How many, how many, how many . . . drawing numbers into church worship services is a big ticket these days. The church growth picture includes all kinds of facets. And here’s another: Coaching to help unbelievers successfully participate in church worship services. This from the Chicago Tribune in an article titled, The Faker: A heavenly deception.

The writer likens pastors to restaurant maitre d’s and bartenders: They see a lot going on under the metaphorical table but they remain as quiet as a church mouse—at least in public. He says pastors give a free pass to Fakers in the local church. Fakers attend not because they want to, but because they have to out of necessity or politeness or who knows why. Fakers can sit in the local church without even a small challenge from the church's shepherds to get serious about doing business with God. That’s quite an indictment against today’s church leaders, isn’t it?

The Faker says several moves will successfully pull off the deception:

• Dress not to impress but to blend in. (This is dubious wisdom, because the writer urges women to guard their hem lines and says men should wear a dark business suits or navy blazers and khaki pants. Really. Not many churches these days have such a code of attire. Blending in actually might require simply falling out of bed and showing up at church.)
• Be prepared to wear headgear if needed. Ladies should bring a scarf just in case. Just don’t wear a baseball cap. (I don’t know about this. Can’t recall when I last saw a woman in church wearing a headscarf, or a baseball cap. But a baseball cap on a man seems stylish in some churches.)
• Always take a program. Scan it to get an idea of the agenda and what’s expected of you. Locate hymnals or prayer books you may need. (Yes, this is good Fakery advice.)
• Bribe the kids. Offer food or money to get the kiddos to sit still and not reveal that you are Fakers. (Ah yes, very good. Teach your children well.)
• Get close to the action, but not too close. Don’t sit at the back. Move toward the front so you look more like a regular attender. But don’t go too far to the front because you need to watch others and follow what they do. (The Faker erroneously assumes people who sit at the back have something to hide.)
• Sit, stand, kneel when everyone else does. If hitting your knees offends you, then cheat. Slide your rear end to the end of the pew, lean your knees toward the floor and then lean your forearms against the pew in front of you. (This is nothing new. I learned this trick as a boy. I just watched the men of the church and got the hang of it pretty quickly.)
• Accept new things that are done with respect and, usually, in silence. If something is restricted to members of that specific denomination, don’t take part unless you’re eligible to do so. (Must be talking about communion here, but I don't get why the Faker would be sensitive to this. A devoted Faker should consistently demonstrate the sincerity of his fakery, and should have no angst about ethics.)
• Stay to the very end. Then, slip out the side door. If you must stop, resist saying that you’ll be back next week unless you mean it. (Again, I don’t know why a Faker should be sensitive to this. After all, a Faker’s a Faker, and all is fair game for the Faker's shtick.)

A lot of The Faker's advice is neatly cunning. But it doesn’t work well in churches that have a plurality of good shepherds who know the flock, reach out in meaningful ways to newcomers and lead well from the pulpit and the platform. Still, it's disturbing that Fakers can so easily sit comfortably in many local churches.

I planted a tree in my yard that looks something like this drawing of a sapling.

It reminds me of the public presentation of a new church. It shoots out strong and looks pretty good, like it's been around for awhile. It's already sprouted some green leaves, but they're not yet fully extended. The sapling looks good, but it also seems fragile. A bad storm might knock it down. An ugly bug attack could kill it from the inside. But there it stands, in the ground, supported, protected and nurtured by the caretaker. It's started to grow strong and tall.

It might grow slowly, like an oak, or quickly, like a maple. Doesn't matter. Either way, it's still doing what's it's supposed to do in the ground in which it's planted and in accordance with the way the Lord has designed it. I really like that.

Church planting is risky work. The plant is vulnerable to any number of attacks. As somebody said: What if your church plant fails?

Here's a good answer: What better thing is there to fail at? We need to be like King David when he wanted to build the temple. The Lord didn't let him build it, but He commended David for his heart for the Lord's glory. (1 Kings 8:18).

High risk is the nature of things that are worthwhile and make a difference in the Lord's kingdom. We won't despise the day of small things (Zechariah 4:10), and we won't be swayed by discouragement, fear, frustrations or opposition (Ezra 4:4-6).

Fellowship Life Bible Church has had a good start and already is showing good strength. Click here for a more specific update.

Here’s a case that came my way recently:

Benjamin serves in his church as a Sunday School teacher of middle school children. He is popular with the children and with the youth pastor. Benjamin has been at the church for several years, he’s been baptized at the church and is a member. He recently confided to the church leadership that he is a homosexual. Benjamin is aware of the biblical teaching on sexual activity and says he wants to live a holy life. He is committed to celibacy but is certain that he cannot change his sexual orientation. He asked the leadership for prayer and support as he pursues what he says is God’s call for him to be monastic. Meanwhile, George, a prominent elder in the church, says that he plans to leave the church unless Benjamin is removed from his teaching role. The situation has become known throughout the church. What are the church’s elders and other leaders to do?

I was surprised that almost all of the comments from the leaders were geared toward defending Benjamin, how to help Benjamin so he can continue in his role as a teacher and what should be done to rebuke elder George for his ultimatum.

Here’s a representation of the comments:

• What constitutes sin? Is desire a sin or is only acting on desire sinful?

• It’s obvious that elder George told the church about Benjamin’s situation. The elders need to rebuke George for gossiping about this.

• The church is a family, and not all family members are the same. We need to be tolerant and patient with one another.

• A substantial percentage of homosexuals cannot change, and we shouldn’t punish them for not being able to change.

• Why pick on homosexuality? I used to serve as a pastor at a church where quite a few board members had big problems . . . there were adulteries and divorces and re-marriages . . . all in the same church . . . and some of these people were on the board!

• Why should being gay be an issue? You don’t see people talking to others and saying, ‘By the way, I’m heterosexual.’

All of that makes powerful fodder for discussion. But begging for the asking are several questions that lead to important principles in church leadership:

• What are the most important concerns in the case? Is Benjamin's teaching role primary? Is George's role as an elder primary? No. The most important concern is the health and protection of the church. Whatever honors the Lord is best for the church. Even righteous, God-honoring decisions can lead to difficult consequences. The preferences and position of any individual are subservient to the health and protection of the church.

• If teaching is a role of esteem and influence in the church—and it is—then do we want Benjamin to teach the boys and girls in our church? I was surprised that no one stood on the conviction that an openly homosexual person—celibate or not—should not have a teaching role in the church. This springs not from a desire to persecute homosexuals, but from the conviction that homosexuality is a grave offense against the Lord’s natural order and is sinful according to the Scriptures. Benjamin should be cared for in the church and valued as one made in God's image, but giving Benjamin teaching opportunities is a different matter entirely.

• Is it right to single out homosexual desire for special rebuke? No, of course not. But people shouldn't be expected to respond normally to someone who confidently and publicly announces temptation toward sexual sin, such as, I desire to have sex with all of the blonde women in the church. I’m not acting on my desire because I want to be holy. Now, let me teach your children in Sunday School. Even the least discerning follower of Christ will suspect that that person has some serious problems, and that those problems aren't only about sexual desire. Yet, somehow, in this case, the church leaders gave Benjamin a free pass while they hammered George.

• Is leading in the local church a right for everyone who wants it or is it a privilege for those who are not perfect, but are qualified according to biblical standards? It’s strange that the leaders’ comments in this case were totally dominated by sensitive thoughts toward preserving Benjamin and by angry thoughts toward rebuking George. But why rebuke George? For the ultimatum he delivered? Sure, that’s a rebuke that seems warranted. We don’t know how the congregation became aware of Benjamin's situation, so George cannot be blamed for spreading the information through the church. But should George be rebuked for his energy to remove Benjamin from his teaching role? I don’t think so. Why? Because his conviction that Benjamin should not teach is easily defensible. George may have responded harshly out of anger, or maybe he’s just mean and small. Or maybe he’s afraid that the elders and other leaders will not do what’s required.

Among all the leaders who discussed this case, about 99 percent of their energy was directed against elder George and was protective toward teacher Benjamin. It struck me that many church leaders seem indoctrinated to tolerance and geared solely toward compassion so that they have no sharp edge of protection for the local church. Are they afraid of being accused of being small or harsh or narrow or phobic? Or are they so lacking in discernment that they don’t even know how far they’ve strayed from balanced strength? They may want to protect the church and many think they’re doing well by being tolerant and broad-minded. But church leadership ultimately is a privilege, and there are some sinful behaviors—and self-assured, public announcements of sinful temptations—that simply cannot be tolerated by those charged with protecting the church. In this case, the leaders’ sharp edge was turned to protect Benjamin and attack George, with no consideration of the church as a whole and the church's children in particular. The considerations needed to cut a path that was broader and deeper. That’s why good eldering is so difficult. Apart from abiding in Christ, who is adequate for these things?

I finally get it. I get why some people think that using the song Highway to Hell in a worship service is OK. I also finally get why some men lie and manipulate to get things done in the churches they lead.

They’re Ethical Consequentialists. Their decisions are rooted in the ends that they’re seeking. So, the ends justify the means. In their minds, using a blasphemous, God-hating song such as Highway to Hell in a Christian worship service is OK if they can convince themselves that the song had a role in bringing some people to salvation in Christ. Someone might try to cite Isaiah’s nakedness in Isaiah 20 or Paul quoting Greek poets in Acts 17 as defenses for using Highway to Hell in worship but, really, is any thoughtful person falling for such a glib and careless abuse of the Scriptures? Using songs like that is more likely tied to a junior high school tweeny sin mentality that gets its jollies by embracing the outrageous and watching other church people get mad.

But, before I go too far on the Highway to Hell theme, haven’t we seen ethical consequentialists at work in other areas of church world?

It’s in the pastor who turned his relationships because of the fear of man. Like the one who said, If that church doesn’t like what I’m doing, they might put a video church close to my church. That would really hurt my church. OK, I get it. You’re afraid of man. To protect your small church, you do nothing to bug the big and powerful church. The end (protect your small church) justifies the means (getting yourself in line because of a sinful, pathetic fear of man).

It’s in the pastor who said: Of course, I know that I’m lying to our people when I tell them that. But you can’t tell them the truth about this. Wow. What causes you so much fear that you lie to the Lord's church? In this case, the good end was keeping the congregation in line so they would continue giving generously. The bad means was lying to get there. Living like that is like living in a carnival funhouse, where mirrors are distorted and you can’t tell the real look and the true shape of things. Church life then becomes a fearful, bizarre and lasting distortion . . . and a grief to our Lord.

That’s completely different from standing on the conviction that the precepts of the Scriptures are rooted in the Lord’s character. Biblical precepts are not rooted in so-called good results. Consequences should not be the root driver of decision-making. Of course, Scriptures teach the importance of wisdom and spiritual intelligence. But, we know that the Lord doles out consequences as He sees fit. The Scriptures are filled with men and women of conviction who acted on principle rather than on pragmatics. It’s in the one who swears to his own hurt in Psalm 15:2-4. The Christ-like person does what he says he will do, even if the fruit of the decision is bitter, even if acting on his principles hurts him. It’s in Daniel 3’s three teenagers—Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego—when they thumbed their collective noses at a king who ordered them to worship his idol. Golly goobers, a fiery furnace is a bad end. Just a little kneeling won’t hurt. The Lord will bless my shrewdness after I do this little act of idol worship. I'm smart to avoid the furnace. Think how pleased He’ll be.

Count on it, there is real fruit in living as an ethical consequentialist in leading the Lord's church. Absolutely certain and no doubt. You compromise your Integrity, Authenticity, Trust, Leadership and Service. And that has eternal consequences. But you did not learn Christ that way. Ephesians 4:20-30.

Planting a church that pops up strong ordinarily takes some time . . . maybe about nine months from seed stage to the day it goes public. It usually takes time to build the seed of a solid core group and get everybody ready for ministry. Why? Because the work needs to draw gifted servants and develop strong roots of relationships, leadership, service, doctrine and organization. Those roots help hold the plant in place when hard days come.

On launch day, of course you want people who visit the new church to connect with the Lord. You also want them to say, Wow, these people really know what they’re doing. This looks like a church that’s about two or three years old. That means all things are in order and done well, from the location to signage to genuine friendliness to worship to preaching to child care. Yes, better emphasize child care. It doesn’t matter how good everything else is, if parents worry that their babies and older children aren’t cared for properly, they won’t be coming back.

Ty Gooch and the core group of Fellowship Life Bible Church understand and embrace all of that. Except there’s one major difference. We’re expecting the church to launch strong on Sunday, November 6. That’s a little more than three months from the date diligent work began on the seed of the new church. About 20 families, including a slew of kids, are committed to the work. And we expect more.

I figure there’s several reasons for that. It’s true that a planting pastor who parachutes in to a new location has a tough row to hoe. Much also depends on the ground where you're throwing the seed. If there's a few healthy churches in the area, it's probably going to be tougher to grow the church. There's maybe one other church in Gilberts, Illinois, where we're planting Fellowship Life, but there are others a few miles away. It's also true that a lot of people from the area already know Ty Gooch, which makes things easier. But that’s far from enough. In the case of Fellowship Life, the Lord is putting together a core of praying people who are gifted, smart, mature and passionate about Christ and his church. They also know how to make connections between vision and action. And whatever they don’t know, they’re teachable to learn what’s needed and then act upon it. That’s miracle grow stuff for the seed of the church.

Oh, one more thing, it’s affirming and encouraging to see the hand of the Lord’s approval on the work of the new church. We've seen that through unexpected and unusual gifts and blessings. At Fellowship Life Bible Church, that looks like a nearly-new grand piano, a trailer to carry equipment, an excellent building in a good location at a nice price and generous cash contributions from people who aren’t even committed to attending the church.

So, the church is slated to launch on Sunday, November 6, at Gilberts Elementary School at 729 Paperbark Lane in Gilberts, Illinois. There’s a lot more to do. We're looking confidently toward the public presentation of the new church.

Click here to check out Fellowship Life Bible Church's new website.

Well, how about that. Sometimes our Lord surprises with quick hits on things that we’ve been waiting on for some time. That’s what happened with Ty Gooch.

It’s really exciting to welcome Ty Gooch as a church planter in the FiveStone Churches network. Ty and I have known each other for several years and, when I heard last winter that he was considering planting a church, I had to talk with him.

But he wasn’t ready to plant a church. He still was considering his future steps in ministry. He was on staff as an associate pastor at Park Community Church in Chicago and knew he was heading elsewhere in ministry. He just wasn’t sure of his next steps. So, of course, I waited for him to figure out that he should plant a church. 

But 2011 began and the spring came, and still no word from Ty about what the Lord wanted him to do . . . plant a church, take a senior pastor role at an existing church or something else in ministry. The months of spring passed and summer came, and I was frustrated and disappointed. This was just moving too slowly. I knew Ty would be an outstanding church planter. All he needed was the conviction of heart to act. But he wasn’t ready.

Then finally, in July, Ty called me out of nowhere and said: I just wanted to let you know that I am all in for planting a church. 

Ty said he was dropping his candidacy for the senior pastor role at a couple of large churches and was convinced the Lord wanted him to plant a church. I’ve been processing and praying a lot with men I hold in high regard and who hold me accountable for who I need to be in Christ. And my wife and I have been praying and talking a lot. And we are ready.

And he said the word ready like a man who has set his face to a mission. It was terrific.

Now that's a man who the Lord can use to plant a life-giving church. He’s already got the gift mix of preaching and leadership and the character of an excellent elder. Now he had the conviction of heart to persevere in the difficulties and challenges that always come with the planting of a new church.

Since that call, we’ve been working with several others on the church's identity, governance, organization, constitution, legalities, meeting location. And the seed of the core group is growing. The people of the core already are germinating--I call it growing roots and shoots--just like they should. We expect Fellowship Life Bible Church to launch in the area of Gilberts, Illinois. More to come on all of that.

For now, click here to check out a more formal news item. The linked article describes the new Fellowship Life Bible Church.

This article was submitted by David Jones, senior pastor of The Village Church of Barrington in Barrington, Illinois.

Let’s be honest. At some point in your ministry, you probably at least one time when did not prepare adequately for a speaking event. Perhaps it was a small group Bible study or you were addressing the women’s auxiliary committee. There you were, hastily writing notes in the car on the way to the event, praying for a stoplight. Then, upon arrival, someone asked you how you were doing, and you responded, Fine, knowing that FINE actually stands for:

• Freaked Out
• Insecure
• Nervous
• Emotional

Failing to plan can cause pain, especially when it comes to your preaching. Yet some preachers prefer to live that way, flying by the seat of their pants. They decide from series to series what they want to preach, or even worse—from message to message. I have even heard of one well-known pastor who decides what to preach as he walks up to the pulpit! While you can get away with that once or twice, if you do it over the long haul, it will erode at the quality of your messages. It takes great energy to generate content from week to week. Having a plan is much more efficient.

Some pastors simply want to be led by the Spirit. But that is a cop-out. You can be led by the Spirit a year in advance. Scripture says, The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty (Proverbs 21:5) and The prudent gives thought to his steps (Proverbs 14:15). As Paul said, But all things should be done decently and in order (1 Corinthians 14:40). It actually takes less work to plan out a year’s worth of preaching in advance.

Two Horizons

In order to plan a year’s worth of preaching, we must take into account the two horizons.  According to Acts 20, there are some things that God wants said (‘the whole counsel of God’; verse 27), and there are things that people need to hear (‘anything that was profitable’; verse 20). The former deals with the biblical text in its historical-cultural context; the latter deals with the practical needs of the people in your church.  These two horizons are not antithetical to one another. We will examine each of them in turn.

The first question we need to ask is: What does God want said? The answer: The whole counsel of God. Paul said, All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17). This means every book of Scripture, including Leviticus and the minor prophets—even the genealogies—is inspired and therefore profitable. We must resist the temptation to preach only our personal favorites.

If we are honest, we avoid certain books because they bore us (Obadiah) or we do not understand them (Revelation). We cannot imagine how they might apply to our people. But that is a sure sign we simply do not understand that book yet.

Make it a goal of your ministry to preach through the whole of the Scriptures. This does not mean that you will spend the same amount of time or energy on each book. But by the time you die, you should be able to look back and say that you gave your people the whole counsel of God.

After we have contemplated the biblical horizon of preaching, we need to ponder the second horizon: What do my people need to hear? Your people have practical needs—family relationships, finances, resolving conflict, the Gospel. You as the pastor stand between two worlds, with one foot in the ancient world and one in the modern. You serve as a bridge. So as you plan out your preaching calendar, think about what your people need. Make sure that you include some practical teaching. It is okay to have a topical series, so long as you preach expository messages within that series. Every once in a while, you can have a truly topical series (although I do not recommend a steady diet of topical preaching).

The Need for Variety

Another principle of a good preaching schedule: Mix it up. Mix Old Testament and New Testament. Preach from all of the genres. Alternate between expository and topical series. Alternate between doctrinal and practical. Use one-off sermons as buffers between series. Vary the length of your series. It is not desirable to follow up a year-long study on Romans with a year-long study on Galatians. Most series will be between three and eight sermons. In the case of longer books, subdivide them into smaller series. Make sure you do a few big God messages.

Practical Steps

I recommend the following steps for composing a preaching schedule:

1. Set aside some time in the summer to plan out the year ahead. Pray. You might want to fast as well. Proverbs 16:3: Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.
2. Plan out all your special days first (e.g. Christmas, Easter, maybe Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, State of the Church Address, annual stewardship message). Add in your vacations and guest speakers. The pastor of a new church plant likely will preach as many as 48 Sundays. For an established church, you will want to preach 40-45 times. You’ll want to have guest speakers for the remaining Sundays—even if you are at the church that weekend.
3. A theme for the year is not necessary, but sometimes it fits. But don’t force it.
4. When you have completed a rough draft of your preaching calendar, submit it to your elders for review. Be open to their feedback. Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed. Proverbs 15:22.
5. Flex. Something might happen in your life or your church or the society at large that needs to be addressed. If so, you can set aside your plan for a week or two and address that issue. Your preaching calendar is not like the laws of the Medes and the Persians. It can be changed. Let your calendar guide you, but not enslave you.

Laid a foundation in this week’s shepherding and sharpening work with the elders of Harvest Community Church in Wisconsin.

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Conviction: The Lord has an Opinion.
Seek His mind, seek His heart. He has powerful feelings about His people and the way they’re led. Love and lead the church. Love the Lord in fear and reverence. Do not fear people. Be sure you don’t disdain or despise people, but the work of leading must be done without fear of people. Ecclesiastes 10:4; Jeremiah 12:5-11; Ezekiel 2:7; Ezekiel 3:7-9; 1 Corinthians 3:5-7.

Action Priority: Honor the Lord, no matter what.
1 Samuel 2:3; 1 Samuel 2:30; Malachi 1:6-14; Isaiah 29:13, Isaiah 30:1-2; Colossians 3:23.

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Conviction: The Lord’s glory and reputation are core.
2 Samuel 12:10; 2 Samuel 12:14; Isaiah 43:1-7; Isaiah 52:5-6; Ezekiel 36:19-23, 1 Corinthians 10:31.

Action Priority: Take care in your relationship with Him.
Examine yourself to root out presumption, secret indulgences, religiosity, license, legalism, laziness, frenzy, pragmatism, foolishness, worldliness. Psalm 19:12-14; 1 Timothy 4:16.

Action Priority: Your reputation matters. Build it on the reality of your relationship with Him.
Your reputation reflects on Him. It reflects on the Lord’s church. And it reflects on your wife, your children and your other relationships. 1 Chronicles 4:10; Ecclesiastes 10:1; Proverbs 22:1; Ezekiel 3:20.

Ecclesiastes 10:1 popped into my head this morning. And I’m really glad it did.

I was reading news articles and commentaries on Jim Tressel’s resignation as head coach of Ohio State University’s football program. Tressel is accused of repeatedly lying to NCAA officials when he said he knew nothing about a couple dozen Ohio State players receiving cash payouts, getting discounts on new cars, selling football memorabilia and getting tattooed by a drug trafficker. Tressel originally was suspended and fined $250,000, but the story has legs. Tressel resigned on Memorial Day.

Tressel’s football accomplishments are superb. But, like Ohio State coach Woody Hayes before him, Tressel may first be remembered for his terrific failure. The Hayes incident—in which Hayes punched an opposing player in a 1978 bowl game—was a rapid-fire moment of foolishness. By 1978, Hayes had been coaching at Ohio State for 27 years and had amassed an immense record of accomplishment. But what's the first thing I think of whenever Woody Hayes is mentioned? Right, it’s the closing minutes of that game. It’s Hayes’ punch to the throat of that Clemson player who intercepted a pass along the Ohio State sideline. The memory of Hayes' accomplishments is dimmed by that foolish moment.

This morning, writers are quoting Shakespeare and a few others for insight into the Tressel story. One writer mocked a Tressel quote out of the book The Winners Manual: For the Game of Life, published in 2008. It seems Tressel wrote that, The reputation of a thousand years may be determined by the conduct of one hour.

Right, it could take an hour, but it also could take a moment, or a couple of days or weeks or months. Decisions made in advance can easily and quickly lead to a moment of crushing destruction. It only takes a couple of bad decisions to reap a big ruin. And it can happen to anyone.

A couple of friends and I used to remind one another that you’re only two or three bad decisions away from taking a sledge-hammer to your life . . . to your relationship with the Lord, to your marriage, to your legacy as a father, to your reputation, to your future in ministry.

I’m really glad that Ecclesiastes 10:1 ran through my mind this morning as I read about Tressel’s sad fall. I take that as an indicator that the Lord’s warnings and the Lord’s ways are close. The Word hidden in the heart. What an immeasurable gift from the gracious Lord. What a great thing to remember on the day after Memorial Day.