Movies and film is something I'm not always current on. In fact, unless it's a super-hero movie with my son, I'm generally out of the loop on most current films. My wife says I have an "old soul." Maybe she's right and I'm not quite certain if that will ever really change. But nonetheless, I digress.

One thing I do enjoy watching are historical documentaries. While I'm not much of a historian, I find that they help inspire me and if they're good, I'll be engaged throughout the entire documentary. A few days ago, I came across the documentary of one of my favorite preachers and theologians, Charles Haddon Spurgeon titled "Through The Eyes of Spurgeon" and I highly recommend this! 

It was done so well and is rich in the history of the "Prince of Preachers." If you don't know much about C.H. Spurgeon, he was a reformed baptist preacher in London in the 19th century. My top three favorite things about Spurgeon are the story of his relationship and marriage with his wife, Susannah, his love love and zeal for Christ Jesus, and his convictions as a result of his relationship with the Lord that some found controversial. 

In any case, below are the links to the documentary and to the books based off the documentary (which is filled with quotes from Spurgeon's sermons, books, and letters). I hope you enjoy and would love to hear your thoughts in the comments. 

Documentary: Through The Eyes of Spurgeon

Book: Through The Eyes of Spurgeon compiled by Stephen McCaskell

Book Review: Am I Called? The Summons of Pastoral Ministry by Dave Harvey

I've decided to review this book by beginning at the end. The final chapter, While You Wait, in my opinion was biggest time of reflection for me. This is not to imply that the rest of the book was of no use, rather I think this entire book should be on the shelf of every man who believes they're being called to pastoral ministry. The final chapter is a great place to start (for review) because it brought me to a place of nostalgia and is very authentic. 

In short, Am I Called? is a book written by Pastor Dave Harvey where he gives a biblical breakdown of the qualifications for an elder as seen in 1 Timothy 3. Additionally, it's a book that provides a great deal of academic resources for further reading with complimentary real-life stories from men who have gone before us. 

REVIEW & REFLECTION

"A man listening for a call is never a man sitting still." - Dave Harvey (p. 188)

I cannot begin to stress the importance of this statement. First, I wish to begin by saying that I do not write this from a position of "arrival," but from a place of understanding, failure, and reflection from my experience in ministry. 

I believe that the Lord was calling me into pastoral ministry when I was 22 years old, just 8 months after surrendering my life to Him and hearing about Him for the first time. It was intimidating and scary bringing that up to my pastors. I had never set foot in a church much less imagine that one day I would be a pastor! 

However, during that time, I was discipled primarily by our lead pastor (Tom) and several other godly men. And if I could summarize my attitude and spirit from that season into two words, they'd be prideful and hungry. I wrestled with (and still do today) with wondering how quickly or soon God would place me in pastoral ministry not knowing or understanding that I was already involved: the set-up team. We had just planted our church and setting up chairs was the need. I never thought that serving in that capacity would help shape me. More than anything else, my pride was soaring based on my ability to potentially lead others and knowledge of the Bible. I was an observant punk. Nonetheless, serving in multiple capacities helped me to not only pursue humility, but taught me patience and that ministry was going to be a journey. For the time being, my primary role was that of repentance (1 Samuel 16:7). 

"Obscurity fertilizes man with humility so that what he grows into can really bear fruit." - Dave Harvey (p.194)

I have been involved in the set-up team, security team, teaching in our children's ministry, social media and event coordination, kitchen and bathroom clean-up, hospitality, and many other areas of ministry that I simply had no clue what I was doing. All of the sudden, the confidence I had was quickly diminished by several 8 year olds. The truth is that when I look back at all of these experiences and "random" areas of ministry that I served in, I would not want it any different. Each one of those areas helped teach me my strengths and gifting while others showed me where I was lacking and that I wasn't pursuing humility. 

I recommend this book because it is not only filled with biblical wisdom and insight from Pastor Dave to the call of pastoral ministry, but it provides readers with the realities of waiting- something that's quickly overlooked. Aspiring to a noble task is not the issue, rather it is the heart of man that falls short. 

"The ultimate test of a called man is whether he desires the advancement of the Gospel more than the advancement of his own ministry"- Dave Harvey

If you believe that the Lord is calling you to pastoral ministry then I encourage you to pick up this book. I would also encourage you to read 1 Timothy 3:1-7 over and over again and ask yourself the following questions: 

Am I this man? | What areas do I lack in after reading this passage? | Would I still strive to be this man even if I do not become a pastor? 

National Notebook Day

It's finally here: the inaugural National Notebook Day! I feel like we've all been waiting for it to come and now that it's here no one knows about it. Including myself. 

I'm really not sure where these holidays are coming from or who has the authority to come up with such a holiday, but I must admit, I'm fond of this one. Readership is a big deal to me and jotting down notes and ideas are a big reason I love writing- it inspires me and helps me keep track of important ideas. 

The above picture is of Word notebooks and I had just received a small order so I thought that in light of National Notebook Day, I would jump on the bandwagon of uncertainty and hook you up with some of my go-to notebooks and why. 

Moleskin: I absolutely love Moleskin. I use these notebooks pretty often to help with sermon prep, blog ideas, journal entries, or simple notes. Moleskin helps me slow down too. I could easily jump online and start a blog, but when I write my thoughts down I'm at a slower pace helping me remember I don't need the giant screen always. 

Word Notebooks: I love lists. They help me stay organized. I'm down with online task lists like Google Keep and I use them with my teams for projects and all sorts of communication. But when it comes to notes, reminders, and daily tasks Word Notebooks are legit. Plus they're pocket sized! 

If you enjoy writing and are looking for something to hold onto those brilliant ideas of yours then I would encourage you to give these a try. 

Enjoy. 

In our final installment of Lessons in Discipleship, I'd like us to look at how immensely biblical discipleship is. I feel like this would have served as a good starting point, something foundational but I think visiting this piece last suits as a wonderful reminder. 

As a brief review of our time last week, we looked at humility as not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less and placing others before you; considering them more important. 

Today, we visit the biblical principle of discipleship. For starters, it's the one thing Jesus commanded us to do. Ask yourself: of the questions from the previous posts or perhaps some of the mental notes you took, did you remember that Jesus is at the center of this or were you more occupied about the content? 

DISCIPLESHIP: WHAT IS IT? 

Before jumping in, we must define discipleship. In my experience, I've had plenty of conversations, read enough books, and visited enough conferences to hear the latest discovery and method on discipleship, but not many spend time on actually defining what it is. 

I define discipleship as meeting people where they are in life and taking them to where Jesus wants them to be. It's a "point A to point B" reference. 

Two things on this definition: (1) if you haven't noticed, your context for meeting people where they're at is life, not a classroom and (2) I want you to remember that we're making disciples not converts. I know that may sound odd, but Jesus (in Matthew 28) said to make disciples and to teach and talk about Him. 

In discipleship, you have the opportunity to share the beauty of Christ in the context of ordinary life- whether with a Christian or a non-believer. Paul says it best, "follow me as I follow Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1). This means that in discipleship, we are teaching people what it means to worship Jesus when the house is a mess, the day has just become scattered, when you're in parent mode with the kids, when you're flirting with your spouse, in a difficult situation, and when you screw up.

The goal is to show, in ordinary life, what it means to surrender everything before Christ so that others may do the same unto Him! 

DISCIPLESHIP: BIBLICAL

Discipleship is biblical and intentional. The primary source of teaching, rebuke, or encouragement is the Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16), but you must be intentional in its delivery; compassionate and humble.

Making disciples is easy and everyone does it; it simply has a different name to it. What do you think gym rats are? What about best friends? Gym buddies do everything together in and out of the gym; they talk about fitness all day long. Best friends share everything with one another, in the good times and in the bad; constantly communicating. Why should Christians be any different when making disciples? It's simple, we talk about what we love. The question is: do you love Jesus enough to always be talking about Him? 

Sometimes we become so infused with the method that we forget about the One whom all of this is founded upon. Consider Paul's words to the church in Thessalonica: "We cared so much for you that we were please to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives because you had become dear to us" (1 Thessalonians 2:8; emphasis added). 

Discipleship is messy, but biblical. It is rewarding, but is an investment of time. And it will push you spiritually because you'll think you're the one working. Friends, we're simply the messengers and the ambassadors. The One at work has done so according to the Father's will and  through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

In our second installment of Lessons in Discipleship, we're going to be looking at humility; a characteristic that implies not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. Before we jump in, let's have ourselves a quick review from last week: compassion. 

Compassion, as we saw, means to suffer with someone or others during a time of need; more so, it's usually at the most inconvenient time though we saw how Jesus responded in Mark 6. 

I think many look at discipleship as a wonderful opportunity to teach others what it means to follow Jesus and while this line of thought is true, in my experience, we are quick to forget that discipleship also establishes reciprocity. In other words, if I am teaching someone what it means to follow Jesus in everyday life and because the same Holy Spirit dwells in me, I am and should be convicted of the same teaching points.

So, let's talk about it. 

HUMILITY: THINKING OF YOURSELF LESS

Paul writes and sets up the standard for humility in Philippians 2:3 writing, "do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves." 

When we consider others more important and not expect a "thank you" or some sort of praise, we follow in the example of Jesus. The leadership style of Jesus was that of placing yourself last and not because you're awesome, but because you "consider others as more important" than yourself. It means serving others and being a reflection of the person and work of Jesus not ourselves. 

The difficulty of humility in discipleship, in my experience, has been thinking I am pretty good at this Christian life when, in fact, I'm far from it.  When we teach others what it means to follow Jesus, this includes showing them our need for Jesus in the midst of our sin. Repentance is a great teacher because it's an opportunity to show our need for Jesus and an opportunity for growth and transformation.

If discipleship is merely coffee talk once a week, then we're missing our objective. If we are to teach everything we have observed (Matthew 28), then I'm practically sure that it infers the context of life: the place(s) where we know our sin will be exposed; a place where humility could best be observed, taught, and shown.

In humility, we make much of Christ, pointing others to Him. That's the whole point of discipleship, isn't it? It's in the context of life and meeting people where they're at and taking them to where Jesus wants them to be.

Questions for the week: 
• Where, in your life do you need to repent of pride?
• Have you demonstrated/modeled (not just talked/taught about) repentance to those you disciple?
• What does it mean to "consider others as more important than ourselves"? 
• How do Christ's actions demonstrate humility and a concern for others?