Invested Time is not Wasted Time

You should really thank Miss Brinkman, She's spent so much extra time,
It's like she sees the diamond underneath, and she's polishing you till you shine...

-Brad Paisley, in Letter to Me 

Photo: Alexander T. Carroll

Throughout the course of my life, I have been blessed with people who invested extra time and energy into me. From the youth director at my childhood church who actually spent time with me outside of class, to the high school teacher who also invested non-school hours into my personal growth and development. Both of these individuals invested hours and in some cases, days into helping me grow to be the person that I am today. Neither were able to see immediate results in my personal growth and development, but they spent that extra time on me anyway.

As I look at our immediate-results-driven culture, I wonder if we are missing the value of investing time. In politics, few will invest time toward building a long-term trend in their direction. Few show the patience Ronald Reagan showed in his political career. In his Goldwater speech in 1964, Ronald Reagan set forth the principles that would propel him into the White House some 16 years later. Having laid out his thesis for America, Reagan spent the next 16 years working to influence his political party into adopting his ideals, until in 1980, he finally won the party's nomination for President, and then the Presidency itself. 1964 was a bad year for Republicans. They lost the Presidential election, and lost most other races so badly that NBC's "Meet the Press" even wondered if Republicans were becoming extinct. Still, Reagan invested the time to communicate and advance his principles, until he was finally able to successfully influence the entire country.

This year has been a bad year for Christianity in the culture war. American society is rapidly accepting same-sex marriage as normal, is becoming more accepting of abortion, and is making the decision that it does not like Christianity. 2013 will go down in history as Conservative Christianity's 1964. Many of our prominent leaders and voices will fade away, discouraged that the country has rejected their message... our message.

However, our message is still true. Our hearts and arms are still open, and our truth is still reality. As long as God still has us on this Earth, we are still responsible for proclaiming that truth. In the coming months and years, we will still need to proclaim that truth, even though we will see more ferocious opposition. We must become comfortable in speaking our views, which are not going to be popular. We need to learn to take criticism, insults, and even hate. Still, we need to speak. The time is worth the investment.

Why is it important to continue to invest the time in proclaiming the truth, even as society fights against us? Because there are still people to be reached with the Gospel, and people to be reached with God's Word. That brings me to my next point...

Time is well invested in church work. Despite the cultural trends in our society, we still have good, strong churches ministering in their communities, changing lives, and reaching people with the Gospel. Those strong churches did not pop up overnight. Years went into their forming, growth, and influence. Adrian Rogers did not just wake up one morning and pull Bellevue Baptist Church out of his hat. Bellevue had been established, and had been growing and developing years before Rogers became their pastor. When Rogers became the pastor in 1972, Bellevue was already 9,000 members strong. It grew to 29,000, under Rogers' three-decade tenure as their pastor.

Recently, Jonathan Falwell spoke to the First Baptist Church in San Saba, some 45 minutes from where I live. When asked if he would follow in his father's (the late Jerry Falwell's) footsteps as a culture warrior, Falwell said that level of influence is not something that can be inherited. He noted his father's 55-year ministry in the building of his cultural influence. Jerry Falwell had invested time.

Many churches today seek immediate results in a culture that is unwilling to respond to them. If attendance drops, change everything. If this idea doesn't result in a sudden rise in attendance, discard it and try something else. In reality, all churches really need to do is be committed to their mission, and invest time into reaching people with the Gospel. This time is invested not only in personal evangelism, church volunteer work, or visitation ministry. This time is invested in the members of the church forging authentic relationships. Further, the longer a church is active, and the more time a church invests in its mission, the more influence that church will have in its community. Invested time is not wasted time.

This process also applies to missions. The American Baptist Association recently passed a new mission policy that, to my understanding, reduces the association's support to a salaried missionary by 5 percent every year after his 5th year. While the policy is not entirely bad (at some point, the newly planted church should take on responsibility for its own expenses, including pastor's salary), a lot of the debate stems from a frustration that it takes so long for newly planted churches (or missions) to become self-supporting. I understand the frustration. I wish the process moved more quickly as well.

In a true missions setting, where a missionary has moved to a place where he knew no one, and had no connections, and had to start from scratch to evangelize the lost and start a congregation, it takes a significant investment of time (years) for that missionary to build the inroads, and gain the trust and influence it takes to be able to build a solid congregation. This time needs to be invested, and that invested time is not wasted time. While I recognize that the Apostle Paul was able to plant churches in as little as four weeks, it should be noted that Paul was often dealing with Christians who had already been converted and baptized on the day of Pentecost.

Basically, whatever you have been called to do, whether it is preach the Gospel, stand up for what is right in your culture, or volunteer in your local church,  realize that if you are to see any significant progress, you will have to be willing to invest time. Invested time is not wasted time.

Profiting with God

No one disputes the fact that the Christian life comes with troubles. People ridicule your faith, some believers face persecution, and oftentimes we fore go personal pleasure, ambition or advancement in favor of something God has called us to do. While we make these sacrifices and observe people in the world living it up for themselves and enjoying life, it can become easy to be discouraged, or to blame God for all of our sufferings and problems.

That was the situation Job was in. He was perfect and upright, one who feared God and eschewed evil (Job 1:1), yet God allowed him to suffer when his livelihood was wiped out and his children killed. As Job lamented about these problems during his speeches, he accepted a premise that God will allow the righteous to suffer for no cause, and that God doesn't have a special regard for the righteous. Now, the Bible says that Job neither sinned nor charged God foolishly, but Job did misunderstand what God was doing.

Enter Elihu, a young man who quietly listened to Job lament his suffering, and his friends accuse him of bringing his suffering on himself. After the elderly men have completed their thoughts, Elihu speaks up, and says that Job goes in the company of those who work iniquity and walks with wicked men, because he said, "It profiteth a man nothing that he should delight himself with God. (Job 34:9)"

Job's words were spoken out of intense anguish, suffering and mourning, but sadly, I think many of us have accepted the same premise - If you follow God, you will have no profit on this Earth. It'll be non-stop suffering and failure till you die, then you get your reward.

It's a discouraging premise, and one that is seemingly validated when you see people who leave the church get everything they wanted. It seems to be validated when you do massive amounts of outreach and evangelism, and see people reject the message of the Bible in favor of more entertaining venues. It seems to be validated when you strive to honor and glorify God the best you know how, and nothing seems to come from it.

With that discouragement in mind, let's look to Elihu's encouraging words.

Job 34:10-12 Therefore hearken unto me, ye men of understanding: far be it from God, that he should do wickedness; and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity. 11 For the work of a man shall he render unto him, and cause every man to find according to his ways. 12 Yea, surely God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert judgment.

For God to constantly bring His people into captivity and force them into non-stop suffering and discouragement, He would have to deal wickedly with His people. However, Elihu says that goes against God's holy, righteous and just nature. God allows suffering, but God always rewards His people.

In the case of Job, (and Job didn't understand what was happening at this point), God was working a bigger picture. He was accomplishing another major victory over Satan, while simultaneously strengthening Job and bringing him closer to Himself. Job finally got it in Job 42:5-6.

In our cases, God allows our suffering, but it is never without purpose, and it is never without reward. If we are obedient, faithful, and unwavering in our trust of the Lord, we'll see the fruit of our labor and suffering, and we'll see God bless us mightily. Or as Paul wrote in Galatians 6:9, "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."

So, do not accept the premise that life is nothing but suffering. Do not accept the premise that you can not make a difference. Do not accept the premise that people will no longer accept the Gospel, or that no one wants to hear the Word of God, and do not accept the premise that your church will never see better days.

Continue to labor for the Lord. He will bless you.

Something's Gotta Give

As I stand before the congregation leading Grace Pointe through the final verse of Bringing in the Sheaves, I can't help but feel conflicted, and see the conflicted nature of pastoral ministry, church ministry and church planting today. The conflicted nature doesn't have so much to do with the members' personalities (Grace Pointe enjoys a very close unity among its members), as much as the conflicted nature has to do with who the church is, and whom the church has been called to reach.

There are two groups that make up the congregation at Grace Pointe. There are the very young, and the seniors. As for reaching the 20-somethings to 40-somethings, we have not been very successful. Let me clarify. We have seen some 20-40 year olds saved, and some baptized, but few continue to be involved in the church. This happens for a number of reasons, including hectic work/family schedules, and the desire for downtime. However, those factors can be overcome to get young families into church.

As I look across the religious landscape in Brownwood, I see three churches that are excelling in bringing in young families and getting them involved. These churches have three common-denominators. (1) They are built on relationships. The young families who go there have friends there, and they feel at home in those churches. (2) These churches are not known for being dogmatic on doctrine. They tend to focus their teaching on the basic doctrines of Christ (repentance, faith, salvation, and trusting God through the storms of life). And (3) Like it or not, they have contemporary worship services.

The building of relationships takes time, and the relationship must be built out of a genuine love and concern for the other party, otherwise it is little more than a manipulative situation. We can not go building relationships for the sole purpose of building a church. If we do that, we will become guilty of using people and abusing them the same way other religious organizations have done for years. No, we must love people and be there for them, even if they feel at home at the church across the street.

As for the doctrine issue, I have found that those in the 20-40 age range have an appetite for doctrine, but don't necessarily accept or internalize it just because the preacher says so. If a doctrine is presented they disagree with, they typically will try to brush it aside in an effort to get along. If the preacher insists they accept it, they will probably be gone. The way I handle doctrinal issues is that I present them as they come up in the scriptures. I preach through books of the Bible, and when we reach passages of doctrine, I present it. The interesting thing about this approach is that you get a feel for which doctrines are God's priority, as those doctrines are presented most often in the scriptures. Do you have any idea which doctrine is presented the most in the scriptures (and by extension, is the most important to God?) Hint: It's not the Bride. When differences of belief on certain doctrines arise, if you can get back to the fundamentals of the faith and agree there, then you still have fellowship and no one gets their feelings hurt.

Then comes the contemporary worship issue. I have publicly opposed contemporary worship, not because of what it is, but rather the attitudes some people who have propagated it. Their attitudes of contempt toward the senior members of the church, and their proclamations that they couldn't worship in a traditional style were major turn-offs for me.

When I look out among the congregation of grey hair, and in some cases, no hair, I see a generation of people who not only contributed much of their lives and personal resources so that I could stand in a pulpit and preach, but I see a generation of people who built the country into what we know today. I also see a generation of people who have been left behind by our modern, technology driven, frenzied paced lifestyles.

But yet, they stay active in life, and in church. In some cases, church is the only thing that still seems normal, that still makes sense. Then comes the young, on-fire preacher who is going to totally turn the world upside down, and he tells them to sell the piano, get rid of the organ, burn the hymnals, and sing staring at a projection screen to the accompaniment of a praise band. It totally freaks them out, and with good reason.

Contemporary music makes sense to my generation, because it is what we've grown up with. When you grew up listening to Def Leppard, Belinda Carslile, or Third Eye Blind and Green Day, the praise band seems like rather tame, worshipful music. However, if you grew up to Bob Wills, Jimmie Davis, Johnny Cash, and even Buddy Holly and the Beatles, it can be downright disturbing.

To put it another way, what if your worship leader looked like Kesha or Lady Gaga? It'd freak you out. That's what contemporary worship looks like to these seniors. So, they oppose it. However, their opposition only fuels the fire of the proponents of contemporary worship, leading to a split in the church. Sometimes, the result of this split is two different churches. Other times, churches choose to have two, or three, separate worship services. In those scenarios, you have a segmented church membership that is not necessarily working as a body.

I love our seniors at Grace Pointe, and I look up to them. I definitely don't want to leave them in the dust of progress. At the same time, I realize that if we are to see younger families join and become active in our congregation, there are some methods that are going to have to change.

The question is, how do we adjust our methods for reaching people, and bring our established members along through the changes? How do we get them on board? How do we make them feel at home through the changes? If I can find the answer to those questions, then I'll be able to invite you to the dedication of our new state of the art worship facility. Until then, we meet at 1045 West Commerce in Brownwood, Texas, at 11 a.m. on Sunday mornings.