Tag: Jesus (Page 18 of 53)

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!

Things Aren’t Always As They Seem

April 11, 2022 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

Growing up in the church world I was taught about good and bad, God and Satan, heaven and hell. We even had some of those not so greatly illustrated kids books about these topics. One image that always stuck out at me was the one of the devil, Satan. I don’t know about you but growing up I always thought of the devil as being red with horns and a pitchfork. I remember thinking why would anyone want to follow after something that told you it was going to hurt you? Why would anyone want that?

But over time I dug into the Bible for myself and started to realize that the kid’s version of these images wasn’t exactly correct. You see if they were, then very few people who really follow something like that. As a matter of fact, I started to realize that the devil’s goal might not be what I always thought it was either.

If you’re anything like me, you probably have had this notion that Satan wants us to worship him. Like he’s building a fan club or something. But what if that wasn’t his goal? What if his goal was much simpler than that? What if he didn’t care about our allegiance to him at all? What if I told you that we all have a little Satan worship in us?

Now for those of you died in the wool, church going types, you’re likely shaking your head thinking I’m off my rocker. And while I might be a little nutty, if you stick with me for a few minutes I’ll explain my thought process here. You see I don’t really think Satan cares who we follow or to whom we pledge our allegiance as long as it’s not Jesus. In other words, Satan is just trying to distract us from the only way to salvation. He hates all things Jesus so much that he’ll be glad if we follow anyone, anything as long as it’s not Jesus.

Still not convinced? Ok so think about the last time you sat down to read your bible or do a little quiet time in prayer. What happened? Did you get distracted? Did you think about the plans for the day? Or maybe where you want to go on vacation this summer? What about that noise you don’t remember hearing before that you just can’t seem to ignore? What about that funny feeling in your stomach? Are you hungry? Why are you so tired?

Am I onto something here? We sit down to do anything that draws our heart closer to Jesus and all hell breaks loose in our minds. We can’t stay focus for anything. And that’s just what Satan wants. He’s no idiot. Actually, he’s pretty darn smart. He knows that Jesus is the only way. He knows there’s no plan B when it comes to salvation. So all he has to do is to get us to look the other way. Anything else is fine as long as it’s not Jesus.

The goal then is to make us sit idly by and do nothing. He wants us to just let the world spin around us and keep us so focused on the pace of life, the hurry in our schedules, our wants, our desires, our passions, our…anything. As long as we’re not focused on Jesus. As long as we’re just sitting in neutral in life, Satan wins. Neutral is no good. Neutral means we’re not committed. Neutral makes us just as easily moved away from Jesus as toward him. The Bible even tells us to be hot for him or cold against him but none of this lukewarm, neutral, stuff. Neutral gets us in a really bad way in Christian life.

So the long and short is to make a decision right here, right now. Whom will you follow? Will it be Jesus? Or will it be anything else? There’s only one way and his name is Jesus. Nothing else will work. Nothing else will do. Nothing else will even come close.

I love the verse from Joshua 24 that says choose this day whom you will serve. How about it? Whom are you going to serve? God chose you in Jesus before the foundations of the world. Today he asks you to follow his lead and choose him.

Life Is About Perspective

March 23, 2022 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

Every situation in life comes with a choice of how we’re going to approach it. Are we going to try to find a problem in every situation, or are we going to be part of a solution? I read an article recently where the author said it has to be exhausting to always be looking for a problem in the world. Pray for those people. I never really thought of that before, but it’s so very true! And it reminds me of something I learned as a child and that we teach regularly.

If all we do is search for something wrong, I can guarantee you’ll be able to find it. But I can also guarantee that you’ll be a much less joyful person in the process. It seems that we live in a world where people are riddled with this desire to find a problem. We listen to the news to pick apart the facts that are presented. We scroll through our social media feeds to find something written that doesn’t line up with what we think, believe, or how we live. We look at people and judge their actions or clothing or speaking just to find something wrong with them.

Does it make us feel better? Do we do this in an effort to build ourselves up by using the pieces of someone else’s life that we smashed?

If you have to smash someone else’s life in an effort to make yourself look or feel better, then you my friend not only have a problem but frankly are a problem. There’s a principle that we teach in the church that’s based on one of the commands of God in the Old Testament. Put the best construction on everything.

Do you do that? Do you read someone’s social, listen to them speaking, watch them walking, evaluate their clothing situation and put the best construction on them? Or do we jump to conclusions and judge based on what our preconceived opinion sees and hears?

Look, I get it. Not everyone is like you. And you aren’t going to agree with everyone. But there are some things that you can just let go. You don’t have to be the social media troll that pipes up on everything you don’t agree with just to raise trouble.

Now as in everything in life, there are exceptions to this just keep quiet rule. There are times when it is very beneficial and even necessary to say something. If someone is living a life that is dangerous, incongruent with their expressed belief, or just out of the norm for them. These can be indicators that something is drastically wrong. But make sure to check your heart and your motives before you say something. Carefully evaluate your intentions. Are you doing this for you or for them? Is your intent to gain understanding of what’s going on in their life or to infuse their life with your opinion?

If we truly pause long enough to evaluate our intentions, then it’s very likely most of the things we were going to say are not necessary or even beneficial. So it’s really all about perspective. Are you looking at something from your vantage point and trying to make someone else see your side of things? Or are you selflessly entering a conversation with no agenda other than to humbly learn someone else’s point of view? When you figure this out, you’ll soon see what it means to put the best construction on everything.

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.

Welcome to the Table

March 21, 2022 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

My family has a tradition that formed several years ago. Once a month we gather for a family dinner. I think it started when we all kind of had established lives that took us in a variety of directions. Being from a larger family where everyone is busy with work and other functions of life, it’s hard to be together on a daily basis. And my parents didn’t want us to drift apart as a family. Hence family dinner.

I will admit sometimes those family dinners roll around and it’s just hard to make the time. Maybe it’s my schedule that’s too full or the fact that I rarely have a weekend free or I just don’t want to make the drive? But whatever it is sometimes it takes a little effort to get me out the door to one of these gatherings. Now before anyone (yes even you mom and dad) get upset or hurt by this hear me out.

It’s always worth it. Yes I said it. Giving up what I want to go to one of these family gatherings is always worth it. Even if I don’t get the living room painted or the lawn mowed or the you fill in the blank. It’s always worth it. But why? The purpose of coming to one of these family dinners is to keep us connected and enjoy the feast that’s been prepared.

Ok buckle up because we’re about to take a bit of a turn to hit a parallel road.

This is a lot like gathering for worship. We often don’t want to attend because well there are many things we could be doing instead. Things like sleeping for instance. Or maybe taking a slow morning for a good hearty breakfast. Or heading out for a calm, quiet Sunday walk around the park. Whatever it is, there are a million things that we could be doing on a Sunday. But we’ll never know what we’re missing until we show up.

So are you still with me here? Family dinner is like regularly gathering for worship. No we don’t worship our families or even have a worship service at a family dinner, but there’s a lot that happens when we gather with family that should resemble worship and vice versa.

If your worship experience isn’t like one of those family gatherings, then maybe you need to rethink what worship really is. And yes I know comparing a worship gathering to a family gathering is dangerous because every family has one of those people. Some people can’t stand gathering with family because they don’t really enjoy being near those people. That’s a shame for starters, but I really think life in the church is the same way. There are those people who say things without thinking, come across a little harsh, are just too loud, seem stuck on themselves, are just kind of annoying, and the list goes on.

But why do we gather? We don’t gather for family gatherings or a time of worship because we like everyone in the room. We do it because we’re a family and better together than apart. If we can’t handle the hard times of being a family then we really need to check our own hearts but that’s a post for a different time. So putting aside what I want for the sake of the gathering just might be worth it. You should try it!

Another similarity between these family dinners and worship is the meal. It’s great to sit down and feast on the meal. But one of the cool parts about gathering as a family is that often it’s not the parents who get the food for their kids. It’s one of the uncles or aunts. We kind of share the responsibility of preparing the plates of food. But everyone feeds themselves.

Think about it for a minute. How cool would it be if every person in church thought of it as their responsibility and even privilege to help everyone else grow in their faith! I love helping my nieces fill their plates as they get their food. (I don’t have young nephews on my side of the family or I’d help them too.) Could you imagine what the church would look like if men and women would share what they were learning with other people throughout the church, both young and old? Could you imagine how different things would be if not only the pastor was the one doing the teaching but every person who was growing in Christ found it their responsibility to ensure the Bible was taught and shared?

Sure someone has to prepare the meal. Sure someone has to make sure the pantry is stocked and the table is set. But when it all comes down to it, even my young nieces are able to pick up their utensils and feed themselves. They feed themselves the very food that we put on their plates. They feast on the meal that was prepared.

The long and short is this. Make time to gather most certainly with your family but also with your church family. Give up a little bit of you for the sake of those who haven’t seen you in a while. Help those around you navigate the food on the table. Show them the menu. Serve them the food. Then feast. Feast on the meal that’s been prepared. Enjoy the fellowship around the table while you fill yourself with all that’s been set before you.

Welcome to the table. It’s time to feast.

A Different Approach To Lent

March 18, 2022 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

May be an image of 6 people and people standing

The months of February and March are typically marked in the church by a season called Lent. Lent is that 40 time period that takes us from Ash Wednesday to Easter. Lent is a time of thinking, praying, and being a little more contemplative. Churches add worship services on Wednesdays for an extra time of gathering to remember all that Jesus did for us.

As a pastor, I’ve typically served churches that have done this very thing – gathering on Wednesdays for midweek Lent worship. The services have always looked the same too. We start with a song, read a reading, pray, a short message is preached, sing another song and then go home. All in all it is a mini version of what we do on a Sunday. But this year we’re doing it different.

This year, instead of a message being preached, we’re facilitating a conversation about a new set of Bible verses each week. We turn to the section of the Bible. I read it aloud and everyone follows along in their own Bibles. Then I turn the group loose to interact with the text. We’re using this as a time of training one another on how to eat all the words of the Bible. Kind of like teaching a child how to use their fork and knife, except here we’re teaching how to use the bible and some of its tools. Here’s what it looks like.

Know your tools

The first thing we do, before being sent off to work on some study questions, is unlock a tool. Better yet, we show how to use the tool that’s already in our hands a little more efficiently. You see, your bible is a great tool to access all of the goodness of God. But the problem is that many people don’t know how to use it to its fullest. So this Lent we’re giving people some fun tips and tricks for how to use the Bible to its fullest.

Throughout Lent we’re asking everyone to bring their bible to church. And I don’t mean bring a phone with a Bible on it but an actual paper Bible (yes they still make paper Bibles). The paper copy has some fun little extras inside that many might not be aware of! The goal is to help you learn how to best use your Bible so you can get the most out of it. And a side benefit is that you won’t have to rely on me to do the work for you because you’ll know how to dig into what the Bible says. The goal is simply to empower you to become obedient to God’s words, to eat on your own, to become mature in your following of Jesus.

This week we looked at the simple things. These tools are nothing earth shattering, but they’re really great things that can help a person in their study of God’s word. Our two tools this week were the little section headings and those mostly overlooked cross references.

The point of the headings in your Bible is to help you better navigate through reading. They weren’t part of the original text. They were added as little tools to make reading the Bible easier. We used them to help track down the same passage in multiple books of the Bible.

The second tool we highlighted was the use of cross reference notes. These are really useful additions to the Bible to help you see how the rest of the Bible talks about a given topic. If you trace those cool cross references around the Bible, you could gain a significant insight into what the Bible means when it says a given word or phrase and why it might be important still today.

Talk about it.

After we read the text and introduce people to the tools available to them, we literally turned them loose to answer a few simple questions and have a healthy discussion about what they read. It was totally different than anything we’ve done before, but it was great to watch and even listen to the various conversations happening. A normal worship service is so one way and the congregation is largely quiet. The style we are using through Lent is very much like what the New Testament book of Acts describes when the church was first formed.

I’m not sure what your routine is with the Bible, church or Lent; but it’s ok to try something new. It’s ok to do things a little differently in an effort to gain a little deeper understanding. The focus of the church should really be about raising people up and empowering them with the right tools to be able to grow in their faith on their own.

It’s called discipleship. It’s what Jesus commanded the church to be about in Matthew 28. It wasn’t a suggestion or a good idea. It was a command. It was a command given to the disciples to make more disciples. Not to the pastors. Not just the apostles. Not just the seminary educated *because they didn’t have seminary educated people back then! It was for the everyday follower of Jesus who was being transformed by the renewing of their minds.

So, what new approach can you take to your time in God’s word that will stretch you and allow you to feast on what God has put in front of you?

I Walk Too Fast

March 17, 2022 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

Ok so it’s no secret – I move quickly. I like to drive fast, walk fast, run fast, move fast in general. I even have a tendency to talk fast, and for that matter type fast which explains all of the uncaught grammar errors – sorry about that. I don’t like to sit around and do nothing. I am always busy. I’ve even been given a nickname by some members of the church I serve. I’ve been named Speedy PD (PD for Pastor D). But there comes a time when we all need to slow down. I think I’m realizing that I just walk too fast.

We used to go on family vacations to Disney when our children were younger. We’d hit the parks and see all there was to see. As a matter of fact, my children would tell me to get ready for my vacation walking. It was a type of walking that was faster than normal and allowed me to weave in and out of crowds so we could get where we wanted with limited delays. But if I’m being honest, I think I walk too fast.

For many reasons, I just need to slow down. Personally speaking, walking too fast can leave you alone. There were times when I’d be walking so fast that I’d leave my family in my dust. They wouldn’t be able to keep up with me. It gives a really bad impression to your family when you’re walking so fast that they can’t even keep up with you. I was just walking too fast.

But more than just walks with family on vacation, I tended to walk fast in my spiritual life as well. And to be honest, the faster I walked the less room I would leave for God. Now I know that sounds a tad like an over exaggeration here but in reality it’s more true than we all realize. We sometimes need to slow down to let God catch up. I find myself sometimes leading God. Not that I can somehow move faster than God, but I’m sometimes a few steps ahead of where God has planned for me to be. So I need to walk a little slower.

I’m not sure what walking slower means for you but I would suggest starting with literally walking slower. Moving your feet at a slower pace. Taking smaller strides. Stopping for a minute to breathe the fresh air or take in the scenery. Slow down the pace in the mundane parts of life so you’re more comfortable slowing down in the critical parts of it.

But when it comes to your spiritual walk, literally moving slower isn’t exactly much of a help. We can, however, apply the same concept to our faith lives. We can read slower when we’re going through our daily readings. We can find a still, quiet place to have a moment alone with God. We can turn down the lights and just sit in silence. I know that sounds awkward and nearly impossible, but sitting in a quiet and semi-dark room is very calming.

Another idea that is definitely not original to me is something called a sabbath. The sabbath is the idea of stopping for a day or a set length of time and just going dark. Rest for that time. It’s not a vacation. It’s not a party time. It’s a time to rest and well…slow down! The purpose of the sabbath idea is that we are able to work from our rest and rest from our work.

I think we can all admit that in 2020 we were forced to slow down a bit. We couldn’t go to our gyms, schools, churches and even to work. We had to slow down and even stop for a bit. The point of sabbath is that we pause to evaluate where God is in our lives. Stopping or even slowing down in life is more critical than we might realize. If we don’t slow down, then God will make you slow down.

Let me say that again slowly. If you don’t slow down, God will slow you down. He might do it by letting you come down with something to cause you to pause for a minute. He might do it by making your car break down or giving you a snow day at school. He might even let a global pandemic shut the whole world down for a few months! For me, he let me speed cause headaches and anxiety that pretty much wrecked my body. You don’t have to like it, but if you don’t slow down God will slow you down. And someone else slowing you down will not be fun!

So learn from my mistakes and slow down. Pause long enough to evaluate where you are in relation to God’s plan for your life. It’s ok if you walk a little slower. Take it from me, you’re missing things by moving so fast. Maybe you’re walking too fast like me.

Please Stop Just Praying

March 16, 2022 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

You know I have a bit of a love – hate relationship with the phrase our thoughts and prayers are with you. It just seems so very lame! Do we even know what we’re saying? I mean really, the context in which we say this phrase is that we don’t know what else to do so I guess we can just pray.

We treat prayer like it’s a last resort. A natural disaster happens or something occurs that shakes us to the core emotionally, and we say things like I don’t know what to do. All I can do is pray.

Yes you’re right! All you can do is pray! But that’s not a bad thing. Actually, that’s where we should all start. Start with prayer and I mean the real prayers for God to move mightily in a situation. Then wait for His leading. But instead we tend to move, then pray that God will be ok with our movement. Or we like to pray those generic prayers of God be with everyone and bring world peace.

Yeah. I get it. We should want God to be everywhere. But He already is. And we should want there to be peace in the world and in our communities. But when we relegate God to a spiritual slot machine by only coming when we can’t handle the problem ourselves it shows how little we think of God.

Prayer is huge. And I mean huge! When we pray, really pray, with heartfelt words – emptying all of ourselves at the feet of Jesus asking him to do what brings him most glory we will be amazed at what is possible.

So if you see something going on in the world or your community, please don’t just pray. Take time to just pray. Pray first. Pray second. And when you have done everything else pray. Because when all you can do is pray, you are doing more than you can ever imagine! Prayer is tapping into the very power of God. Prayer is not about bending God’s way to match your will. It’s about bending your will to match God’s way.

So pray. And when you think you’ve prayed enough, you should probably go ahead and keep on praying. Because the Bible is pretty clear that prayer might be all you have to offer, but that’s more than you’ll ever need.

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