Movie Madness

OK. Just a warning. I’ve been sitting on this blog for almost a year now and have wavered back and forth on whether or not to post it. It has no ‘spiritual' point to it and it actually has no real meaning other than to be a reminder to us (years from now) when we’re no longer on the mission field and all our kids are grown-up, off to college and have families of their own. This is the type of stuff that happens on a regular basis here and would be easily forgotten if I didn’t write it down- so here it goes: )

Question:

When you think of getting an education and the things that ‘getting an education’ entails- what are some of the things that come to mind? Reading? Math? Science? Studying intently? Well, that’s what comes to my mind. But there’s another thing that they incorporate into our children’s education here in Terra Boa, Brazil (other than an exorbitant amount of soccer classes- for real, haha!). And that thing is movies. That’s right, movies. And I’m not talking about educational movies either. I’m talking about regular movies that are at the theater or on DVD. 

For the last 3 1/2 years our kids have had classes where, rather than actually teaching my kids something, the teacher puts a DVD on and that’s the class for the day! “Seriously,” you say? Yes, seriously. Now that wouldn’t be that big of a deal if it was a special day or a day where the teacher wanted to reward the kids for some type of educational accomplishment they had all reached or something- but no. It’s just a constant flow of movies for no apparent reason. And what makes it worse is that they’re showing rated R movies with questionable content. 

Last year, Robert’s 1st grade teacher decided to show Rambo- First Blood pt. 2 to a bunch of 7 and 8 year old kids. Now, it’s been a while but, if I recall correctly, doesn’t Sylvester Stallone shoot an exploding arrow into someones head that shows (in slow motion) a camera shot of their head as it is blown clean-off their body in that movie? Call me crazy- but I don’t think that’s appropriate for little kids. What do you think?

We’re by no means prudes when it comes to movies but we are very selective with what our children watch at home. Because we’re trying to help them- not harm them by filling their head with graphically violent images and sexually graphic images. Gabriel (our 11 year old) has a problem with nightmares so we really try filter out any kind of scary TV or movies so that he can sleep peacefully at night. But here they’re showing scary films at school (like the revenge of Chuckie, for real- they did) and so we have to deal with the aftermath at night(i.e., nightmares). Thanks guys!

We’re only about a month into the new school year and so far 2 of the 4 kids in school have already watched at least 1 movie in class. Last year they probably watched at least 20 movies in class. The sad part (besides that they’re watching movies at school) is that they’re only in school 4 hrs per day. So if they watch one movie then at least half of the school day is gone! It’s so frustrating. 

But it gets even better. All the movies here are bootleg movies. So not only are they showing movies, they’re showing ones that are illegal copies. lol!

But wait, it gets better yet... Robert said that when the movie is over, the teacher sells it (the bootleg DVD) to whatever kid in the class wants to buys it... haha! It’s movie madness!

Waitin’ for the Popcorn,

Jim

Now That’s the Church

Most of you who read this blog know that MJ and I are missionaries here in Brazil. And most of you know about our ministry to orphans and to the children in the local favelas (slums) in and around Curitiba. And most of you know about all the camps we do each year for hundreds of kids who desperately need Jesus. Our life is non-stop but we love doing what we do: )

But, what some of you may not be aware of is that, for a little over 2 years now, we've also been the lead pastors of an English speaking church in Curitiba as well. We meet in one of the largest Baptist churches in the city (Igreja Batista do Bacacheri) and have services at the same time as the mother church is having their main portuguese service.

We started out with about 12 people and have grown to a solid 50+ people each Sunday Morning. Since we’re an international church, that meets inside of another church, it's a different dynamic than you see at most churches. Even though we only have, on average, around 50 people each service- we see a lot of different people each month. Actually, we probably have 150 different people that come each month to one of our services. Some people are only in town for a few weeks or even just for the weekend (for their jobs). Some people only show-up once a month (or so) because they’re wanting to improve their English. So it’s difficult trying to actually ‘pastor’ in this kind of environment. 

The i3C Worship Team at a special Night of Worship

But Me and MJ have been extremely grateful for the opportunity to be able to minister in our own language in a foreign country each week. Actually, I truly believe it’s a gift from God since I still struggle with portuguese (actually struggle is an understatement, haha) and it’s helped keep me sane since teaching The Bible and pastoring are such a HUGE part of who we are.

But, even though we’re able to minister in English each week, it’s always been a concern of ours that that’s all we’re doing- ministering in English each week and that’s it. There’s been no way to actually measure our effectiveness (with the people) because we live 45 minutes away, in the middle of the jungle, and we don’t get the opportunity to walk with any of the people we pastor during the week (to actually see if there's any fruit being produced in their lives). And this is always at the forefront of our minds. 

Because, to me, the thing about being a pastor that I have zero interest in- is trying to pastor people who just want to be at church on Sunday and then they just check-out for the rest of the week until the next Sunday without actually following Jesus every day. That doesn't interest me at all- English or no English. But we’ve remained steady and have just trusted that God was actually using us in the people’s lives.

Some of the i3C crew at a recent outreach

Since we do a lot of outreach in the orphanages and favelas as missionaries, over the last 2 years, we’ve invited the church to partner with us any time we do and the response is usually pretty good. But still- we know that even that (having people show up for an outreach) doesn’t prove that someone is actually the real deal, right?

In Villa Zumbi at an outreach we did last month

Well, after this past Sunday’s service, Me and MJ were driving home and she began to tell me a story about a precious couple that are members of our church. She was telling me how that last week they were having some financial difficulties (due to a job situation) and didn't even have money to buy toilet paper.

Then MJ told me about how, when someone else in the church found out about it, they  gave them R$500. And then another person who’d found out about their situation gave them some money. And then someone else found out about it and showed-up at their house with 5 big boxes of groceries! 

This all happened last week and they didn't come to Me and MJ asking for help (which we would have), no. They didn't need to. Because the Church, the Body, aka- the Members took care of each other like they're suppose to. And that’s the way that I believe God designed it (the Church) to operate from the beginning (Acts 2:42-47). 

As a pastor that makes me so proud of our church and it helps us know that we’re actually pastoring people who are living out their faith and not just showing up on Sundays and then clocking-out until the next week: )

James says (in James 2:14-16), that one of the proofs (or one of the things that gives evidence) that your faith is actually alive is when you see a brother or sister in need and you do something about it. And Jesus says (in Matthew 25:31-46) that one of the things that'll differentiate the true disciple from the false disciple on Judgement Day will be the fact that they met someones needs when they were made aware of it. So, to me, what these brothers and sisters did for this couple was a proof of something that’s real.

We don’t work for our salvation but our works prove that our salvation is real. 

And, because of this, I'm feeling pretty happy today to be honest with you. Because for over 2 years now, as we’ve been pastoring the i3C, we’ve been looking for true signs that what we’re doing really matters. So I’m writing this blog to brag on our church and to thank God for allowing us to see some fruit in our people’s lives that shows that we’re on the right track: )

Feeling Proud (in a good way),

Jim and MJ

Staying Focused Isn't Always Easy

We’ve been in full-time ministry for a little over 18 years now and have served as associate pastors, youth pastors, in supportive ministry and now as lead pastors and missionaries. So, over the years, we’ve done a lot of good things but we’ve also made a lot of mistakes along the way as well. 

One of the biggest struggles has always been staying focused. For some reason staying focused on what God’s called us to do has always been a serious challenge. There’s always a temptation to lose sight of our call- even with supposedly good things. Here, let me explain:

When we founded Hope and Life Brazil we had a clear vision of what we felt like God wanted us to do- "Reach the people of Brazil with the Gospel." And particularly the children and teenagers of Brazil. And, as it goes with any vision/mission/purpose statement, sometimes it’s easy to become distracted and even get off track when ministry actually begins. 

On paper mission statements always look good. But once ‘real life' kicks-in it’s easy to lose focus and get away from what you initially set out to accomplish. And that’s especially the case when you see so many things that need to be addressed. Whether it's something morally, educationally, economically, physically or most important of all-  spiritually. We can’t meet every need or be the catalyst for change in every circumstance (even though we’d like to). 

I think that sometimes, as christians who want to truly follow Jesus, we have a tendency to try and do too much by trying to meet too many needs. Not that ministering to people and meeting needs is a bad thing by any means. No, it’s actually quite the opposite. We do need to minister to people and we do need to meet needs. But first we need to determine which needs are the ones that God is specifically calling us as individuals (or as a church/ministry) to meet. And then once we know where God wants us to focus our attention (from a ministry standpoint) we need to run 100mph in that direction fulfilling what God’s called us to do. 

One thing I’ve noticed in almost 2 decades of ministry now- "if the enemy can’t get you to do nothing, he’ll try to get you to do everything.” I know that sounds weird at first but think about it… "If he can’t get you to do nothing (i.e., just sitting around twiddling your thumbs while people all around you are in need and some are even dying and going to Hell without Jesus), he’ll try to get you to do everything- which eventually leads to burnout."

We’ve had to learn that lesson the hard way. But over the last couple of years we’ve really endeavoured to try and stay on course. When we first moved to Brazil, as rookie missionaries, back in 2011’ it was really hard to do that too. There are so many needs here that it can be overwhelming.  And trying to stay focused has been difficult at times because there’s always something or someone who has a need that needs to be met. 

So, to avoid getting off course, one of the things we've tried to do is run everything we do through two filters before we even consider doing them (concerning ministry). Because if you don’t have filters in place it’s easy to become distracted and get off course. 

The first filter is the same for anyone who is a follower of Jesus (or at least it should be):

Filter #1 (And the most important filter)

Does it allow us to proclaim the Gospel?

Some of the kids at one of the outreaches we did last month 

There’s a quote that's usually attributed to St Francis of Assisi. You’ve probably heard it before. It’s, “Preach the Gospel at all times and if necessary use words.” While I understand what he was trying to say it still doesn't change the fact that he was 100% wrong! You can’t preach the Gospel without words. It’s impossible. Read Romans 10:13-15. It says,

“For everyone who calls on the name of The Lord will be saved. How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him in whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” 

You see- Buddhists, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Hindus, Muslims, Scientologists- you name it… they can all feed the hungry, help the poor, drill a well, etc. but they don’t proclaim the Gospel. They don’t have the Spirit of the living God dwelling within them that brings real life- the life that’s only attained through the hearing of and the responding to the Gospel. That’s what separates us from every other religion in the world.

The proclamation of the Gospel has always got to be the end goal. It’s got to be, period. So, for us, if there’s not going to be an opportunity to proclaim the Gospel we have to pass. That may sound strange but it’s just what we feel like we have to do. 

To just swoop in somewhere and give someone food without also offering them ‘the Bread of Life’ wouldn't be right. To only give someone a bottle of water without telling them about ‘the Living Water’ that’ll quench their real thirst would only be offering them the temporary and not the eternal- and that’s just not right. 

I can remember, several years ago, organising an outreach in a local park for our church during the Summer. It was super-hot that year. So we decided to go and hand out bottled water to the people in the park for free. We had a special label on the bottle that had our church name and logo on it. I think that it may have had a scripture on it but I don’t think so… I can’t remember. But, in retrospect, the one thing that I do remember is that there was no intentionality in sharing the Gospel that day. There was intentionality in promoting our church in the community that day but not Jesus. It’s like we did a good thing but we neglected the best thing.

If you look throughout the Gospels you’ll see Jesus doing a lot of good things for people but it was always in conjunction with the proclamation of the Gospel. He was always teaching and pointing people toward God and the good deeds (i.e., the healing, the deliverances, the provision of food, etc.) were just an extension of His proclamation of the good news of Kingdom of God.

But it’s difficult sometimes. When there are so many needs out there you have to make the decision beforehand or it’ll be easy to get off course. We even did a few ‘good things’ early-on here in Brazil, that, although were great things, they weren’t Gospel-centered. They didn’t allow for the proclamation of the life-changing Gospel that people so desperately need to hear.

Filter #2

Does it fall in line with our mission/purpose statement?

The kids we're trying to reach in Villa Zumbi live in conditions that break your heart

The next filter that we run things through is “does it line up with our mission/purpose statement.” That may sound elementary but it’s harder than you think. For us it’s reaching the children and teenagers of Brazil with the Gospel. Although we haven't been perfect at staying on course we’ve actually remained pretty steady.

And that’s only because we’re constantly looking through the lens of our mission/purpose statement and asking ourself the question, “are we reaching people (children and teenagers in particular) with the Gospel” by ____________ ?” If we’re able to further the Gospel by fulfilling a particular need or if ministering in a certain way furthers our mission/purpose (reaching the children/teenagers here with the Gospel) then we do it . If it doesn’t then we don’t. It’s pretty simple. 

And we’re constantly critiquing ourself and our ministry to make sure we’re doing what God has called us to do. How about you? If you took a hard look at all the activity in your life and in your ministry, how precise are you in your mission? Are you proclaiming the Gospel (which is the mandate given by Jesus to every follower of His) and are you staying within the parameters of what your mission from God (i.e., your purpose) actually is? If not, the time is short. So get back on course: )

Trying to Stay On Course,

Jim and MJ

“If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross (i.e., his assignment from God), and follow Me.” 

                                            Jesus- in Matthew 16:24

Running on Fumes

I’m gonna be straight with you. In September it’ll be 4 years since we’ve moved here to Brazil. And as difficult as it was back then- it’s just as difficult now. And we’re so tired. Seriously tired. And it’s not just a ‘physical tiredness’ that I’m talking about (yes, we’re physically exhausted too). It’s a ‘soul tiredness.’ 

It’s hard to explain unless you experience it firsthand. Everything fights against you here. The elements, the insects, the reptiles, the spiritual battles taking place (we can’t see them but we definitely feel them), the cultural differences, the lack of common conveniences that make life more doable (like something as simple as being able to flush toilet paper and not having to go burn it). Everything takes 3 more steps to do than normal (like having to heat water in a kettle to wash dishes with- and the water is oftentimes brown, yum!). 

And then there’s the loneliness. That’s probably what's taking the biggest toll on us right now.  Being way out in the middle of nowhere by ourselves is hard. Thank God we actually like each other, lol! Seriously. But not having a constant community of friends around (more than just on Sunday and anytime we’re doing an outreach) is difficult. The one thing  that this whole experience has taught me is that “we weren't created to follow Jesus alone. We were created to follow Jesus in community with other believers.” As big or as small that community may be- we’re not made to walk alone. We need each other: )

Anyway, back to the main reason for this blog… as difficult as things are here- what we were able to do last Friday is really what keeps us going. It’s like, just when we’re feeling so discouraged that we don’t know if we’ll be able to continue, it happens. We’re able to minister to some of the amazing children here in Brazil and it gives us more 'fuel in the tank' so that we can keep going. 

To be able to look into the eyes of the children that are living in such extreme poverty in a village littered with crime, drugs and dispair- and to be able to share the Gospel with them and let them know that despite where they are that Jesus loves them, died for them and that He wants them for His own… man, that’s what lets us know that we’re not just living where we’re living in vain. 

These are just some of the children that we were able to minister to last Friday

Last Friday we were able to minister to approximately 200 children ages 2-8 in a school in Villa Zumbi. Villa Zumbi is one of the poorest villas in this region of Brazil and has a population of around 10,000 people- over 4,000 of which are children. 

The first group of kids being led in

Kids getting excited about what's about to take place

Matthew doing some up-front games with the kids while the music is pumping
and the rest of the children are making their way into the ministry area

We ministered to the kids in groups of 50-70 at a time. And what we did (and it’s typical of what we do when we go to schools, orphanages, shelters, etc.) was we had several group games to get everyone comfortable and interacting. 

4-way tug-of-war is always a great game no matter what age group we're ministering to

Beach Ball Relay is about to begin 

It's a race against the clock to see which team can get all the balls off the parachute

This was one of the best games of the day- the kids loved it!

Maryssa and her team waiting for their turn at the parachute: )

Then at the end of the group's session we gave a simple Gospel message. On Friday we talked about how "if any man be in Christ that he was a new creation. Old things were passed away and all things were new (2 Cor. 5:17)." And we explained how an actual metamorphosis takes place when someone gives their lives to Jesus (just like a caterpillar-butterfly & tadpole-frog). 

Kids listening intently as we presented the Gospel

Mozart and Jim- The Dynamic Duo... making it happen: )

Mozart, Jim, Maryssa and Kevin doing the "New Creation"presentation 

Matthew also getting in on the action

And then we gave everyone candy from the US (Dum-Dums) and a little plastic butterfly to remind them of the day's lesson. Simple but memorable. And we'll do the same thing (just a different Gospel-centered-message) the next time, and the next time and the next. Building on what was taught previously. We feel like seeing the same kids over and over is the best way to minister to them (rather than just seeing them once and then moving-on to a different orphanage or school).

Jim handing out candy at the end of one of the sessions

So, thank you to all of our supporters back home in the US. Because of you we’re able to take the Gospel to places where even though the darkness is present- we’re seeing it expelled as we bring in the light.

Matthew and his first group of the day: )

MJ was the photographer of the day so she didn't make it into many shots-
but you still couldn't keep her from loving on these amazing children.

           

                    We Love You Guys!

                 Jim, MJ and the Whole Dunn Gang

PS- You can see the entire photo album of the day on our Facebook page by clicking HERE.

Here’s Your Sign

No this isn’t the punchline to one of Bill Engvall’s famous “here're your sign” jokes, although those are pretty funny. 

No- this is about God giving me a literal sign the other morning.

There I was sitting at the kitchen table trying to process a situation that we were dealing with. There’s this guy here in Brazil who really took advantage of us a couple years ago. He blatantly lied to us and did some things to us that were really jacked-up. This supposed ‘brother-in-Christ’ took advantage of us and the camp, what he did was just wrong. And the way he did it really hurt us in the process. 

And, because of what he did, we had to wrestle with bitterness for a while (fighting against it) because of his actions. I don’t want to get any more specific than that because I don’t want to ‘out' anyone. But we processed through it and moved on. 

Anyway, he recently contacted me via email asking for my help in a particular situation. My first reaction was "forget it buddy!” Why should I help someone who lied, cheated and did the things to our family that he did? But then The Holy Spirit reminded me that I’m a follower of Jesus and I needed to take the high road and help the best I could. 

So I answered him back and helped him the best way I could. I didn’t even make any snide/witty/sarcastic remarks in my response to him either (although I wanted to). See, after all these years I'm finally starting to learn: )

Then, a few days later, he sent me another message wanting me to go even further with my help to him. Again, my initial response (in my mind) was “this guy can forget it! Is he smoking crack or something!?" Not very christian-like, I know. But I'm just trying to be honest with you. That was my initial response (in my mind) anyway. And I hate that that junk is in me. I really do. And even though it only lasted a few seconds, the fact that it's still an initial response frustrates me. But anyway...

So, there I was, trying to figure out what to do? Do I continue to help this guy? Do I make him sweat a while before I respond? Do I totally ignore him? Do I only partially help him since he treated us so badly? What was I going to do? 

That’s when it happened… MJ was cleaning out from under our bed and found some decorations hidden-away that we had shipped here from the States. One of things she found was a sign. She had no idea that I was wresting with this particular situation either. But she walked out into the kitchen holding this sign and said, “do you think I should hang this up somewhere?” It was all I could do to not bust out laughing. Here’s the actual sign I’m talking about.

Does God have a sense of humour or what? lol! It’s not like He just brought that scripture to my memory (which is what usually happens when He instructs/rebukes/ chastises me), no. He had my wife carry a literal sign out to the kitchen and made me read it! Is that awesome or what? haha!

But, even though I thought it was comical, it was still an instruction to me for this situation. Man, don’t you hate it when that happens?! So that’s what I’m gonna do- act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with my God. Because it’s what He requires of me.

But the reason I’m writing this today isn’t just for me, no. I really believe that there’s someone else who'll read this that’s dealing with something similar and your wondering what to do. Well, here’s your sign…

Love Ya,

Jim

A Wake-Up Call For Leaders?

It’s very difficult trying to stay-up with current events from our house here in the jungle. We don’t have network television or cable. And our internet is so slow that trying to open a news website to stay up with current events is impossible. So usually we’ll see people talking about something (news-wise) on Facebook and if it sounds important we’ll investigate it for ourselves (when we can get to town and go online where there’s actually some bandwidth available).

So what I’m about to say has probably been talked about, analysed and already re-hashed 14 different ways by now (by all of my friends back in the States). But, for me, it’s fresh and new so bear with me even if you’ve already moved past this.

What I want to talk about is what happened with Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church. And no, I’m not writing this blog to bash Mark Driscoll or criticise him in any way. I just think that when something of this magnitude happens we need to look at the situation and check within ourselves to see if there are any of the same warning signs of it possibly happening to us too. When something like this happens surely there’s something that all of us can learn from it.

Last year at this time Mars Hill was one of the largest/fastest growing/most influential  churches in the world. After a small start in an apartment in 1996, by 2013’ Mars Hill had grown to 15 locations averaging over 12,000 in attendance each week. Mark Driscoll’s podcast on i-tunes was one of the most popular with over 260,000 sermon views per week. That’s over 13,000,000 views per year! Think about that… his sermons were being listened to by hundreds of thousands of people each week all over the world! That’s crazy. What an amazing platform to spread the Gospel and to strengthen the Church (and that’s big ‘C' church- not little ‘c’ church). 

Besides being the lead pastor at Mars Hill Mark Driscoll was also a successful author and one of the most sought after conference speakers too. Actually, Me and MJ saw him speak in South Carolina at a leadership conference a few months before we moved here to Brazil back in 2011’. What he said was very impactful and the Lord spoke to both of us through his message that day.

Mark Driscoll was also the leader of The Resurgence Leadership Network and in Seattle in 2013’ Mars Hill hosted (either in person or on-line) over 20,000 leaders from 177 countries at their R13 Conference. Mars Hill had also recently begun a Pastoral Internship Program where people from all over the world could come, be trained and then be sent out to plant/pastor churches- and all for the sake of the Gospel. So, long-story-short… Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill were "killin' it" last year at this time.

But this year Mars Hill and Mark Driscoll- including all their campuses, all their podcasts, all the conferences, all the books sales, everything- are gone. Poof! Just like that. Nowhere to be seen. How can that even be possible? It’s almost unfathomable when you think about what a major player Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill were on the ‘christian landscape’ less than 12 months ago.**

So, I guess the most pressing question (to me, anyway) is how did this happen and how can we as pastors, leaders and fellow believers in Jesus ensure that it doesn't happen to our churches? Because I don’t think this was just a fluke. I think it’s something that could easily happen to any of us (maybe not on the same scale- but it could still happen nonetheless). Because no matter what anyone says, Mark Driscoll isn’t a bad guy, a false prophet who got what was coming to him or any of the myriad of other things that people say about him- he’s a fellow brother in Christ who made some bad decisions and over a period of time when the bad decisions weren't dealt with and changed the unthinkable happened. 

You see there was nothing immoral that happened that caused Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill to disappear. No sex scandals took place. There were no accusations of money being used inappropriately buying mansions, new Gulfstream Jets or Rolls Royce's, no. None of these things happened. There were however accusations of plagiarism along with him buying his way onto the New York Times Best Sellers List with his newest book “Real Marriage.” But neither of those things are what caused Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill to collapse. 

What I can tell (from listening/reading comments from Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill church members and from different staff members/elders from Mars Hill Church) there were some things that happened that, if they would've dealt with them in a Godly-biblical way early on, all of this could've been avoided.

For those of us who are leaders of churches and ministries, it would be wise to learn from other people’s mistakes. Especially when the mistakes are made by people who genuinely love Jesus and want to make the Gospel known to the ends of the earth just like us. None of us will probably ever build ministries as big as what Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill did but no matter the size of our churches and ministries- I think that all these things still apply and we’d be wise to try and ensure that history doesn't repeat itself.

Before I give you my list of observations I just want to say that whether we agree or disagree with Mark Driscoll and what he did is irrelevant. My sole purpose for writing this is just an attempt to glean something that could possibly help us be better pastors, better ministry leaders and better followers of Jesus. My heart breaks for Mark Driscoll, his family, the thousands of Mars Hill Church Members and the countless podcasters that have been effected by this. So here we go:

4 things I think we can learn from what’s happened to Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill:

4) Being cool and edgy with what we say isn't always a good thing. I’m by no means a prude when it comes to this subject. Those of you who know me can vouch for this. And those of us who speak publicly for a living have all said things we’ve regretted, right? I could give you a list a mile long of stupid things I’ve said from the pulpit that, in retrospect, I wish I could take back. But doing/saying things just for the sake of getting a laugh, being hip or cool (aka- being relevant) isn’t always good. To intentionally try to talk like the world just for the sake of “being relevant” isn’t wise and it isn’t necessary. And saying things (especially using profanity) for shock value isn't ever a good thing. No matter how many laughs we get or how ‘down-to-earth and real’ it makes us sound- our speech needs to be pure. In the pulpit and out. 

3) Surrounding yourself with ‘yes men’ isn’t wise. Although it didn’t start out that way it looks like that’s the way it ended up at Mars Hill. Everyone who didn’t cower down to what Mark Driscoll wanted was selectively weeded-out. 

So, if we looked at our teams right now and all we could see was people who told us we’re right all the time, that all our ideas are awesome and that basically worship at our feet (figuratively, of course)- and all out of fear, there’s a problem. Because no matter how creative we are, no matter how many great ideas we have, no matter how successful we get to be- we as leaders aren't always gonna be right about everything and we won’t always know what’s best for every situation. We need each other. Others (aka- our staff) aren't around us to just feed our egos and do all the grunt work for us. 

If we surround ourselves with a bunch of people who are afraid to disagree with one of our ‘awesome ideas’ and who agree with all our decisions we’re just asking for trouble. Because if everyone’s just going to agree with everything I say and see things exactly the way I see them, then one of us is unnecessary. Everyone on the team brings something to the table of value, everyone can offer a different perspective- it’s not just about me. 

We don’t need to surround ourselves with people that agree with us about everything and that are only there to tell us how great we are all the time- it’s not healthy. And, most importantly, the people around us (the ones closest to us) always need to have the freedom to rebuke us if we really need it. It shouldn't matter if I’m the boss or what my title is. 

No matter how famous, important or powerful (supposedly) that we become we always need to be in submission to each other.  A perfect example can be seen in Galatians 2:11-14 when Paul publicly rebukes Peter. Peter was an original disciple and a Christ appointed Apostle who had been following Jesus longer than Paul, but be that as it may, Paul still checked him when he (Peter) was wrong. We can also see that Peter (an original disciple/Apostle) was in submission as a fellow-worker with others who hadn't walked with Jesus as long as him in Acts 8:14, 11:1-16 and 15:7-21. Bottom line- no matter who we are, “we ain't all that!”

2) Thinking 'your poop doesn’t stink.’ Even though it’s just a matter of speech, you know exactly what I’m talking about. This kind of goes hand-in-hand with number 3. If we ever get to the point where we’re never wrong about anything and that everyone else has the problem… "I mean, look at all my success, right?… of course I’m right and you're wrong otherwise we wouldn't be this successful. Plus I’m the one God put in charge.”… If that kind of thinking ever creeps in and we start believing the hype- we’ve got to drag it (that kind of thinking) out into the street and kill it! We’re all fallible, we all make mistakes, we all have issues that need to be put under the blood daily. If we’re never wrong (in our own minds) and repentance isn’t a part of our daily lives then there’s a good chance this applies to us. (I Jn 1:5-2:2)

And from what I can tell, success (the way we usually measure it) can NEVER be the only indicator that what we’re doing is right. Because our success isn’t necessarily God’s stamp of approval and success isn't always Him saying that what we’re doing is OK. We’ve got to press-in to Him daily- making sure our hearts are pure. 

1) Building a ministry around a single personality or person is very dangerous. This is probably the thing that’s stuck out to me the most through this whole thing.

In a culture that idolises personalities, whether it’s someone on TV or on the Silver Screen, someone who can sing or play an instrument or an athlete who can run, throw or shoot… we’re all drawn to people who have abilities greater or different than ours. 

So for this same mentality to creep into the church and for superstar-christians to be made?… Well, it's to be expected. But how do we fight against that? Because if we allow our churches to be built around ‘us' (the pastor/leader) and we allow ourselves to be the central characters (and, in essence- idolised) then we’re really doing a disservice to our people. 

What if something happens to us (the pastor/leader)? What’s gonna happen when we’re gone? Because whether it’s through death, retirement or Heaven forbid- a fall from grace, we’re not going to be in our positions forever, right? So to build a ministry that revolves solely on my voice, my personality and my abilities is really selfish if you think about it. Because if what we’re building relies solely on me to survive then it’s probably going to negatively effect everyone when I'm gone. 

The only way to avoid this is to plan and be hyper-intentional and fight against it (how this is carried out will look different for everyone). I mean, go look on-line and read some of the things written by Mars Hill Church Members, Staff and Elders and see how devastated, hurt and broken they are. It’s heartbreaking. It (our churches and ministries) can NEVER be about us. As much as we say, “it's about Jesus” we’ve got to prove it by fighting against our ministries revolving around us as the central personality. Because no matter how successful we look today- tomorrow we could be gone. And, if that’s the case, what would we leave behind? Just something to responsibly and prayerfully think about.

Trying Not to Mess-up While Passionately Following Jesus,

Jim

** On January 1, 2015’ the Mars Hill Church Network officially disbanded. But in an effort to keep things going, 11of the the Mars Hill Churches became independent churches while the remaining sites closed their doors. While nothing can be found on i-tunes, a lot of Mark Driscolls sermons were moved to markdriscoll.org .