I had never seen Liberty University and, like most people, had only a caricature knowledge of its founder Jerry Falwell. Standing in Lynchburg and seeing a campus that is now reaching (with internet) some 50,000 students, I couldn’t help but be inspired. Here’s a few thoughts about leadership that struck me as I spent little more than a couple of hours there. Nothing new but any leader can file them in the reminder category:

Vision matters – The power of leadership begins and ends with God putting vision into the heart. It’s a simple lesson but, while simple, can easily be skipped over in its importance in the crush of every day life.

I love it and it inspires me deeply that the entire university I was seeing was simply a picture and a passion in one mans mind a mere 38 years ago. Friends of mine happened to be there when a young Pastor announced his dream of a university and the goal of 50,000 students. Falwell’s wife even admits she didn’t think his big ideas would work. But, they did. Even after he is gone, they keep working.

The power of vision is an amazing leadership gift – the closest thing God has given us to an act of creation. We THINK about something and it can take on reality. Don’t let vision fade or be drowned beneath lesser ideas and overly busy lives. I need to keep it sharp, refreshed and alive in front of myself and those following.

Hard Work matters – I love Falwell’s wife going on to say (In Her Book,”Jerry Falwell, his Life and Legacy”), “Jerry believed nothing was impossible with God through prayer and hard work.” It’s easy to forget that second part. I believe in the amazing power of prayer. I have also watched how God will answer prayers through applied principles that have to be worked through. Falwell was a hard worker, pure and simple. When he first founded Thomas Road Baptist Church he knocked on 100 doors a DAY, six days a week. . . that’s a DAY.

Sometimes I think we look at visible and high impact ministries and think to ourselves there must be some kind of magic formula they know or, worse yet, we may think they somehow compromised to reach those success levels. The more I learn I have noticed the exact opposite. The Falwell’s, Warrens, Hybel’s of the world, when you go back to see what they did to reach the places of prominence they have, their “secret” was just simply working harder than most people are willing to. It makes me think that those of us who pay smaller prices are the compromisers.

Big, universal ideas matter – Liberty stands for a conviction that Christianity is a world view that has something to say in all areas of life. Education is core to that. Falwell was a man who wanted to impact the WORLD. His vision for a university that taught a variety of subject matter from a Christian perspective is something that can be carried on and embraced for generations to come. The proof is in the fact that he died two and a half years ago and the school is thriving and moving forward in its mission. What large concepts do our dreams and projects represent and stand for? What ideas can people lock into even after we’re gone? Beyond buildings and current successes how do we make an impact in the marketplace of ideas beyond our own lives and limited circles?

Thoughts on our vision for a church of extravagant worshipers.

Tell me what you’re thinking:

I don’t know about you,  but for me the Leadership Summit never fails to disappoint in the area of messing with my mind, heart, paradigms, assumptions. . .  you name it.  I go through so many emotions and thoughts. If I’m being honest, sometimes I want to throw my hands up and say, “forget it, I can’t do this”.  Then the next moment I am ready to run out of the room and take the next mountain.

One of the greatest needs I have is to process and discuss with others. I would love to hear how the sessions are impacting you.

I heard definite themes:  Decentralize.  Innovate or DIE.  Trust God much more radically.  Equip then release people.  The only way you will get a hearing in the new reality is to SHOW long before you tell.  Get off your back side and DO something.  Trust God even more radically.  Get off you back side and do MORE.

Here are a few questions to get us processing and discussing:

• How would you sum up some of your thoughts?
• Which speaker impacted you the most and why?
• What challenged you the most?
• What encouraged you the most?
• What idea stands out as the one you will most likely apply to your own leadership?
• How can we apply what we’ve learned to achieving our church goals?

Comment freely.  I look forward to the discussion.

In thinking about what we want to accomplish in the next year and our vision for the church, we’re reminded of the importance of prayer.

During our “Fact or Fairytale?”  Series it was suggested we make notes available since there is a lot of material and a lot to think about. I hope you will continue to pursue your own encouragement and equipping as we all face a society which is extremely skeptical with a faith that is extremely defensible.  From our talk on Creation and Evolution:

How do we answer the challenge of evolution?
Romans 1:18-22

Understand
Understand Biblical Creation:

1. An artist made the art

The potter’s relationship to clay
God cares for His creation but is not dependent on it.
Transcendental realities – love, courage, compassion and justice are OUTSIDE.
Outside, not dependent, can affect it but chose to do it.
Can destroy it and not be diminished himself

2. The art reveals the artist.
You CAN look at the creation and see the unseen.
Suggested reading:
“A Meaningful World” by Benjamin Wiker and Jonathon Witt, (accompanying web site):  http://www.ameaningfulworld.com/ “Billions of Missing Links” and  “What Darwin Didn’t Know” both by Geoffrey Simmons.  “The Case for the Creator” by Lee Strobel, “The Evidential Power of Beauty” by Robert Moray,

3. The Art is broken and rebelling.  V. 21
CURSED IS THE GROUND/ SUBJECT TO FRUSTRATION
“although they knew God they neither glorified Him as God, nor gave thanks to Him.”
There is a loaded deck
“Evolution is promoted by its practitioners as more than mere science. Evolution is promulgated as an ideology, a secular religion—a full-fledged alternative to Christianity, with meaning and morality. I am an ardent evolutionist and an ex-Christian, but I must admit in this one complaint. . . the literalists [i.e., creationists] are absolutely right. Evolution is a religion. This was true of evolution in the beginning, and it is true of evolution still today.”– Dr. Michael Ruse, author, Darwinism Defended: A Guide to the Evolution Controversies
The suppression of truth  – the desire for independence
The basic idea is that we don’t WANT there to be a personal CREATOR

Understand evolution

1. It DOES happen. . . to a point

be fruitful and multiply  – implication that he began with a few.  Changes happen in the multiplying process.
This is called micro evolution, but does not apply to everything (called macro evolution) – this is the error scientists are making.
There are borders – DARWINS CONTEMPORARIES challenged it AS SCIENTISTS

2. It claims FULL ability

Where ALL of life came from and GOD IS NOT REQUIRED.  Here is no need to put God into the evolution process because it does not REQUIRE Him.
Limits of change / Systems – your body has to have everything working at the same time – how do you evolve a heart?

3. Discussion is not allowed
Any challenge to evolutionary theory is met with:  you are talking about religion not science.
Chapter in Origin of Species: ‘Difficulties With the Theory”

Core to our calling as a church is to “make the case for the faith” to our generation. This is inspired by a study of the book of Acts and how Paul went about the task of missions. In that spirit, July is dedicated to equipping us to answer the question: “Is Christianity fact or fairy tale?”

We’ll begin with the question I think is the toughest.

“What makes us think Jesus is the only way?” Without question, of all the claims we make as believers, this one gets under people’s skin the most. Or, to put another way, “So if I don’t believe what you believe, I’m going to hell?” Ever heard that one in a conversation with an unbeliever? In the age of tolerance, it’s a pretty hard sell to say ours is the way and others are just out of luck. How do we answer?

There’s no question the Bible clearly teaches that Jesus is the only way. But, I guess my goal is to fully appreciate and embrace the beauty of it rather than succumb to the temptation of grudgingly accepting it (in the back of my mind thinking God is too narrow). Better yet, I need to be able to articulate a solid answer when the question is posed. Therefore; my goal is to take a deep, hard look at Jesus’ claims to being the one and only way to eternal life.

Hopefully, we’ll all leave more confident of who Christ is and who we are in him.

Yesterday I was out exploring back roads with my son.  We passed an old cemetery and decided to stop.  The sign said it was established in 1861.  We found the burial plot of a Civil War soldier and someone who (according to their head stone) had been born a slave, sold away from his mother at the age of one.  It was one of those moments that was filled with interest, reflection, wonder and a tremendous heart call to breathe in the air I have right now because it won’t always be there.

Between that and studying Ecclesiastes, I was reminded again:  this is my one and only life and it’s going to end.  Yeah, that’s kind of depressing.  But, nevertheless, true.  All of those people  with names marked on stones were just as real and full of life as you and I at one time. The end of their lives on this earth felt as distant to them when they were living as it does to us now.  Now, they are simple names, a couple of dates in a forgotten plot of ground in the back roads of Southern Indiana.  I left with an urgency to simply make sure I was living, not just going through motions and honestly, I started worrying about it. Was I doing what mattered?  Am I really drinking in those I love?  Am I giving enough?

Then, today, I visited an elderly woman who is in ICU.  Things could go either way in her situation. I read to her  what I often read at bed sides:  “so we fix our eyes, not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”  I need to remember the limits of the vision of the writer of Ecclesiastes. He is as right as he can be about life on this earth:  It’s a vapor folks, get used to the idea.  Don’t act like you have time to spare and waste.  On the other hand – I can have urgency without worry.  I can know what matters and those eternal things can be lived in the simplest ways:  prayers, kind words,  loving actions.  It doesn’t have to be complicated and grandiose.  TODAY, you and I can live lives of vibrant  but peaceful urgency.  All we have to do is remember, life on this earth is temporary BUT, we have a promised eternity to keep our eyes on.

A glimpse of what the surveys helped us realize about our community.

While many know my story about deliverance from the drug lifestyle,  I don’t think I have ever slowed down and taught (in depth) about what I learned and the process of how to be free.  I am reminded regularly of how epidemic the problem of substance abuse is. I have met SO MANY who struggle in that area.   So, over the next few weeks we’re going to set the subject on the table.

The preparation has been a fascinating journey for me. I walked through a lot of memories and asked myself a lot of questions.  But, most importantly, I am dedicated to trying my best to make sure we focus on God’s Word and let the answers rise out of studying it.  It was interesting to try to walk the balance between being autobiographical and purely biblical.   So, I looked back to find some of the most meaningful things from the Bible I learned through the time of walking away  from drugs.  I also have tried to develop a pattern of “owning” books on Sunday’s – so people can achieve some kind of understanding of individual books.  Putting those ideas together,  I decided to link it all to a look at the book of Ecclesiastes.  Read it.  It’s a trip (to use drug phraseology).  That book actually helped me tremendously in the early days of my walk and was fundamental to giving me a sense of truly never wanting to go back to the old way of doing things again.  For a time the old life looked appealing – now it doesn’t at all.  I would love to see God instill in all of us that His ways are not just right – but BEST, on every level.  I think Ecclesiastes, in all its weirdness, will do that.  So, even if drugs haven’t been your struggle, I’ll bet you’ll have a good time looking into one of the Bible’s most unusual books.

See you this Sunday.