“I welcome you my friend to the show that never ends…..”

There is a curiosity over the topic of apostolic ministers and what qualifies one the be an apostle. Well without going into the whole qualification thing (I don’t accept 99.9% of modern day ministries as actually pulling off “apostolic”) let me address a few major reasons for a person “wanting” to stepping into that role. Not all, but most.

Number one: Prestige
If you’re a pastor you’re just a pastor, but if you’re an apostle! … well… you suddenly transcend your peers in such a way that gives you special honor or recognition in most gatherings.
“This is so and so, he has an ‘apostolic’ ministry”.
Because most people are to polite to questions one’s credentialing you can pretty much get away with it. Nobody wants to be the one to create an awkwardness in a social setting by asking for, oh let’s say, justifiable evidence or demonstrative witness of any apostolic ventures or accomplishments. A miracle, or a single DISCIPLE raised up from within an initial proclamation of the gospel. That would be unheard of.

Number Two: Signing Up (Buying In).
Let’s say you have an apostolic ministry and let’s say you have managed to convince someone they would be better off coming under the covering of your ministry. Remember there first has to be a thought planted that says, “If you want to make it in ministry you need the covering of an apostolic pastor in order to be successful, otherwise you’re out there “doing your own thing”. That’s a bad thing. Don’t ever be caught doing your own thing outside of a legitimate apostolic ministry. So… so ….sad”.
Any way. Once a person has come under you’re ministry they share the in advantages of that ministry: listen to the insightful teachings which have propelled these apostles from normal pastoral ineffectiveness to apostolic ineffectiveness.
“Wow! You mean I can learn to do nothing to advance the kingdom from such a highly respected person as this? Sign me up for that!”

Number Three: The Cost of Being an Apostle
As the pastor of a local fellowship your income is regulated by a board, adjusted up from time to time, but not to a degree to keep up with inflation. If you pastor a church of average size, let’s say 150 people, your income level is pretty much capped due to a limited amount of incoming revenue. You can only bleed so much out of a limited number of turnips. Let’s say $3,000 a month.
But if you’re an apostle! Now that’s an all together different story. Why?
The Fellowship Fee! If you want to be under the covering of an apostle it comes at a cost. We were part of a church ministry which was under an apostolic covering and in order to remain there we had a monthly fellowship fee. I want to say it was $250 – $300 a month. Let’s be conservative and say it was $175 a month. So you get fifteen people to come under your covering and pay a fellowship fee. That’s $2,625 a month. I know a man who has no less than forty that’s $7,000 a month. That isn’t church money that’s money because “I am an apostle” It’s outside the parameters of the church money.
Now, let’s say I’m NOT wrong on the $250 – $300 a month fee, hold on! Fifteen at $250 per month is $3,750. $300 is $4,500 a month. Forty a month at $300 is $12,000 a month.

What if you’ve been pastoring a church for twenty years, age fifty has come and gone, the church isn’t growing, social security isn’t there and the messages are getting harder to come by. The flock is changing on a regular basis and you can only keep this one going for so long. If the church goes bye bye, you’re left looking for a job. So what if the church doesn’t make it, isn’t it God’s will to open news doors during different seasons in our lives? Besides, by becoming an apostle you can influence people outside the flock (pastors) into following you just like many were willing to do during the early years of your ministry.
You really don’t have to do anything at all as an apostle, just keep them believing it’s beneficial for them to be associated with “your ministry”, have a conference once a year, let key players see their names printed on your brochure as “guest speakers”, give them plenty of time behind the microphone, and they all do the rest themselves. You don’t even have to do the teaching or preaching! Just set back and look wise, or important or fatherly.

P.T. Barnum was right.

Cha Ching!

Keeping the Faith

My wife and I recently visited some of her family in Fresno, California. Her parents have both passed away and only the siblings remain. They are a Russian family, or at least they are trying to be. My wife was born in the U.S. as well as the sister just older than her, the remaining older brothers and sisters were born in Iran.

Her parents were immigrants, her father grew up in Turkmenistan which was part of the former Soviet Union but he was forced to immigrate into northern Iran as a young man during the late thirties along with hundreds of other families who lived in the small villages in that area of Russia. Her mother was born somewhere in southwest Russia more towards Turkey. She too, along with many other families were forced to move into Turkey during times of unrest. Unfortunately, they were eventually forced to leave Turkey and moved to Syria, but soon found they were not welcome in Syria either and traveled into Iraq. Just as with Syria and Turkey they were forced to leave Iraq and it was back to Syria for as long as they could, but eventually had to migrate to northern Iran where they had heard the shaw was acting favorable towards Russian immigrants, allowing then to live in that area free from intimidation. So it was that my wife’s parents met; one from Turkmenistan and one from Turkey and Syria, both coming to dwell in the same region of Iran in the late thirties and early forties. Two young people in the midst of hundreds of others trying to forge, plow, plant, harvest, chop, build, and carve out a life in a foreign land far from the places they each knew as home.

Because of this all of these people became dependent on one another, they were more than Russians, they were a people, a family, bound together by circumstances, trials, suffering, sweat, threats, hunger, cooperation, and survival. They weren’t merely neighbors, they were co-laborers in life, …… literally. They would plow in teams, cut fire wood in teams, sickle clover for a solid week in fields located a days journey from the village, camping under the stars as a team both men and boys, to provide feed for their livestock. They baked each others bread and delivered their crops to markets on carts drawn by oxen, together.

The individual was forced to concede to the corporate for the sake of survival.

The result?

Fellowship.

Fellowship, contained within the cup of “knowing”.
A fellowship, poured out freely by each every time they gathered together.
A fellowship they each drank deeply of, for they had truly shared in it together, as one.

It was because of these circumstances and this effort they were formed into a body.

Eventually they were required to leave Iran and began immigrating into various areas of the United States. Still, they managed to find each other and settle along the west coast, from California to Oregon. In these various areas they attempted to be community and maintain fellowship; weddings, church, deaths, births, they still did everything together as much as possible. But it wasn’t the same. Something changed. They had taken their original experience and tried to keep it alive in the context of a new life in America, an environment which no longer made fellowship necessary. America made allowance for the individual. The “acts” of fellowship had become nothing more than ritual.

This was the beginning of the end for they were slowly dying off one at a time and they are unable to pass it on to their children’s children, within the vacuum of life in America, this fellowship now represented by ritual.
Their children have not drank of such a cup. They lack the firsthand experience necessary to ensure continuation of this kind of fellowship. They are not people of plowing and gathering, building and raising as their parents had been. They are a generation of television, cars, houses, grocery stores, fast food, public transportation, democracy, their own bedrooms and central heating. Within a single generation the life and customs, which were instilled so deep in the hearts of those who “knew”, are gone. The children are Russian by decent, but decent only, void of the fellowship lived out in the hills and valleys of northern Iran so many years ago.

I think of a church fellowship in its early years, everyones hands set to the same plow, vision and effort concentrated on a common goal, but in no less than fifteen to twenty years the “experience” of that fellowship is gone, the original founders slowly dissipating to other pastures and along with them the spiritual momentum, until all that remains is ritual. And for the next generation?
Attendance.
No history, no cup to share, and nothing before them which will provide “corporate labor”.
No more must the individual concede to the corporate for the sake of survival, instead the corporate concedes to the individual for the sake of sustainability.

Every generation needs to see itself as refugees. Every generation needs to see itself as pilgrims, sojourners all belonging to a sovereign, eternal kingdom, far from home and in need of fellowship, not a fellowship of need itself but a fellowship birthed within the design and will of God.
Lest they have a corporate “cup” to drink of during their life time, true fellowship will disappear and all that will remain is a sustained ritual slowly diminishing until the death of the last remaing witness is complete.

Abuse of The Levitical

Worship.

I am and will always remain a worship leader.

If a person is called and gifted by God to serve Him through this ability it isn’t dependent on being on a stage in front of a congregation in order to be validated.

I served in a fellowship in this role and made a decision one day to resign such a “position” because it wasn’t honoring God to continue in it.

Why?

I refer to it as “Abuse of The Levitical”. It isn’t something I would expect anybody to prove biblically, it’s a term I use for lack of a better one.

A true worship leader knows the holiness and soberness of serving God in such a capacity, so to be treated as nothing more than a warm up act for the pastor is something which cannot be tolerated. It was better to unplug and walk away than to serve up golden calves on a weekly basis to people anxious for nothing more than having something served up “their way”.

I had endless conversations with God on this issue. I knew I could “work a crowd” if I wanted to, but He quickly informed me that if I ever did that the anointing to lead His people into His presence would leave faster than it came.

I never attempted it.

I have found it a very rewarding thing to teach worship whenever possible.
Rather than fighting against the “Good O’l Boy” club (those who like to have the song selection mesh with the mornings sermon topic), I have focused my attention on the next generation who hasn’t been quite as steeped (not quite) in the trappings of self serving worship.

To open the word and show them the sweetness and sanctity of the throne room where the Holy One dwells, is an awesome privilege and a fearful responsibility.

It isn’t a casual thing at all. Unfortunately it is taken casually.
When teaching I present a session titled,
“The Whoring of Worship”.
It’s blunt, stark and graphic, and may cause a person to become very offended, but it’s nothing compared to the blatant, casual, corruption occuring before the mercy seat on a weekly basis.

One aspect I believe of the anointing of worship leader is the ability to lead God’s people. Leading them into his presence. Unfortunately, (if not handled properly) we can just as easily lead them down the wrong path. We can easily “high jack” God’s glory and divert it in another direction. The worship leader can easily become a Pied Piper, leading an entire flock of lemmings over a dangerous cliff.

It’s better to not assist such a disaster by speaking truth against it to all who are willing to hear, and for those who refuse?

Let lemmings be lemmings.

Resting In The Bow of The Boat

I love the simplicity of the gospel. Regardless of how intricate we tend to make it, it really is simple. Now granted, it is shrouded in the mystery which is God himself, but the incarnate Word which brings life to those who would believe and receive the testimony of Christ, is elementary. It’s this tendency to make it more than it is which can cause needless distraction and ineffectiveness in the body of Christ. Analyzing, dissecting, twisting and tweaking something simple, trying to find within the foundational truths of the apostles’ firsthand witness, some kind of “new revelation”, an “angle” which will set us apart in the greater church community; both corporately and individually.
I was having a conversation just the other day with our oldest married daughter. She and her husband have been married almost four years and are beginning to experience some of life’s difficulties, nothing relationally just the things that come with life. Tough stuff … situations that make you lay awake at night wondering how things are going to work out. Listening to her talk reminded me of things my wife and I have been through in our twenty eight yeas of marriage. While she was sharing I had to smile inside, granted I was deeply concerned for the two of them having to go through tuff stuff but still it was encouraging to hear the way they were dealing with it. (Also, It’s during times like these when kids’ ears are more inclined to hear what dad has to say).

First of all it has to be said, dads love their kids, or at least I do. I desperately love our kids, and to sit and listen to one of them share the difficulties they are going through is tough. Dads want to make everything better, fix it, make the pain and discomfort go away. Unfortunately if I were to do that all the time I would be undermining the perfect plans their heavenly father has for them. This is what I shared with her.

“It isn’t that you just find a way to be successful in the midst of the situations whether it be career, finances or other efforts. It isn’t that you come out a winner, never knowing defeat or set backs; it’s whether you allow yourself to be transformed by the One who loves you enough to lead you through these experiences in the first place. God’s desire is that you know Him, that He be known by you and that you be transformed into His image. It brings God glory to be able to present you before His throne perfect, blameless and holy so that all of heaven will be witness to the fact the HE was able. That HE was faithful to accomplish HIS promises fulfilled in His Son.”

I have shared this with our children for as long as I can remember. It’s their encouragement, their hope, the foundation which points them towards the One who started all of this in the first place and the “what for” that establishes a firm place for them to stand when life doesn’t make sense. This is one of the things “fathers” are to do. Establish their children in truth. It’s a cornerstone of the gospel.

“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life”

I have been through some very difficult and discouraging times in the past. Times when you wonder if you will ever find a way out of the night to see the light of the morning. During some of these times God had provided a spot behind the barn where I would sit on a plastic bucket leaning back against the barn watching the sunset or face down in the back pasture unable to get up lest I had assurance that everything would be okay.

I remember receiving a letter from some “spiritual leaders”, men considered to be “over me”. I had pastoral credentials with a ministry which they served as some kind of board. Their response during a tough time was this. (Assume all the nice flowery pleasantries associated with most business letters had been said)

“Ken, we know that over the years you have been through many (are you ready for this) “personal failures” and these can tend to make one bitter …. blah…blah…blah..”
Personal failures?

My response?

“When I received Christ as Savior I received by faith God as being Sovereign. With this being true, there is no “personal failure” in Him.

“I have been crucified with Christ”.

“God CAUSES all things to work together for good for those who are “in” Christ Jesus.

“Trials” bring opportunity for maturity, understanding, seeking, and knowing God in a greater way than before. Nothing I go through is wasted in Christ. There is no “personal failure”. To think in such a manner would cause me to lose the sense of awe we as believers should have of the lofty position from which God oversees the affairs of those He calls his own”.

This is the foundational truth my wife and I have always set before our “children”.
If they didn’t have this promise where would their hope be? their anchor or ability to overcome?

“Jesus, when considering the joy set before Him endured the cross ….”

The cross was formidable to say the least, yet Christ knew His Father had established each event as an ongoing witness of His love and faithfulness.

“Jesus learned obedience through suffering”

When storms come we have this natural tendency to seek shelter from them, when properly instructed our children know they will always find protection in the shadow of God’s wing, and in doing so come to know for themselves the eternal fellowship God desired for them all along.

God teaches us how to rest in the bow of the boat.

Taking Five With George

A few thoughts from one of my faves, George Carlin…

Cows, Constitution and Carlin”

COWS Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that our
government can track a cow born in Canada almost three years ago, right
to the stall where she sleeps in the state of Washington And they
tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11
million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should
give them all a cow.

CONSTITUTION They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq.
Why don’t we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really
smart guys, it’s worked for over 200 years and we’re not using it
anymore.

TEN COMMANDMENTS The real reason that we can’t have the Ten
Commandments in a courthouse? You cannot post “Thou Shalt Not Steal,”
“Thou Shalt Not commit Adultery” and “Thou Shall Not Lie” in a building
full of lawyers, judges and politicians! It creates a hostile work
environment!

And Last but not least…..
George Carlin said it best about Martha Stewart., Boy, I feel a lot
safer now that she’s behind bars. O.J. Simpson and Kobe Bryant are still
walking around; Osama Bin Laden too, but they take the one woman in
America willing to cook, clean, and work in the yard, and haul her ass
off to jail.”