Great preacher and teacher Fred Craddock once said that when he graduated from Bible College and was ordained into ministry it was like he was given a $10,000 check. His dream was to spend that check all in one place. He would lie awake at Church camp and dream of giving his life for Christ. Standing before the firing squad and being asked, “Do you deny Jesus?” “No.” “Then ready, aim, fire.” Flags would be put at half mast, news teams would report his story worldwide and they would build a monument in his honor.

The problem was, as he saw it, that no one ever asked for the $10,000 check. His life was not spent in newsworthy displays of service. Rather his life was spent a few cents at a time. 52 cents here and 89 cents there. He soon came to understand that a true life of serving was not about some big display rather it was doing a thousand little things.

Jesus said in Matthew 25 that the actions of his followers are giving food to the hungry. Offering a cup of cold water to the thirsty. It includes inviting strangers into our homes and visiting those who are sick or in prison.

Many Christians I know are still looking to spend there $10,000 check. They want to travel to some exotic mission field on the other side of the world. They want to serve in some dramatic way that gets media attention. They want ministry to fun and exciting. If serving does not seem like a big deal then they are not interested.

I understand there is a place for those things. But I tell people, “Don’t worry about traveling across the globe to do what you will not walk across the street to do.” Most ministry is not very glamorous. It is local and it seems small. Bringing the kingdom of God to earth usually means making a meal or offering a ride. Occasionally it means emptying the trash and cleaning up. Other times it is sitting quietly while people share their deepest emotions. Ministry is a thousand little things.

One day God may call on us to do something noteworthy, until then just keep spending your life a few cents at a time.

Every gathering of people who follow Jesus is unique. Each one has its own personality. You can walk into any brand of Church in one city and then go to the same brand of Church that is roughly the same size only a couple of miles away and have a completely different experience. Have you ever wondered why that happens? I think there are several forces that shape a Church.

1. A Work of God – Some Churches are best described as having a “God-thing” happen. That means there is something going on that no one can really explain. Old timers might say that a “revival broke out.” Lives are suddenly and unexpectedly changed, new people are showing up unexplainably and great things are happening that were totally unplanned.

2. The Primary Leader – In many Churches this is the pastor. If the pastor is an upbeat loveable guy, the Church takes on his personality. If the pastor is a student who studies deeply suddenly the Church starts taking classes and carrying a study Bible with notebook. Sometimes the primary leader is not the pastor. It might be a dominate elder or an influential family who shape the congregation. This is especially true in small congregations that have a frequent change in the preacher. Whoever leads the group also shapes the personality of the group.

3. Past Experiences – If a Church once struggled with an issue, even if it was several years ago, the lingering thoughts shape a congregation. This takes many forms. I see it most in Church policies. A person once abused the system so we put policies in place so that it never happens again. Sometimes this makes for doctrinal soap boxes. There was once a person in the Church who was liberal in some area of theology. He started leading people astray. Now we want everyone to know that we do not approve of that behavior. Suddenly the Church becomes legalistic and judgmental.

What is really interesting is the overlap of #2 and #3. If a primary leader had a difficult past experience either inside or outside of the Church they often use that to shape their organization. For example, I had a guy who fought against budgets because in his business background the people would always spend every dime they were budgeted. He thought people in the Church would be told they have X amount of money for a ministry and they would run and spend it all just because they could.

4. Future Hopes and Dreams – There are Churches that live out a plan of what they want to do for God. I know of a Church that has a goal of reaching 10,000 non-believers with the gospel message. As a result everything is evangelistically driven. If we want to accomplish this goal then we need to be that type of Church.

5. Forces of Evil – Unfortunately some Christian Churches have allowed evil to shape them. This can be anything from a leader who is divisive to a leader who is full of sin. Selfish motives and ambitions shape the Church more than anything else. This is closely related to #2, but a leader can be driven by good or bad intentions. Sadly sometimes evil wins and Godly people leave.

I am sure there are other forces at work in a Church but these are the ones I encounter the most. I wish I could say that all Churches are shaped solely by God but that is simply not the truth. I have had people argue with me about this idea only to find out that this person leads a Church full of argumentative people. Coincidence, I think not.

2008 was the toughest year of my life, my marriage and my ministry. I am not going to tell you all the details of that year but let me give you an overview.

I was busy serving in a Church I had started 8 years before. The Church was growing and was quickly approaching its largest attendance ever as we were having nearly 300 people in worship each week. I was trying to lead staff and the first decision I made that year was to fire one of them. It was an ugly process. He was a friend, but he was also a lousy youth minister. The difficult result was that we had less leaders with more people.

I quickly began to work all the time. 300 people demand a lot of time. I was preaching each week, leading the staff, trying to develop leaders, writing policy manuals, taking over the youth ministry and performing 1 or 2 weddings each week. Most days were marathons that started at 8:00 am and ended sometime around 8:00 pm. In an effort to save time I dropped my daily Bible reading and prayer time.

The hours away from home took their toll. I was quickly becoming a stranger to my wife. I felt very distant from her and have never felt more alone. My boys were starting to grow up and taking on more activities. The hours got tighter and the exhaustion accelerated.

It didn’t take long and I was on a downward spiral I couldn’t pull out of. My decisions became very poor. I was following God’s guidance less and less. I was now driven by success and the love of people other than my family. Everyone liked the Sunday morning version of me, but they didn’t know what was going on behind the scene. By fall I was not spending time with God or with my family, I was trying to succeed while bailing water from my sinking boat.

I had a series of conversations with my leaders who had lost most of their trust in me with each passing week. I was searching for help and no one heard my cries. Finally the decision was made to resign my position. The leaders agreed it was a good move and gave me a three-month paid sabbatical to help me heal.

The downward spiral continued. The big question was, “What do I do now?” I had lost myself in my quest for ministry success and now I had no ministry. Depression overtook me. Dark thoughts pervaded my mind. I was not sure where God wanted me or if he even wanted me.

The country was experiencing a recession at the time and no jobs were to be found anywhere. Then life hit rock bottom. I accepted a job making $8 an hour at a telemarketing firm. Never being good at confrontation made the job very difficult for me. One Thursday a person on the other end of the phone started cussing at me and I cracked. I went to the bathroom and cried. I left for lunch and called my wife and cried. My pride was gone and my life made no sense.

That night I made a decision. I need to get back on track with God. The next Monday I took my Bible, a notebook and a pen to work with me. I began taking every small break between calls to read. I started writing my prayers out on paper in my notebook. I began working extra hours on Monday through Thursday so that I could take Friday off with my family.

Soon a better job opened up at a local factory. I was put in charge of the warehouse and started getting exercise as I walked around the plant all day. While walking I would take time to pray or sing. At lunch I listened to sermons or the Bible on tape. Suddenly I was feeling better emotionally, physically, spiritually and mentally.

At this point in one of my prayers I felt the nudge of God to search for a ministry in Alaska. I looked online and there were two Churches searching. I sent off my resume and within a month I was on a plane to preach a trial sermon. Within three months I was back in ministry and life made sense again.

This time I vowed to do it differently. I would start each day with prayer and bible reading. I would take time off each week. I would say “no” more than “yes” to outside speaking engagements including weddings and funerals. I would make my spiritual life and my family life a priority and my ministry would no longer take every minute.

Fast forward a few years to today. The changes I made have stuck and have even gotten stronger. Right now, I have never been happier and felt more blessed.

It has been 8 years since the wheels fell off. I am still haunted by some of the decisions and words made during that season. I wish I could change the past. I can’t. But God has forgiven me. My family has forgiven me. My past is now just my past. A sad chapter in my life that I am not proud to talk about.

I tell you this story for a couple of reasons.

One, sometimes God has to break us down before he can build us back up properly. It is a painful journey. I don’t know that I would have changed had I not hit the bottom so hard.

Two, if you are in this process of transformation. My heart breaks for you. I have been there. I also want you to know that the end result is better than I imagined. I don’t mean that I have finished changing or have gotten everything right. I mean am thankful for the person I am today. Through God’s grace a better life is possible. I am living proof.

I spend my life as a pastor and preacher but most often I am a storyteller. Some people need to hear simple stories that help them understand the Bible. Some people require stories to let them know the Christian life is a real and can be lived out. Stories reveal, stories captivate, stories raise questions and stories help us understand deep truth.

I do not just use stories in my preaching. I use them in almost every form of teaching that I do. A good story can change worlds and form ideas in every realm of truth. Jesus was the master of this in a form of teaching called parables. Those simple stories that still capture our imagination 2,000 years later.

With that said, I think that every Christian needs a full backpack of stories that they can draw upon to share the gospel, explain the Bible and challenge people in their faith. Most of us think we are good storytellers, but in reality most people I encounter are terrible at it.

So today I would like to share some tips on how to tell good stories, especially when talking about faith.

1. Don’t Be the Hero of Every Story – This is the biggest mistake I hear people make in Christian storytelling. People get tired of hearing about all of your accomplishments. The same is true for stories about your children.

2. Put the Spotlight on Other People – This second one follows the first. Tell about the successes of other people. Share stories that make other people look good.

3. Share Your Flaws More than Your Victories – If you want to share a story of how bad people act then go to your own stories. This demonstrates honesty and humility while disarming the people who want to throw stones because they think you have it all together in Christ.

4. Tell Stories That Share Common Experiences – Telling people about that time you were scuba diving off the coast of Africa loses people’s attention. A story about dealing with crazy people in traffic draws us into your story because we all have been there.

5. Think Like a Child – Disney and Pixar have mastered the art of telling stories for children that also engage adults. Simple is always better in storytelling. Great stories take the very complex and make it understandable not vice versa.

6. Use Humor (When possible and when appropriate) – Humor connects and disarms. I think certain places and topics are off-limits. Most of the time a good funny story is captivating.

7. Fully Develop Stories – Details make a story better. Which sounds better to you? “I was in the car with a bug that scared me” or “a huge wasp somehow got into our car. He buzzed around my ear and I thought it was a fly until I saw it out of the corner of my eye. I have always been afraid of getting stung so …” Do you hear the difference?

8. Lose Your Nervous Tick – “Um” and my least favorite “It was like, like, like … um … you know.”

9. Make Sure Your Stories are Christian – This applies to topics and language, but it is also about content. I cringe when I hear a preacher tell a story about world changing and use a secular humanist as their example. Tell me about something that underlines faith in action.

10. Listen To People Who Tell Stories Well, and Learn From Them – I listen to sermons, comedians, Garrison Keillor, older people. I watch movie development along with the plot in books. I notice things that catch my attention and try to replicate those.

I know these are simple ideas. It is very possible you will forget most of them. Probably many of you think you have mastered them. I really doubt you have. I know I haven’t. My hope is that I get better and better at telling stories so that I can share God’s story. I don’t care if people like me, but I want them to know God and stories are one of the best ways I know to do it.

All summer I seem to be having deep theological conversations with a wide variety of people. These people have voiced questions and asked for answers. While I try my best to help everyone out, I have come to learn that I say the words “I don’t know” a lot.

There are several forms of this phrase for me:

1. “I don’t know and I have no answer”
While I try to read widely I have obviously not read everything. I have read through my bible a few times but that does not make me a master of all. I believe it is okay for a Christian to admit when they do not have an answer. Often times people will try to put me on the spot and ask, “If you had to chose between this or that what would you chose?” My best and most honest response is sometimes, “I just do not know.” I do not have opinions and ideas on every topic.

2. “I don’t know and I will find an answer”
This second variation is important. There are some questions that have great answers. I can remember a verse in scripture that addresses this topic but it is not very clear in my mind. I can remember and article that gave a wonderful explanation. I know a good answer is out there, I just have to go and find it.

3. “I don’t know but here is my best understanding”
I do have deep opinions about certain topics but I struggle to give a 100% definitive answer. I can read the scriptures over and over. I can hear the explanations and I draw conclusions but I will never be 100% sure. One minor example: We do not know how long Jesus preached on the earth. There is no verse that says he taught for 3 years (you can look it up). We are told that he celebrated three Passover feasts, that is where we get that number. The problem is that John says there are many other miracles not recorded in his book. If all Jesus did was written down there would be innumerable books. So my best guess is that he preached 3 years, but that is not a completely definitive answer.

4. “I don’t know and no one will ever really know for sure”
This one is the most hard to admit. There are some topics where we just have no explanation. Seriously. One example to me is a story in Exodus 4:25 about Moses’ wife taking her son’s foreskin and touched Moses feet. What is that all about? I can make guesses but no one knows for sure.

As a follower of Jesus I have to be able to live with a little ambiguity. I don’t know all that the Bible says yet. I keep learning and adding to my knowledge but I am not there yet. Even as I grow and learn that doesn’t mean I will have all of the answers to everything. In fact, I will often end up with more questions. I think it is okay to say “I don’t know.”

The Bible was never meant to give us all the answers, it was meant to change our lives. The Bible shows us Jesus and brings us to a trust in him. I believe he has all the answers that I do not know.

The kingdom of God is like my patch of pepper plants.

Behind my house there are two separate gardens on each side of a stairway. Because of a large tree in our backyard, one side gets sun in the morning and the other side gets sun in the afternoon.

The side that gets sun in the morning has small plants that do not look as healthy. The other side has big, tall beautiful plants.

Interestingly enough the plants that are smaller and do not look as nice are producing all of the peppers. The other side has yet to produce one tiny pepper. The plants are big, but they are not blooming and therefore not producing anything.

Which garden is better? The one that may not look as nice but has produced numerous peppers or they one that looks great but produces nothing.

So it is with the Kingdom of God.

I did not ask for permission to write this article. I didn’t ask because I know he would have humbly declined my spotlight. But I am going to write this article anyway.

I sit on the front row of our Church gathering each week. I do it for two reasons. One, I have to get up and down all the time and it just makes more sense. Two, I enjoy being on the front row to get a close up view of everything.

My children set in the row behind me. They do that for three reasons. One, I told them too. Two, mom and I can keep an eye on them and make sure they are listening. Three, it keeps seats open in the back for guests.

The people who set in the third row do it by their own choice and God knows their reasons.

At our gathering we have a couple set in the third row who are not your traditional Church attendees. A man and his wife have come to our Church after over 40 years of ministry. This man has served the Lord for more years than I have been alive.

Each week during the program I get to hear him sing. He can belt out the old hymns with power and beauty that come not just from knowledge but from emotion. He sings from his mouth with his heart. Some weeks he sings so sweetly that when we do hymns I just stop to listen to him. It is a thing of beauty.

Then we sing newer modern choruses. I get to hear those too. This man sings out just as strong. I hear him struggle but work through the songs with patience and praise. He sings the words on the screen but without exactly the same beauty. This last week I found myself stopping in the middle of a newer song to listen to him. Once again the song was great but not just because of his voice, but because of his heart. While it seemed clear to me that he did not know the song well, he was still singing with all of his heart. I stopped and listened closely as my heart filled with emotion.

I enjoy listening to him each week not just because of his voice, but it is clear to me that he really loves Jesus. He doesn’t love a song style and will only sing songs that he likes, he loves Jesus and will sing any song that brings praise to him.

This week I just wanted to thank God for bringing this man into my life. He always has a kind word to say. I have never heard him complain. He loves the Lord with his life, his voice and his heart. I thank God for the example of great men like this who lead the way in ministry for me … and for all of us.

We live at a time in history when Church attendance is on a steady decline. The amazing part of that statement is that the number of people who claim to be Christians seem to be on the incline. At least in my area of the world that is true. More people claiming faith and yet fewer people attending Church each week seems to be contradictory.

Over the last week I read three articles about Church attendance and how it affects your faith and your family. While I agree with the articles in general, I did see one flaw in each of them. All of the posts were written by preachers. I mean, of course preachers care about attendance, after all, it is a reflection of their work and career. I can hear the people saying right now, “preachers have too much bias to write these articles.”

So I want to say something as a preacher, “I don’t care about your Church attendance.”

Now before you say a hearty “Amen” and stop reading, please let me explain myself.

*I don’t care about your Church attendance, but I do care deeply about your worship of God.
I think each and every believer needs to set aside time to give their praise and honor to God. They need times of prayer and communion. They need time to vocalize the joy they are feeling or the pain they are struggling with in their life.

*I don’t care about your Church attendance, but I do care deeply about your spiritual growth.
I think each person of faith needs to read deeply and reflect on the word of God found in the Bible. They need to understand new things and be challenged to live more deeply for God. They need to hear difficult things explained and have their viewpoints challenged. They need to learn while trying to apply their knowledge to life.

* I don’t care about your Church attendance, but I do care deeply about your connection to other believers.
We are not created to live alone, nor are we created to believe alone. We need friendships with people who care about us emotionally and spiritually. We need people to question us and challenge us. We need other members of faith to pray for us and help us when we are hurting. We need people to support, love, encourage, dream and stand beside us.

* I don’t care about your Church attendance, but I do care deeply about your service to God.
I firmly believe that God created each of us with unique gifts and abilities. He then expects us to use those gifts to further his kingdom and bless the lives of others. He equips us to help others in their walk of faith. He gives us the tools to be salt and light in the lives of others.

*I don’t care about your Church attendance, but I do care deeply about you sharing the good news with other people.
The world is full of hurting people. They need to hear the message of grace explained. They are desperate for a chance to start over in Jesus. They are searching for some way to rid themselves of their mistakes, failures and regrets. They want purpose and meaning instead of despair. They need someone to tell them about Jesus and teach them the truth of scripture.

I don’t care about your Church attendance, but I do care deeply about your relationship with God. I want you to worship and learn and grow and serve and share. I do not know of any other way to do all of these things than through a local gathering called the Church. Sure, you may be able to do one or two of these on your own, but I believe you need the Church to live completely for Jesus.

I do not desire for anyone to attend Church to make me happy. I do not desire for people to attend Church out of mere obligation. I want people to attend Church so that they can live the life God desires for them. If I thought there was another way, I would be the first to sign up.

Here are some of the best articles and posts I have read over the last month. Enjoy

4 Steps to a Friendlier Church (The G.I.F.T. Plan)

The Majority of Americans Recommend Cohabitation. That’s a Problem.

5 Things You Should Not Take With You to Bed

7 Notes You Should Write to Your Children

The Friends You Need Are Worth the Wait

FIVE THINGS I PRAY I WILL NOT DO AS A SENIOR ADULT IN THE CHURCH

15 Ways You Can Become a Better Leader

Effort

Today my mom is going to the doctor to learn about the treatment plan for her cancer. Last night as I spoke with her on the phone one of my biggest questions was, “Who is going to the doctor with you?” I genuinely wanted to know who was going to hold mom’s hand. Who was going to listen closely to the doctor with her? Maybe they would hear something a little different. Who was going to be there for whatever she needs?

There is an amazing power in just being present in those moments.

From the flip side, I wish I could be there. I am planning on going back next week when she starts treatment and it is very hard to go back two weeks in a row. So for this one trip my sister and my niece are going with mom. In these moments I feel a general lack of support. I want to do more. I want to be there.

All of this has me thinking about the power of being present in someone’s life. We see the need in the big moments of doctor’s visit, big accomplishments and the pain of loss. In those moments we want to be there for the people we love.

Can I suggest to you that people want you to be present in their life everyday? There are people all around you that want to talk. There are people who desperately want your attention. There are young people who are afraid and older people who feel alone. There is your spouse who has something on their mind. There are your parents who would love for you to stop by. There are your children who would love one more hour of your time. There is someone you love who longs for your presence.

My suggestion today is to not let another day slip by. Put the phone down. Close the computer. Shut off the TV. Put the book back on the shelf. Skip exercising. Avoid the yard work another day.

Just go and be with someone. Sit and talk. Sit and listen. Just be there.

Someone in your life would love to experience your presence today. Will you be there for them?