepare for whatever the Lord has ahead.
• At the beginning of this year I began developing a tightness in my leg muscles that would not go away. After months of trying everything I knew to try (stretching, massage, chiropractic, inversion, more stretching), my doctor and I came to the conclusion that in all likelihood the statin drug (most famous name-brand cholesterol drug on the market that starts with an "L") I was taking was causing this inflammation. I'll spare you all the tests and doctor visits I went through. Thankfully, with the drug out of my system, I am now beginning to see some return to normal. I've gone running 3 times in the last 8 days. That hasn't happened in 8-10 months.
• My mom made the decision to move away from Texas after 33 years. That was an incredibly difficult decision for her. We've been neck-deep in it, walking with her, praying that the Lord will give her guidance. It's tough to close a chapter of your life, especially one that long and that good!

I'll stop there. Just writing it all down is starting to make my head spin again.

3. Priorities

I really think that as a leader your priorities are going to change. As you enter new seasons, you take on new responsibilities and challenges. And then...your priorities will change again. To cut to the chase, I have had an underlying conviction over the last year that 2 things were clearly more important than me writing on my blog:

1. Spending more intentional time investing in the lives and leadership of our staff at The Brook. We've gone through a major transition and we've walked through it together. In fact, in the last 3 years, we've made what I believe are the 2 most important changes in the life of our church: transitioning to being an Elder-led church (&) transitioning from small groups to missional communites. This has required our full time, attention, and most important, unity.
2. I also felt clearly that I simply needed to "Shut up and listen". There are times - seasons - when the Lord gives us something to say. Something important to whisper. Maybe something life-changing to shout from the rooftops. But other times the world needs our ears more than our mouth. And not only that, we need to begin to learn to listen all over again. Think James 1:19 on steroids. Really listening takes practice and discipline. It's worth all the hard work.

4. Unknown Reason

There has to be a 4th reason I'm not thinking of or subconsciously supressing. And besides, preachers always have 3. I'm going with 4.

While this is definitely not an all-encompassing and completely thorough disclosure of the reasons behind my blog hiatus, these are certainly the most prevailing factors involved, none of which am I the slightest bit in regret. God has, is, and will continue to work faithfully in and through our lives as we seek Him first and focus our lives intentionally on living for His Kingdom and reaching out to those who don't yet know the hope we have in Christ. So keep seeking and keep reaching.

Be back soon.

The Way I See It

A couple of weeks ago I began to notice that the vision in my left eye was going bad. I'm near-sighted, so I can't see things far away. But now everything was starting to go blurry - far away and up close. And it wasn't just blurry; I was almost like seeing double. I was seeing a bright light. And you're not supposed to see the "bright light" when you're standing upright and feeling otherwise healthy. So just 2 weeks after seeing the optometrist for a routine eye exam, I went back for another one.

My optometrist started me through the standard eye exam questions:

DR: What's the smallest line you can read? Guessing is fine.
ME: None.
DR: Which one of these is clearer? One.......or two? [PAUSE] One.......or two?
ME: None.
DR: If you cover your right eye with this, tell me what letters you can make out.
ME: None. Zero. All I see is a big, blurry white light.

At this point I could begin to sense some concern on her face and in her voice. Finally she paused for a few seconds and then said, "I don't think it's your vision. I think it might be your eye." So she squirted some dye in my eye, waited 30 seconds, shined what I thought was a light saber straight into my face, and said, "Ah ha! Now it all makes sense."

I thoroughly enjoyed the next thing she said. Without hesitation she asked me, "Did you rub sand in your eye?" All I could think of to say in response was, "Not that I'm aware of." After all, I had been to the beach, laying in the sand for a week. I could have unconsciously grabbed a handful and unknowingly given my cornea a deep tissue massage, I suppose. And before that I had been in Guatemala for a week building a house, sawdust flying everywhere, dirt blowing in our faces. And I have been known to rub my eyes now and then. For the love! What had I done?

However it happened - who knows when, where, or how - the surface of my eye had been scratched. Scratched bad! Like Jam Master Jay's turntables at a Run-DMC concert. (Insert wicky-wicky-wicky noise HERE). She told me with educated certainty: "You really did a number on this eye!" So she sent me home with the instructions: No contacts for a week, prescription eye drops 4x a day. If not better in one week, come back and see me. That was 9 days ago. I'm still looking through a foggy haze. Heading back to the optometrist next Monday. Until then, I'll forge ahead like a pirate and share another thought with you.

The way I see it, there are things in our lives that we consider to be on the "surface". They are things that take up our time, fill our mind, and most often, we think have no bearing on what's going on underneath. I can't tell you what those things might be in your life. I'm not supposed to. But I can tell you that in my life, I often live on the surface of things like TV, movies, and coveting all the things that so & so has that I think I need. We live on the surface. We sit in the kiddie pool while God is calling us to the depths. And it's like we're completely oblivious to the fact that our life on the surface - wading through the cesspool - is decaying and rotting what the Lord desires to do in the depths - in our hearts. The surface is being scratched way too much and it's affecting our vision.  I have felt the great press of the Holy Spirit on my heart lately, whispering to me, "Brian. You've got to stop rubbing sand in your eyes!"

I'm praying for the discipline and desire to reach for the ointment and the salve rather than the sand. 

I'm desperate to finally be done with living on the surface.

I want to see God! I want to see Jesus more clearly!

What do you want to see?

Respect

As a leader, the idea of demanding respect is ludicrous. Respect can't be demanded any more than I can wake up tomorrow and demand that the sun come out or the rain go away. Commanding respect, on the other hand, is a road that many leaders successfully learn how to navigate - gaining respect through courageous action or decision. I think General Patton or Michael Jordan are just two examples of millions of leaders who have managed to pull this off. That said, I'm seeing several leaders these days who are quite possibly misunderstanding what it really looks like to command respect. The bottom line - especially if you are leading other leaders - is that someone's respect is a treasured prize that you and I have to earn. I believe there are some clear distinctives to help us make sure we're not assuming or expecting other people to automatically follow right behind us. How can we make sure we're not assuming, demanding, or even inappropriately commanding respect?

First off, in any leadership role, you're going to have to make tough decisions. You will have to be the one to decide "NO" we're not going to go through with that event or "YES" we're going to take the risk and spend that money. And while there are times (thankfully) that a board or team can corporately make these decisions, there are other occasions where leaders can't hide behind these teams. YOU have to make the call. But this is when and where the HOW comes into play. We have to make these decisions humbly and prayerfully, while also making them confidently and courageously. Make no mistake: Most of the time, people understand the burden of the decision you're facing. They don't envy you. At the same time, if you've assumed and accepted the role and responsibility of leading, they expect that you expect to have to make these decisions. Why else would you be a leader? HOW we face and make these decisions play an enormous part in whether or not people trust us, want to follow us, and ultimately respect us. 

Another foundational ingredient to earning someone's respect is to actually and genuinely care about them. We often preach and tout that PEOPLE are more important than programs or products. Yet, there are times when a person needs our time and attention, only to come up feeling like the task at hand was important than they are. And where this ultimately leads someone is to the conclusion that they are being used - that they're a pawn rather than a person. Don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean you're going to have an hour to give everyone during your week. But if you organize and prioritize, you can find a way to give 15-20 minutes. You can take 10 minutes to genuinely listen. You can spare 5 minutes to pray with that person in need. When the people you're leading know that you care about them, you don't need to worry about demanding - or even commanding - anything. When you're honest with them about who you are and what you're dealing with, they may not understand it, but they respect it. They respect you. The question is: What (or WHO) do you genuinely care about most?

Lead courageously. 

Lead with integrity.

Know that integrity - more than anything - fosters credibility.

Credibility inspires trust. 

Trust earns respect.

"But among you it should be quite different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all." - Jesus (Mark 10:43)

Are there other things that you can do to earn the respect of those you're leading?

Church For Sale?

If you decided to take on the challenging, yet rewarding task of teaching English to a group of immigrants (ESL, as we call it) you would (hopefully) go into this situation with an already established bedrock of patience. It's going to take time. They don't speak this language. And if we're honest, we have the most ridiculous language on the planet. This might have something to do with why 1/2 the people actually from this country can't even speak it correctly. Bottom line: Learning a second language is a tough road to walk.

Now let's talk about "church" language. Anyone with any common sense should not expect someone without some level of theological training or study to know what words like sanctification or atonement - or even theological for that matter - mean. That said, a lot of churches operate and act like those folks should be completely down with the lingo. But this shouldn't come as a surprise to us. Why? Because it's painfully apparent that much of the church doesn't even know what the "church" actually is.

Headed to the gym the other morning I drove past a sign much like the one above: Church For Sale. And yes, I get it. There's a "church" that's building a bigger, better building a few miles away and so now they're trying to sell their buildings and property. I get it. But guess what: Other people don't get it. There are multitudes of people out there - lost people who have never entered into the fellowship of the "church" - who still believe wholeheartedly that the "church" is a building. Not only that, there are multitudes - yes, millions and millions of people - who actually enter those buildings week in and week out, Sunday after Sunday, still under the misguided delusion that the building is the "church". And this language is driving home an idea - a theology - a worldview - that is reinforcing years and years of decay to the "sentness", mobility, and movement that Jesus breathed into His church - His people.

The Church = The People

Pastors - Please STOP talking this way!

Living in Alabama, I remember a few years ago as the arguments over legislation on immigration heated up, hearing people say ignorant things like: "If they can't learn the language, they ought to just go back home!" Really? What if Jesus said, "If you guys can't learn the language, you should get your sorry selves out of the Body!" Mull that over for a second. "You keep calling my Body a building! What's up with that?"

Here's the deal: If the "Church" is actually "For Sale", we're in big trouble! And if it's not, then stop saying it is. Get another sign. Stop sending a misleading, brainwashing, toxic message. Stop reinforcing years and years of lazy language. We're digging a hole that we're very soon not going to be able to see out of anymore. 

Stop saying "The blessing" and start "Giving thanks". Sorry, but God's not going to "bless" your slab of ribs, cole slaw, beans, and sweet tea. Enjoy it, nonetheless.

Stop telling the kids that you're "going to church". Start telling them you're "going to meet with your church family." 

We call the buildings The Brook. We call the church our "church family".
We're deliberately and intentionally trying to teach the language - to some who have never learned it and to others who are having to unlearn years of misguided grammar. It's going to take time. It's going to take patience. But it's worth it.

By the way: There's a great building for sale in Madison, Alabama, if your church family is looking for a place to gather, fellowship, and come together.

Lead the Way

Mark my words: The Miami Heat will lose the NBA Finals.

It's not even so much that the San Antonio Spurs will win, but the Miami Heat will lose - they will hand the NBA Championship over to their opponent and will come up possibly 1 game short of winning it all - IF...Lebron James does not step up, set the pace, and lead the way.

A great percentage of the time that the Miami Heat lose it's not because Lebron doesn't attempt to get his teammates involved. It's not because he's a ball hog or a prima donna. It's because - before deliberately working to get his teammates engaged in the game - he doesn't set the pace himself.

Lebron is not just a leader. He's THE leader. And when he steps onto the floor from the tipoff and plays to the height of his ability, will, and determination, everyone else follows him and strives to reach that level as well. When he leads the way, everyone else follows. This is what set Michael Jordan apart (and always will). He never tried to push his teammates past where their abilities had taken them before until he first pushed through those limits himself. He said - without ever saying a word - "Go this hard! Push this far! Leave it all on the floor!" Lebron James can be this leader. The question is, "Will he?"

Leaders must first set the pace and lead the way.

You can think and say all day long, "Do what I SAY, not what I DO." But that doesn't hold water in leadership. No matter what role of leadership you're in, there are moments when you have to sweat it out, clean the floor, edit the video, pick up the chairs, push through the tension, and say by your actions, "This is how we're going to do it!" Lead the way! Show people WHAT, HOW, and WHY it is that you're going to walk that road, take that path, and push to new heights. Step up, set the pace, and lead the way.

Jesus said, "Follow me." He first showed them the way. Then pointed them toward it.

How can you tangibly and courageously lead the way today?

Today

Today.

Today is a gift. It didn't come wrapped, but it was freely given to you.

Today is an opportunity. It's a one-time chance to face whatever it brings.

Today is unique. There's never been another like & won't be again.

Today is fleeting. Just look at the clock. It's almost gone already.

Today is also a liar. It often whispers to you, "Hey, just wait for tomorrow!", as if it knows that tomorrow is a sure thing. 

Today is always promising tomorrow.

Today is a pathological liar. It tells you that yesterday defines you. 

Today.

Today is what you have. 

Stop regretting yesterday and stop waiting for tomorrow.

Stop living in yesterday. Or 20 years ago. You were probably living for tomorrow then.

Stop thinking tomorrow will finally be the day. Today is the day!

So....

What are you going to do with it?

Hebrews 3:12-13
James 4:13-17
Matthew 6:25-34