Observations after 2 years back ...

As many of you know, I stepped out of the role of being a local church Pastor for 10 years while serving at LifeWay Christian Resources. After growing up as a Pastor's Kid (PK), I had also served as a pastor for 12 years prior to going to LifeWay for a decade. ClearView called me to serve as Pastor beginning May 1, 2007 which means I have been back "in the saddle" for just over 2 years now (and loving it, by the way). In various settings I am asked questions about my observations since returning. Several questions are asked often:

1. What has changed most about Pastoring over the 10 years I was not serving as Pastor?It all has to do with technology. When I left the pastorate in 1997 the internet was in its infancy, email was not widespread, mobile phones were rare and then usually a cumbersome phone in a bag in the car, and social networking was not even a dream.

The result? In a word ... accessibility. With a blog, a facebook page, a twitter profile, a blackberry never further than a few feet away, and a church website with my email listed, I am accessible like never before. Please don't get me wrong, I love it. I enjoy reading twitters on the way to lunch every Sunday with feedback on the message for the morning. By late afternoon on Sundays I am usually checking facebook for those that check in through that channel. Then it's on to my email at pastor@clearview.org (try it now if you would like).

All of these channels help me as a pastor. In a church the size of ClearView there is great value in having the opportunity to follow the twitters of those in ClearView who use it, thus getting to know them in a way I could not otherwise. Through facebook I feel like I get to put faces with names and keep informed on activities members of ClearView. [More on the use of technology in ministry in a later blog]

Of course with the advantages comes danger ... the danger of never being unplugged. I try hard to stay completely unplugged on Thursdays during my most intense study time ... and on most Fridays (my day off).

2. What has not changed? People's need for Christ and the part Christ followers must play if more people are to be introduced to Him. I suppose it could be argued it is more difficult than ever to spread the Good News. I don't really think so. It's always been a challenge.

3. What has surprised me? Because of the position I served at LifeWay I don't think you could say I have been surprised by much. But one thing that has been so encouraging is the hunger the people of God seem to have for the Word of God ... at least at ClearView. I will call it a surprise ... and a pleasant one!

Maybe you have questions you would ask of someone returning to Pastor after a decade in another type ministry. You have the email address above or the comment section below. Fire away.

Fifty Year Anniversary - Honoring My Parents

No, it's not my fifty year wedding anniversary. It is my parents'. This past weekend we celebrated my parents' 50 year anniversary as well as 49 years in ministry. This was obviously a time of reflection for all of us. Given the task of "saying a few words" Sunday afternoon at the reception I tried to narrow it down to one meaningful word for each of them. So the question I asked myself was what one word best described each of them. Since you could not all be there, I thought I would share a bit of what I shared with the group gathered.

For my mom I chose the word "wise". If you don't know my mom, she is the quiet one in the family. She has always been most comfortable behind the scenes and out of the spotlight. I almost chose the word "servant" because she never stops doing just that ... serving. But the word that came to mind most was "wise". Mom is one of the wisest people I know when it comes to relationships, which is the toughest area for most people to deal with in a wise manner. Mom always seem to have something wise to share with me growing up whenever I found myself struggling with a relationship.

For my dad I chose "faith". As I told the crowd Sunday afternoon, I have at times referred to it as "crazy faith". Dad's level of faith would cause some surrounding him over the years to think it to be irrational. When I was in junior high school (7-9 grades) Dad "resigned" his salary saying we were going to believe God to meet our needs. I could not understand how we were going to eat or buy clothes, but God did just as dad believed He would. We never missed a meal and we certainly never went without clothes :-). We lived "by faith" as a family for months, led by the faith of dad. Oh yeah, the whole time, the guy in charge of looking after the "gifts" given to our family during that time by faithful and caring church members was stealing from the account!! And God still provided.

Funny thing, when I take spiritual gift inventories, to this day two of the gifts that tend to rise to the top consistently are: wisdom and faith. I don't know this to be a fact and I don't find it in Scripture, but I have to wonder if somehow the spiritual gifts of the parents are somehow embedded into the children.

Congratulations again to my mom and dad (Sally and Carl Marshall) on this milestone.

A word about mentors

I know. It's been too long since I have posted. May was a month that got away.

Anyway, I traveled to Chicago with a good friend of mine (David Landrith)Sunday and Monday. The purpose of the meeting was to meet with another good friend (James MacDonald). If you know me personally or read this blog very much, you know that James has had a profound impact on my life. It was through a series of conversations with James that I felt the Lord leading me back to local church pastoring after being in a parachurch ministry for a decade.

Funny thing is, we talked very little about the specific subject of me making that change. But God used conversations with a man so passionate about the church and so passionate about doing it right by building it on the Word that I could feel something begin to burn inside me that had not burned in quite some time. I never want that flame to burn low again. So, I made the journey to spend a few hours with the instrument God had used to re-ignite my passion for preaching and people.

I know we all have people we learn from and some we might even put on the level of "mentor" as I do James in my own life. Let me suggest a few things to think about before you assign someone the role of mentor in your life.

1. Do they point you to Christ? At the end of the day, it's all about becoming more like Christ. If that person makes you want to become more like them than they do about Christ, something is missing in you (the one being mentored) or in them (the mentor).

2. Do they stretch you? If you come away from time with that person, or if it is a distant mentor (author, etc.), is your thinking challenged? Do they force you to look at yourself and ask some really tough questions? I don't want to stay as I am. I want to grow and change as needed for God to use me in ways that will bring Him maximum glory.

I thank God for bringing the right mentor at the right time in my life.

Proud of the Worship Ministry

I could not have been more proud of the worship ministry of ClearView than I was this past Saturday night. Here is why.

We had a worship time planned (A Night of Hallelujahs) for Saturday and Sunday evenings at ClearView for both evenings. The full choir, band, and orchestra had prepared for months to lead us in this worship time. We are blessed to have some incredibly gifted musicians and vocalists. I could tell at the Saturday morning rehearsal this was going to be a great time of worship for our church family.

Time for the Saturday evening praise came ... the band, orchestra, and then the choir took their places right at 7:00. I stepped up to open the time with prayer before we began. One thought crossed my mind: "Where are the people?" I don't know if it was the monsoon we were having outside, proms, swine flu scare, or just Saturday night in Williamson County, but there was much less people than I expected. And I would say much less than many of the worship team was expecting as well. [The Sunday evening crowd was much better]

All of us know what it is like to have high expectations only to be disappointed. And in this setting it would have been so easy for the worship ministry team to have a big let down and just walk through the motions. But did they ever deliver!! They sang and played and just flat out worshiped as if there were thousands. Or maybe I should say, they worshipped as if it were only them and God!

As I sat on the front row, I could not have been more proud of every single person. You could see it on their faces and in their eyes. This was not about performing for some big crowd, this was really about them worshipping and inviting us to join. And from the downbeat of the first note to the last, that is exactly what we did.

Don't get me wrong. Sunday evening was awesome as well. But I will not soon forget that Saturday evening as the group did not allow poor attendance let them down one bit. The heart of our worship ministry was never more evident than this memorable evening of May 2, 2009.

Does theology matter?

The root word of "theology" is "theo" which means "God". You recognize the rest of the word ... "ology" which has come to mean "the study of". It's original meaning is "speak". If you have ever spoken about God or thought about God you have practiced theology. Theology is of little value unless it leads one to know God ... the God of Scripture. A proper theology is also what drives our practice. In other words, what I believe about God will determine how I think and act in every area of my life. An impotent or inaccurate view of God leads to an impotent spiritual walk. A right theology leads to the approach to life that is pleasing to God (the only reason we exist) should I live out of that view.

There is good and bad theology. Good theology is informed by the Bible. Bad theology is informed by any source other than the Bible. This would be especially true should that theology be in opposition to or disagreement with good theology (found only in the Bible).

Where do you get your view of God? What informs your theology? This determines everything. But it especially determines whether or not we can honor and please God with our lives because it will not be the God of Scripture for whom we live, if our theology is not correct. It will be a misinformed view of God, which by definition cannot be the God of Scripture. When you find yourself in a crisis or when you open your eyes on the other side of eternity, you will not want a fantasy God; you will need the one true God. And the only place an accurate theology is in the pages of Scripture.

I will be preaching Sunday (May 3) from 1 John 2:18-27 which covers antichrists. Chapter 4 speaks of the spirit of antichrists. The idea John is conveying is any spirit which seeks to oppose or to replace the Christ of Scripture. I will use as illustrations some recent books and movies that make an attempt at theology (speaking of God). One book I will use to illustrate contemporary material with an anti-Christ message will be The Shack by Wm. Paul Young. Let me quickly say, I do not know Mr. Young so I will give him the benefit of the doubt that his intentions were good. He was not intending to lead people away from the God of the Bible. He simply does. I will give a point or two in the message tomorrow. There are many places Young speaks in a way that opposes Scripture and / or tries to replace the truth of Scripture with his fanciful imagination of the trinity. Not a good place to be.

The sad thing is many will read this and be led astray from the truth. You can only take one of a few positions related to the book. You can say, "Well, it is indeed bad theology and I see it as such."

You can say, "No, I think his theology is good" in which case I would challenge you to read it in light of Scripture rather than reading Scripture in light of Young. I would remind you the origninal sin of Eve eating the apple began with the question from Satan, "Did God really say ...?" and for the first time in history man subjected God's Word to man's opinion rather than man's opinion being subjected to God's Word. Again, not a good place to be.

Finally, there are those who would say, "It's only fiction". Part of me wants to say EXACTLY! It is especially fanciful and fictional when it comes to the nature and character of the God of Scriputre. It is one man's erroneous theology of the God of Scripture. The dangers in that are many. It confuses new Christians. It is being advertised as a life transforming book. There are many who do not know the God of Scripture at all that are being led to believe this view of God is accurate and therefore the God to whom they should trust their life. I have heard followers of Christ say, "It really helped me". My question would be, helped you what? Misunderstand God? Feel good about relating to a "God" that does not in fact exist? Get through a painful time by seeing God through heretical eyes?

Maybe you would say, "Mark, Young is close on his theology. He almost gets it right." I would argue differently, but let's assume you are right. Think about this quote from Spurgeon: “Discernment is not simply a matter of telling the difference between what is right and wrong; rather it is the difference between right and almost right.”

For a (theologically) solid review of The Shack go here. Challies is fair, giving what he sees as positive and what he sees as theologically askew in the book. He gives a more balanced view than I would and it keeps me from making this post that much longer if I don't try to give a complete theological review here :-).

One last thought. I posted a reply on another site when asked my opinion about the book. Let's just say, my view was not the popular view. I was accused, as a "pastor" (read with disdain) trying to tell people what they could and could not read. Well, obviously I can't do that. You will read what you will read. My role as a pastor however is well defined. Here is one such instruction given me:
28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among whom the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.
Acts 20:28 (HCSB)

If you must read The Shack do so with a biblical lens in place.