Tag: discipleship (Page 14 of 23)

What’s Our Purpose?

July 25, 2022 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

It’s really no secret what I do for a living. I’m a pastor of a church in a small town in north central Ohio. As a pastor I’ve seen many amazing and wonderful things, witnessed significant challenges, walked with people through some dark moments, sat with people in their sadness, challenged people when their witness and lifestyle weren’t matching one another and lost some friends in the process. But with all of these seemingly varied activities with the wide range of emotions attached to them, what are we really here to do anyway? What is the purpose for our calling?

As followers of Jesus, as churches, and as gatherings of Christians what is our end goal?

I feel that for many in this world, the end goal has shifted and we’ve started to major in the minors so to speak. This means that we’ve made a big deal out of little things and a lesser deal out of bigger things. What follows is my honest, heartfelt assessment of some of the things we are missing the point on altogether.

One of my favorite things that Jesus never said but we pretend he did is spur one another on toward perfect attendance and passive observation.

When speaking of why the church exists and what we’re supposed to do as we gather, the Bible teaches that we’re to spur one another on toward love and good works not worship attendance. Jesus is far more concerned with how we live out what we say than he is how often we sit in our assigned seat at church. But for so many churches it seems as if we care more about how many are seated and less about how many are sent (more on that later).

The emphasis of the church should be to equip the saints, that’s the believers gathered, for works of service. But how often does that really happen? When we care more about attendance than actual participation and ownership of ministry life, we do a grave disservice to the gospel. If we’re truly supposed to spur one another on toward love and good works and to equip one another for works of service, then we have a long way to go.

These things really don’t take place in the corporate worship setting. Now, as I say often, don’t get your undies in a bunch! I am in NO way saying to throw corporate worship out the window. What I am saying is that we can’t put all of our proverbial eggs in the worship basket. And that seems exactly what the church is doing more and more of lately. So shifting our thinking from mere gathering to actually engaging in works of ministry together is critical as we move through some unsettled times in church history. But how do we do that?

One of those silly church cliches is that we need to focus more on sending capacity and less on seating capacity. But no matter how cheesy that is, there is massive truth in it! The more we focus on numbers in worship and who’s here and who isn’t here, the less we see what Jesus really called us to be. And the less we see what he is already doing in our midst.

Now don’t use this as a license to not participate in worship! The Bible also says that we should want to come and worship. We should not neglect coming together! As a matter of fact the more we grow in our service and sending natures, the more powerful our desire to be in worship. And the more we really are present in worship, the more desire we have to be serving and being sent. It’s a cool cycle where one feeds the other. Not being a part of a worship gathering is the result of not being sold out on the heart of being a follower of Jesus. And not allowing yourself to be sent out is a result of not being transformed by the message of Scripture.

We must have both and approach to ministry together. We need to meet together. So invite one another to join for worship, bible study, small groups, fellowship gatherings, outings of all sorts! But don’t stop there…take those worship moments, bible study or small groups and do acts of service. Encourage one another in how they serve. Move one another out of their comfort zones to do something significant in someone’s life that forces them to rely on God.

What’s our purpose? Sure our purpose is to worship, but it’s so much more than that. If all we do is worship, we miss a huge part of what it means to be the body of Christ! If all we do is serve, we miss what it means to find real rest and healing at the feet of Jesus. We need both!

Never Give Up

July 13, 2022 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

I was recently given a book titled Walk In My Combat Boots. It’s a collection of stories from men and women who have served in military service here in the United States. They are from all branches of the United States Military but they had a very common theme. Never give up.

No, they didn’t come right out and say that line. It’s not a quote from anything on the pages of this book, but each story contained a scenario that would have caused most humans at best to freeze in their tracks and give their calling a second thought. However on every page of this book are written the stories of the brave men and women who, even in the face of massive adversity and even probable death, didn’t want to throw in the towel. They wanted to get back to their job. They wanted to go back to the fight. They demanded to get back to their brothers and sisters in arms.

Now some of you are men and women who’ve served, so for you this is likely a part of your thought process still to this day. And for that service, I say thank you. I don’t know all you gave up, but as an Army dad I know in part what that sacrifice looks like in my own son.

But for the rest of us, who’ve never dawned the uniform from any branch of service, I think we’ve grown pretty weak. Ok not all of us but for sure a sweeping generalization that likely would hold water is that we’ve grown so used to our comforts that we’ve grown weak. Giving up is easier than persevering and we know it.

While it’s true that giving up is far easier than pushing through a problem, giving up will leave you empty and cost you far more than the struggle of persevering. The stories contained in this book deal with lost limbs and severely damaged nerves, emotionally torn men and women who should go home for rehab or sit on the sidelines and let someone else fight this one. But in every single account that was not the reaction of these brave men and women.

Put me back in coach! That’s essentially their call. They realized that giving up now would be giving up when they still have something left to offer.

I like to workout, that’s really no secret. And this theme of never give up has been one I’ve wrestled with over the years. Do I give up too soon? Do I have another set in me? Can I do that last pushup? It’s like the old children’s story The Little Engine That Could. When faced with an obstacle that seems insurmountable, what’s your go to mental state? Do you think you can? Or have you already defeated yourself before you even get started?

I think it was Eisenhower who is credit with the quote Whether think you can or you can’t either way you’re right. Ok so the quote is something along those lines. So often our attitude is a self fulfilling prophecy.

The short answer is to never give up. When you think you’re done, you likely have the capacity to do about 40% more. That means you’re quitting at just beyond half of your potential. Think about that the next time you’re ready to throw in the towel on mile 2 of a 5K run. That means you easily have the potential for that run and then some!

I understand that life is hard and that some situations are legit challenge. But throwing in the towel is not an option. Giving up is not the way to make it through.

Your challenge: do just one more. That’s it. Whatever you’re doing that makes you feel like you want to quit, go just one more. One more rep at the gym. One more mile on the treadmill. One more chapter in that book. Telling your child one more time the same exact thing. One more is all it takes to realize you have more in you than you gave yourself credit for all along.

Never give up! It’ll cost you far more if you give up than the pain of pushing through.

Now Why Would You Do That?

July 12, 2022 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

I remember vividly the day I came home from school and told my parents that I wanted to be a pastor. I remember the look on their faces. I remember the curious looks in their eyes. I remember them voicing their questions about my choice. They didn’t doubt or try to change my mind by any means. They just seemed taken aback by the difference.

Think about it for a second. Most 6th grade boys don’t come home and tell their parents they want to be a pastor. Generally the job choice of a sixth grade boy is a firefighter, police officer, soldier in the military or something along those lines. But a pastor? Not very typical for sure!

I have to be clear here. My parents have been nothing short of supportive. They have walked alongside me throughout the entire journey of college and seminary (pastor school). They’ve traveled to visit me when I was doing my internship in Colorado. They were there for my first Sunday in the first church I was able to serve in Cincinnati. They’ve attended many services and even to this day drive nearly an hour to come and be a part of the church God has called me to today.

You see their question wasn’t a sign of disagreement. It was a question to make sure I was hearing correctly the call of God. I remember how they responded when I told them. Their response was the question Now why would you do that? We then embarked on a journey to talk about what a pastor did and how they lived and even a very high view of what they got paid.

I told my parents that I’m not doing it for the money. To which my dad replied Yeah but the retirement benefits are out of this world. If you don’t get the humor then you’re not a fan of dad jokes. Retirement for many pastors is when they die. Therefore retirement benefit is heaven. That was his point. So chuckle if you’d like.

Throughout my 20 years as a pastor I’ve tried to maintain one focus. I’ve tried to keep one thing in front of me all the time. I’m not perfect so I don’t do this perfectly either, however I still try daily to keep this focus.

Jesus is my reward. I know it might sound a tad cheesy and all that but a pastor’s salary isn’t always the highest paying job in the world. I remember leaving the car sales world and taking the call to serve where I am currently. My salary was cut in half. I went from a job where the harder I worked the more I made. The greater the hustle the higher the paycheck. To a salary that isn’t affected by the hours worked or the late nights away from family or the heartbreaking losses I see. But that isn’t the point.

Jesus is our reward. Not just for a pastor. Not just for me. But for all of us. When we go through life realizing that our reward isn’t here. Our paycheck, even if it isn’t enough to get all the things we desire, is not what God has in store for us. He cares about our daily needs but even more so he desires for us to know him and to realize just how much we’ve been loved by him.

One of the greatest dangers for pastors and church workers is to compare themselves and the ministry they lead to other churches who’ve seemingly become popular or successful. Doing this only takes your focus off of what is truly important, and in case you still don’t get it – that’s Jesus.

So whether you are president of your company or a custodial artist (aka janitor), Jesus is your greatest reward. Whether you’re raking in a six figure salary or you barely have two nickels to rub together, Jesus is your greatest reward. Whether you serve a congregation of thousands or you have three faithful families showing up every weekend, Jesus is your greatest reward. We need to change some of the metrics a bit to allow us to realize just how big Jesus as our reward truly is.

So why would you do that? Jesus is why we do that.

Moving The Sticks

June 7, 2022 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

I’m one of those people who thinks in pictures. So you say cookie and I picture a homemade chocolate chip cookie. You say truck and I picture the truck I currently drive, no matter what exact truck you’re referring to! Knowing how my mind works, I thought I’d share some things to consider when we talk about discipleship and why we do it.

The image in my head…

I love football. Not the whole national, professional kind of football but what I consider the good old college kind of hard hitting, forcing the ball down the field kind of football. There are a few things about football that just about everyone knows. There are lines that mark what is in bounds and what is out of bounds. There is a goal line. There are hash marks to help position the ball on the field and to help each team know how far they need to go in order to move the sticks. This is what some people call getting a first down. If you’re not a football fan, I’m sorry this illustration will likely be lost on you.

How do we move the sticks in the Christian church? Now I’m not talking about the institutional church that revolves around a building with a steeple and an hour or so once a week. The church to which I’m referring consists of the people who together have one confession of faith. The church is less the thing we do and more the people we are. It is less a time or space and more an act of gathering and doing life together.

With this understanding of church, how do we move the sticks? How do we know when we’re doing what we’re called to do? The illustration of moving the sticks is about moving forward and going in the right direction. How do we know if the church is moving in the right direction? And making any kind of positive progress while doing it?

Simply put the church that moves in the right direction will be making disciples. They will have proper worship and will do the things that are marks of the church. But the forward momentum of the church isn’t measured in worship, attendance, giving, or many of the butts in the seats kind of measures we typically use. According to the Bible, the forward momentum of the church is measured by how disciples are made.

This is why discipleship is so very important in the life of the church. If churches are not making disciples, then they’re not doing the one thing Jesus told us to be doing. I think we stop making disciples because we have a hard time measuring what a disciple is. We don’t have a 12 step program for making disciples. So we tend to measure things that we can measure like worship attendance and how strictly one adheres to a set standard of tradition. But moving the sticks as a church, so to speak, happens when we help people move from mere observers in their faith lives to men and women who own their faith.

Moving the sticks for the church isn’t about growing a local church or even enlarging the church budget, but it’s about working with men and women who believe in Jesus. It’s about helping them see the depth and breadth and width of Jesus’ love for them in their everyday lives.

The end goal stays the same, living in eternity with Jesus. But the markers along the road as we get there are the making of disciples. We took time to define what a disciple is here. And how disciples gather here. One of the keys to achieving anything is knowing you’re on the right track. And that happens best by checking your progress against some form of measuring stick. As institutional churches live out their calling of teaching and preaching the truth of Jesus, administering the sacraments rightly and gathering for public worship that glorifies God, we are called to do something bigger and more impactful for the men and women who gather in our buildings.

Discipleship isn’t a fad or a good idea. It’s actually what God commanded in the Bible. Jesus even gives us a great picture of what discipleship looks like. Discipleship is not a program that we funnel everyone through. We’ll discuss the fallacy of discipleship funnel in a future post, but for now this is not a time to create a program or add a staff person. Discipleship is critical because it’s the way Jesus grew His ministry. It’s critical because He commanded it. It’s critical because it’s the way Jesus continues to bless highly.

Long and short, the best way to move the sticks and measure our advancement as churches in the world isn’t found in more people in worship or larger budgets or additional programs. The way we move the sticks is by making disciples who make disciples.

Four Parts To An Effective Gathering

May 24, 2022 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

The last time we got together we discussed two key steps for making disciples along with a critical definition. You can find more details on those here, but the point is to read the bible daily and meet weekly with your triad to break down what you’ve read. It’s really that simple. Now there are undoubtedly some questions about what one of these triad things looks like and what you do when you get together. Again don’t complicate this thing!

In the church we tend to make everything into a program that has rules and boundaries and set times and set curriculum and all the things. One of the beauties of discipleship triads is that they are simple, straightforward, anyone can do them, and they don’t require a lot of resources or training. They’re also extremely reproducible, which is an absolute must. You can do this as a pastor or a church member. You can do these in a church of 50,000 or 50! It doesn’t matter how big or small or how much formal education you have because the Bible is our text book and the Holy Spirit is our teacher. We have all we need!

I have a friend named Brian who used to say how much do you need to know to share the Jesus that you know. The idea is that you already have all you need as soon as you open the bible! It’s all about knowing Jesus more fully and intimately. You don’t need a study guide or the use of the church building. You don’t need a degree or a set of hard and fast questions. All you need is the Bible and a couple of friends and you’re off!

Community Building

So what do these groups look like? They look like a group of men or women who genuinely care about each other and their spiritual well being. So take the first bit of time when you connect in your weekly gatherings, that I call a huddle, to get to know what’s going on. Just catch up a little because a lot can happen in a week.

Ok so I call these things huddles because it’s kind of like the offense getting together before snapping the ball to make sure they’re on the same page. These weekly gatherings, not a substitute for or part of a worship service, are where we gather our team to get on the right page. So start by catching up on how the week has been. All the normal conversation things.

Good questions to consider here are:

What are your highs? Lows?
What are your prayer needs today?
What are you really struggling with in life this week?
What success has come in your life since we were together last?
What in your life is worthy of praising God for right now?

Biblical Equipping

This portion is taking the Bible and opening it up to see what’s inside. You’ll go through your reading that you did apart this week and see what God was up to. The point of Biblical equipping is to do more than just read a paragraph but to interact with it on a personal level. There are no set questions needed for this section but I’ll give you a few to consider. You’re not looking for deep notes on translations and all that but simply what is God saying? What are you hearing? Here are two methods I find helpful when interacting with a section of the Bible:

SOAP – this uses the word as an acronym for Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer

What section of the Bible are you referring to? Write the verse, sentence or even a couple of words down.
What was happening in the text? What did the original hearers of this message get from it?
What does this mean for me today? Why should I even care about this in my life right now?
What prayer has God laid on my heart after reading this passage?

Observe…Investigate…Apply – this uses three sets of questions that can be used for any Bible reading and are aimed at helping us dive deeper into a better understanding of what God has in store for us in each section of the Bible.

Observe

What’s going on in this passage?
Who’s talking? Who’s listening?
What are the important words, people, or ideas?
What is my first impression of the passage?

Investigate

What can I discover about God?
What questions would I like to ask God about this passage?
What can I discover about myself?
What can I learn about God’s picture of a healthy spiritual life?
What can I do to encourage or discourage this health?

Apply

What is one take-away truth that the Holy Spirit would like me to think about today?
How would God like to change my life if I applied this passage?
What’s one specific and practical way I could respond to this passage in the next 24-48 hours?

Pray For Each Other

One really important part of these triad groups is that you all pray for one another. You have to resist the fear that you won’t have the right words. This prayer isn’t about sounding all churchy. It’s about caring for those in the triad and addressing the concerns they already mentioned.

Think of prayer as a conversation where you talk and lay out your thanks and concerns then spend the rest of the week listening to the answers that are all around you. Keep the prayer short if needed. Don’t worry about fancy phrases or sounding like you have something pre-written for you to read. A good acronym for you is the word pray – praise, repent, ask, yield. Thank him for what he’s done. Admit where we’ve failed. Ask for help. Then yield for answers.

Accountability Is Key

Finally, each time you get together you have to make sure you have next steps. How are you going to take what you talked about today and put it into practice? This is laying out the mission in front of you all and then holding each other accountable for reaching it. The more you meet, the more this will help in your catch up time at the beginning of the next meeting.

You can still start by asking about the kids or wife or work but having something to hold one another accountable for is a great asset in transitioning to the new topic for the day. This will also give you things to pray for throughout the week apart.

So the key here isn’t to make things challenging. It’s actually about leaving the structure wide open to make it easier to adjust based on life circumstances. The point is to have the bible as a daily rhythm for life and a group of 2-3 of you who meet regular to huddle your way through next steps of applying what you believe.

Two Key Parts To Get Started With Discipleship

May 17, 2022 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

The church world has this word that we use a lot but have a hard time characterizing or defining. The word to which I’m referring is discipleship. The key for me here is a good definition which I’ll give you in a minute, in addition to a couple simple steps. Then over the next several weeks, we’ll unpack a little more about discipleship and what it looks like in the real world. So the definition is pretty important and after studying the Bible it became super clear to me. You don’t have to use my definition, but you need some sort of definition. So here’s mine:

Discipleship is the process of being transformed into the image of Christ for the sake of others.

There are some loaded terms and ideas in this definition that we’re honestly not going to get to in this post, but the key for us today is the transformed and for others parts of the definition. So let’s get started!

Transformation is something far bigger than that cool sci-fi show where alien robots become cars and airplanes. As a matter of fact the outside change isn’t really the point of our transformation at all. The outer transformation will happen in time, but we need to get the inside in the right place first.

How do we transform in this way then?

The bible tells us that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds in Christ Jesus. That means quite simply that we need to be consuming, in large quantities and on a regular basis, the things that Jesus said and did. Simply put we need a regular and frequent diet of time in the Bible. The Spirit of God will do the work of transformation. That’s not up to us. The reading of and spending time in the Bible is the part we can do. This is step one. And you cannot get these out of order!

Read your bible. I know that sounds like something a pastor would typically say. I get it and to be honest you probably expect something like this. But the point is, the only power to work any kind of transformation is found in the things that Jesus taught and did. And the only place where we get that in its purest form is in the Bible. So spend time in your Bible. Read the gospels to get a good handle on who Jesus was, what he did, and what difference he made for his immediate followers.

My personal recommendation is to start with the book of John. In my mind, it’s the simplest of the gospels and contains more of a storied approach to Jesus’ life. Take a chapter a day. Just read it. Read it word for word even if you’ve read it before a thousand times! Just read it. If you need to get a bigger picture when reading, go through a few chapters a day and then repeat that the next day. The key is the Bible and being intentional about your time in the Bible.

Invite someone else to join you. There’s a rule of thumb that I use in my life that says if something is important or special to you, you’re going to want others to be a part of that or know about it. We get a new job and we want our friends to know. We make a good dinner and we want all of social media to see it. (Ok small jab at those who post constant pictures of their food). But matters of faith are absolutely no different. You and I need to spend time working through our Bibles, and it’s true we can do that alone. But the second critical step that just can’t be short cut is to invite a couple people to come along with you.

It goes something like this. You do your readings and they do theirs. Then once a week you get together to talk about what you read. It’s like a mini-small-group. I call them triads. You see in my mind the best way to go through this transformation process is for you to invite someone and have that person bring a friend too. The more you share it the more you own it. This serves a couple different purposes.

First it gives ownership. When you invite someone you really tend to stand behind it. The second reason is that you have built in accountability. When someone else is doing something with you, then you’re more likely to actually do your part.

These are not one and done kind of steps. They need to be done continually until they become part of your life. The key is to keep sharing this with one or two people then let them do the same. This process of being transformed into Christ’s image could make a massive impact on your home, neighborhood, work, friend circle and even your community as more and more of you grow in the image of Christ through a guided time in God’s word.

The point is to start in the word and stay in the word together. The word alone has the power to transform lives. Events don’t change lives. Books written by men don’t change lives. Good feels from a good song don’t change lives. Honestly your time in worship doesn’t change your life. God alone through his word changes lives all the time. So how about it? Grab a friend. Challenge each other to a chapter of John and have them bring a friend along for the journey. Then sit and chat once a week over coffee, a phone call or a zoom meeting, and see how God is transforming each of you. We’ll talk next time about what one of those weekly check ins looks like but for now call a friend and open that bible!

Mission Driven Metrics

May 12, 2022 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

For decades the church has done a relatively decent job at measuring the things that are measurable. Things like church attendance, Sunday School attendance, offerings are the typical measures for a local congregation. But is there a better metric? Is there a metric that better aligns with the present reality of the church life in which we currently exist?

To start with, I want to be clear, that measuring things like attendance and offerings is not a bad thing. As a matter of fact they give us a baseline view of the church. Is the church growing numerically? Are we slowly dying and need to figure out why? So by all means, measure these things. But don’t stop here. There is so much more that we need to be about as churches and this is just the surface.

Are we asking how people are sharing their faith?

Part of the life and ministry of any local church should be built around the idea of sharing stories of faith. If we’re not sharing our faith stories, then how will others know who we are and why we exist? One of the powerhouse metrics is the simple question: with whom have you shared your faith this week?

I know this question seems like an intangible type of metric. It doesn’t measure someone coming through your doors or giving to the mission of the congregation financially, but it measures how much someone buys into the mission by sharing it with someone else.

Do people live differently?

The bible teaches that a follower of Christ is one who is transformed by the renewing of our minds in Christ. This means that we need to look and act different than the world. So how are people in the local church context behaving differently? How are they showing signs of spiritual maturity? What are the men and women of the local church doing that demonstrate their close relationship with Jesus?

In the congregation I am honored to serve, we have a pathway or cycle that we use to measure this kind of life change. We call it our discipleship pathway. I’ve talked about this in other posts but here’s a quick 30,000 foot view of the way we measure and why it works for us. Quick note – do not just copy someone else’s activities or even metrics without knowing why they do it and why it works for them.

Our discipleship pathway is a circle that is constantly repeated and never ending. Kind of like a wheel on a bicycle that spins over and over and over. This is what we’re looking for in the life of followers of Jesus. The wheel has four key quadrants kind of like a pie. These quadrants are worship, grow, serve, and invite. And each of them represent a different way in which people engage in the life of the local church.

Worship is pretty much what you’d expect. It’s engaging in the Sunday morning (or whatever day you worship) experience. It’s going to worship, singing songs, hearing the message, being with others. These are lifelong followers of Jesus and those new to the faith. This number fluctuates based on time of year, cultural norms and key events in people’s lives. This is the attendance number that most churches measure. It’s a good number! But we can’t stop here.

We use the attendance or worship number as a baseline. You see when this number increases, the other numbers should increase in like manner, which brings me to the second stop in our Discipleship Pathway: grow.

Grow is representative of all the public gatherings of people around matters of faith. So for this number we watch Sunday morning Bible class, small groups, and any other gathering of people within the congregation. The point is when the worship numbers increase this number should rise at an equal rate. If these numbers don’t move together, then we have a spiritual health problem.

So measuring the measurables is really important! But we have to look at the whole picture. The point of discipleship is not just about worship. If, as pastors or church leaders, we only measure worship then we’re missing the boat of growing people in Christ. And we’re selling the Christian life drastically short. When I look out at the congregation on a Sunday, it is exciting to see new faces in worship. But even more exciting yet is when I see those same new faces join us for some Bible class or small group activity. Whether it’s an in-person gathering or a virtual one, welcoming new faces into more than just worship is critical to the overall health and vibrancy of a congregation.

Serve is exactly what is sounds like but maybe not where or how you’d think. The next step in the spiritual maturity and overall health of a congregation is breaking the 80/20 rule. I’m sure you’ve heard that in any organization, churches not excluded, 20% of the people do 80% of the work. Well this measure of health addresses this very problem. When a church is healthy and vibrant and the people of the church are spiritually growing and mature, there will be a plethora of servants available to pull off key tasks and start new ministries.

So how this works in our pathway of discipleship is pretty simple. Just like the grow quadrant, when worship increases and participation in grow activities increase those serving in a variety of places in the life of the church should increase at an equal rate. If people aren’t getting involved in acts of service inside the church structure, then you’re starting to notice signs of a consumer driven church and this is not healthy.

Invite is the old evangelism idea with a little twist. In traditional evangelism the idea is just getting someone to go to church. While this is not bad by any stretch of the imagination, it lacks personal relationship. And relationship is critical to what we’re called to be about as Christians. The point here is that we invite people to join us on the very same journey we’ve been on for a time.

When we invite people to come along with us, it keeps us accountable and shows that we have an ownership of the ministry to which we’ve become attached.

There’s no golden ticket on how to measure things in ministry. But the key is we can’t just stop at the easy stuff. Spiritual growth and discipleship are far more than Sunday morning worship. And our metrics need to be about more than butts in seats and bucks in the budget!

Learn To Fail

May 5, 2022 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

No one likes to fail. Well, I’m pretty sure no one does, but I guess there could be that rogue person who just longs to fail at everything they do. Still failing isn’t really all that fun. But, oddly enough, I’m a huge advocate for teaching people how to fail because I firmly believe that failure is the best teacher.

In a former life I was a church planter. That pretty much is a person who desires to see a church started in a given area so they start it from just a seed of a few people. There’s no land, not much money, no formalized group of people, and often not even a building. The goal is over time to build a team to help you build relationships and start a church. Well, as I was building my team to start this would be church, one of the first questions I’d ask people was are you willing to fail.

If a person isn’t willing to fail then they’re sure to never succeed.

I firmly believe if we don’t have a willingness to fail, fear will creep in to the point where we won’t ever really accomplish the things we’re setting out to accomplish. In other words, fear of failing will seize us from taking the necessary risks needed to move forward. This is true on so many levels in our personal and professional lives.

If we are afraid of dropping a weight on ourselves while weight lifting, then we won’t stretch ourselves to lift heavy. If we’re unwilling to fail in a race then we won’t ever run. If we’re not willing to miss out on the promotion, then we likely won’t even apply for the job. There are so many places where failure is critical for success! I know that sounds like a contradiction but think about it.

Ever hear of WD-40? Most people know that it stands for Water Displacer. But the 40 is often lost. It represents the 40th try before getting it right. That means he failed 39 times before coming up with the product he was really trying to make. Thirty-nine failures? Most people would have given up after the third failed attempt. But 39?!?!

You see failure, while it doesn’t teach us the right answer, it always narrows down the field of possibilities. Every failure shows us what not to do. The issue is that most of us don’t research our failures closely enough to find out why they failed.

I have failed more times than I can even count! I know that each failure gets me closer to the real answer. Our system in life doesn’t really allow for failure in many places in life but I think a good leader will give his/her people the freedom to fail. When we teach people how to fail, we truly empower them to succeed.

One last illustration on failure. I can remember vividly learning how to ride a bicycle. I did the training wheel thing for a time but eventually I needed to learn how to balance without those extra (ugly) wheel additions. So my dad held my bike and ran with me as long as he could. But eventually he had to let go. In letting go he enabled me to fail. He was pretty sure that I’d fall but it was in falling off my bike that I learned how important balance really was. If I didn’t fall off my bike (read fail), then I would never have realized how important it is to not look behind you constantly to see if your dad is still holding the seat.

Failure is critical to any area of success. Until we’re able to embrace the failures in life, we’ll never experience the true success of which we’re capable.

On A Mission

April 20, 2022 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

Have you ever seen someone walk with authority? Or listen to someone talk with authority? It’s so cool to hear or see someone who owns their position in life. It’s like they are on a mission to accomplish something.

Most of my life is lived this way if I’m being honest. I generally walk and talk with conviction. I move a little faster than most, and I talk a little louder than many. Even if I’m unsure of something, I find it’s much better to boldly stand for what you’re doing than be all apologetic before you even speak. Then if I say or do something that’s not right, I’ll apologize but I’d much rather do that after I mess up than before I even have a chance to screw things up.

There’s a saying I grew up hearing that said if you’re going to sin, sin boldly. Now this statement in and of itself isn’t really all that helpful because it kind of sounds like we’re advocating doing the wrong things. The point isn’t to go out and do as much illegal activity as possible. It’s not even assuming that since you’re not perfect and going to mess up sooner or later that you may as well just excuse your bad behavior today. The saying is actually about confidence and conviction.

If you’re going to do something boldly it means you’re not going to just tip toe into it. It’s like the child at the swimming pool. Just jump in! I admire that about children actually. I love how they just jump in the pool. They don’t dangle their feet over the edge to get acclimated to the temperature of the water. No they jump in. Generally in a big splashy kind of way. Cannon balls. Bell flops. Just big old splash inducing jumps into the water.

But as we get older, we lose the courage to do this. We lose the adventure and wonder of jumping into the pool. But not just with jumping in the pool. We lose the courage in a lot of areas. We become toe dippers instead of belly floppers.

Sure there’s a time and a place for calculated risks and knowing your limits and all that. I totally understand being situationally cautious. But no every situation has to be fully mapped out before we begin to move. Not every situation needs a known ending before we take the first step.

I’d like to encourage you to take a step. Just one forward moving step. It might feel like you’re jumping into the deep end of the pool, but it’s one step. Move forward one little step and throw a little caution to the wind. Be confident in who you are and what you’re called to do. It’s not about being reckless. It’s about being confident and courageous and living like someone on a mission.

Grief Sucks

March 22, 2022 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

We’ve all experienced it. We’ve all seen it. Felt it. Went through it. We’ve all had the taste of loss put in our mouths. Maybe the loss of a loved one to cancer. Maybe it was the loss of a job. Maybe we didn’t get the promotion and feel as if we lost out on something big. Maybe it’s the feeling of loss we have when a child moves out of the house. Maybe it’s the loss of a friend or even a spouse. All of these losses cause us to go through a time of grief. And to put it mildly, grief sucks.

Grief sucks because it’s hard. Grief is hard because there’s no clear cut path to make our way through it. And when we’re in an uncomfortable place, our number one priority is to get through it. We don’t want to be in a challenging situation any longer than is absolutely necessary. Grief is no different.

Everything around us tells us that we need to get over our grief. Sure people don’t say that but when you listen to their words, it’s pretty evident. We don’t like being around crying people because we don’t know what to say or do. So we try to give some feel good platitude that makes us feel like we’re doing something, but it really isn’t helpful in the least to the person grieving.

Grief is hard because it’s like quicksand. When we fall into grief, the more we resist it the more it sucks us right into its awful grasp. We become so tunnel visioned on the loss and the pain associated with it, that we can’t see anything positive around us at all.

Grief is suffered in moments, but is meant to be lived out in stories.

Think about it for a minute. The last time you were in a place of grief, what was your focus? It was the loss and only the loss. We become so tunnel visioned that we can’t see beyond the loss and the feelings of pain and abandonment associated with grief. It’s as if grief is all that’s left in life. But grief isn’t the end of the story, at least it doesn’t have to be.

When we realize that grief is acceptable and that there are stages of grief that allow us to move through it and not get trapped in the middle of it, we can soon see the power of baby steps. First of all, don’t hear what I’m not saying here. Grief is not something you need to get over. But you do need to move through. We all need to make progress walking through the darkness and loneliness of grief but we don’t do it alone.

As a pastor, I look at life a little different than some. I believe that grief has a very important purpose in our lives. Grief is a way to check ourselves on what’s important. Grief helps us see who and what is around us to walk with us through challenge. Grief, although awful, doesn’t get the final word.

I’ve suffered some pretty significant losses in life. From losing two grandparents in less than a year, to losing close friends, having to close a church and leave the people behind that I loved dearly. Loss is hard. It sucks to be honest. But grief is part of a story that is being written, but it doesn’t have to be the final chapter.

Another way to look at grief is to not let it have the final word. When we keep staring our loss in the face, day in and day out, we’re letting the pain and loss and grief consume us. The moment is becoming the story. It’s as if grief is getting to put a period, hard stop at the end of our joy. But that’s not healthy and it’s not even true!

Grief isn’t a period. It’s a comma. The purpose of a period is to show an ending. The purpose of a comma is to help you pivot to a new line of thought taking into account what just happened. This means that the loss you are experiencing right now can lead you to something next that could only be experienced with the taste of grief in your mouth. I know that’s hard to swallow because we just want it to end, but that’s not how grief works.

Grief has to run its course. For some it’s days. For others it takes months or even years. You’ll never get over the loss. But you’ll grow through the grief. The point is simple. Don’t let grief have the final say. Don’t let grief be a period where God intends a comma. Don’t let the moments of grief prevent you from experiencing the fullness of the story of your life. Grief sucks, but it’s not the end of your story.

Please note: if you are suffering from a loss and feel massive burdens of anxiety and depression, I would encourage you to find a professional to help you. There is absolutely nothing wrong with talking to someone who can help you process the grief and find healthy tools to aide in coping with the weight of grief. You’re not in this alone.

Tag: discipleship (Page 14 of 23)

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