Posts Tagged: "anxiety"

Where Is The Pause? Where Is The Reflection?

My friend Moses Masitha was with us on Sunday—speaking at NWLife. He continued in our “Rhythm is Gonna Get Ya” series (which is about how our repeated practices/rhythms shape and form our lives) with a sermon on “Practicing the Rhythm of Sabbath Rest.”

I loved what he shared—and I’d like to share some of the notes that I took from his message…

In the Old Testament, we read how God’s people cried out because of the great burden they were under: they were slaves in Egypt, forced into continual, non-stop production.

Their worth was inherently tied to their productivity.

And God sent Moses to liberate them.

“I want them to be free.”

Moses leads them out. God gives them instructions, commands… because after 400 years of living in Egypt, they needed to be de-programmed.

Their worth had been measured by their ability to produce. They lived among people who worshiped things made by their own hands. And the ways of this culture had crept in… God’s own people followed these same practices.

So, in order to deprogram them, God gives… Read More

Thinking About That Time When I Was Enough

Recently some friends of ours showed up at church. It was a happy surprise—I wasn’t expecting to see them. They don’t exactly live in the Renton/Kent area, and I haven’t seen them in years… decades.

Who are they? Pastor Lou and Sandra—the ones who took a chance on me. My very first ministry position was at their church. I was young, inexperienced, and not yet finished with college. But they believed in me, loved me, and wanted me to be their youth pastor.

After their surprise visit at our church (where we had a few minutes to say hi, Pastor Lou gave me a “Pentecostal handshake,” and we posed together for a picture), Shari said something about them that left me reflecting for days…… Read More

Ego, Ambition, & Holy Calling

Several years ago, I heard a well-known mega-church personality talk about the imperfect blend of motivations behind every Christian leader who has a platform and a microphone. He said,

“I’m a piece of work. All pastors are. Think about it. What makes me believe I should be standing here on this stage with a microphone in my hand telling all of you what to think and do? That’s pretty messed-up.”

I loved hearing him acknowledge the fact that our motivations are not 100% pure all the time. There is a constant mixture of ego, ambition, and holy calling that fuels our leadership endeavors.

This isn’t necessarily an evil thing.

I’m generally thankful for ambition. Ambition gets stuff done. And I appreciate some of what ego brings to the… Read More