The Free Gift of Leadership

April 3, 2016 ~ sloggett ~ Leave a comment

I was hanging out with one who’s name is only mentioned in the secret circles of the church planting word yesterday and throughout our conversation I was captivated by a thought over and over.

No surprise here, the thought is in the title. It would seem to me that the collective church has had an identity issue with the concept of leadership and the development of disciples. The identity crises is this; many church leaders have fallen for the idea that they are in charge and need to have their well meaning voice heard in the discipleship of the scattered community. (The scattered being, small groups, missional communities, etc)

The rub is simple. If you are doing discipleship well, training leaders to be leaders and allowing them to make mistakes, you are essentially letting go of your identity as a leader and allowing the Senior Shepard to work in the hearts of the people that are being discipled by the people you trained up. It creates spirit dependence, it forces great discipleship training and actual grinding to happen. Most of all, it opens up the hearts of the first generation leaders, to the Spirit so that they don’t start believing the lie that they die something amazing.

The argument is not to have strong leadership and work hard in the giftings you have. The argument really is, pastor are you willing to let God work through your people, developing leaders and allowing you the space to enjoy making new disciples?

Wild and Wrecked

August 15, 2014August 15, 2014 ~ sloggett ~ Leave a comment

I have to admit that last week was rough and this week seemly is rougher, but something is different. Something is different, because I’m different. Last week I was bent on taking on the world. I was going to do something about everything. It was me against the world, and I was going to walk out all the world problems in a fit of rage.

This week someone said something to me, a comment that changed my prospective across the board. It’s not like it’s the first time that this particular person has said something like this to me, in fact I’m pretty sure that it’s the rock that smacked my soul around during sermon prep.

God is God and He loves His people, regardless of what side they are on currently.

In the midst of war zones in Iraq, St. Louis and Israel, (just to name the headlines) God loves His people and my job is simply to pray and witness the Good News of the Gospel. The change that is so invigorating in my life, so undeniably real, that I cannot help but tell someone about it. And that leaves me humbled in complete submission to the Creator.

Who am I and where did I go? That seems to be the question lingering in the air, the question that ultimately falls back into what is my identity in. Does Christ define me or have I attempted to hijack my identity again? It all boils down to who I rest under, is it Adam or is it Christ. If it is Christ, I walk out my prayer in humble submission to the one that paid it all. I begin to see people differently, and my thoughts and actions are transformed through my interactions with the living God. If I rest in Adam, my thoughts and my actions reflect the broken nature of my flesh.

Let us not forget our identities as we walk out our faith, minute by minute, day by day.

A Letter to Our Brothers

August 13, 2013 ~ sloggett ~ Leave a comment

Awesome.

So you can come along

Hey!

There are so many things I want to tell you!

I’ll back up and let you know who’s writing you.

This is your sisters in Christ.

Well, it’s from one of your sisters, but it’s a pretty sure bet that most of us would say these things.

I usually write to/for/about ladies because well….I am one.

But I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it might be like for my brothers to live day-to-day in our culture.

When I think about it, just know I’m praying for you.

I pray for opportunities for you to showcase your God-given gifts in humility.

I pray for your eyes to be clear of any shame or insecurity or pride so that you can see His love and approval for you.

I pray for your strength to come from your never-ending supply. And that this Strength would help you kick that…

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Total Depravity and Fellowship

April 30, 2013April 30, 2013 ~ sloggett ~ Leave a comment

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)

Sometimes it’s hard to recognize just how relient we are on Christ. It’s so apparent when something doesn’t go right, or life gets stressed beyond where we are comfortable. This is where we find ourselves in complete depravity, needing everything from the Creator. If we look deeply in the words that Paul wrote to the Corinthians we see that he found great joy in feeling completely in need.

This week in the Basic Series, we talked about fellowship which ultimately comes down to the interpersonal relationship that we have with Jesus. It seems counterintuitive to think that an ‘internal’ relationship is directly responsible for our external ‘fellowship’, but through the scriptures I think that we can see how it directly plays out.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Fellowship is about relationship, and relationships are built around trust. Trust is built off of mutual vulnerability, allowing others to see and feel our depravity. It’s incredibly scary and it causes us to pull back. But God. His power is made perfect in our weakness, as we see above. He wants us to recognize that it’s not in the fellowship that we as a group are made strong, it’s in Him. See the relationship with Jesus works different than the relationship or fellowship that you have with your friends or even with the Church. God himself came down in human form, vulnerable to sin and capable of death. His resurrection defeated death and sin, so we can rest him him. There doesn’t have to be mutual vulnerability because like the song, His love never fails. Fellowship will fail, friendship will fail, but God…. our love fails,

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:16-17)

Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. (1 John 4:8-13)

Paul can, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” because he knew that God’s grace and sovereignty never fails. His love never fails. If we continue to breakdown how these passages lace back into our vertical relationship with Christ we see that God is love, and

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:8-13)

The greatest gift from God is love. The power of Christ is love. Without the power of the Holy Spirit we cannot love even one person. We can’t love ourselves, we can’t love our kids, we can’t love our friends, we cannot love. You can’t have fellowship, and you definitely can’t have true communion without the power of the Holy Spirit.

The passage in James continues to reenforce this point.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)

Count it all joy, my brothers (community), when you meet trials of various kinds (depravity), for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness (love). And let steadfastness (love) have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Depravity looks ugly and it is. We are all capable of murder, but it’s God’s grace and continuing sanctification working through us that provides us with a glimpse of what it’s like to love. Through that insight we can start and work towards loving each other in community. True fellowship. It’s through his gospel that we find love, the words of his scripture and a interpretation of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

So my challenge today is that we focus on our interpersonal relationship with Jesus. We work towards a greater communion with Him so that we can have a greater communion with His bride.