Pastor: Get Your Edge Back
- Posted by: Todd
- Posted on: Mon, April 11, 2005
- Viewed 197
- (3) comments so far
“In the movie Rocky III, a boxer named Rocky Balboa has lost his edge and needs to get it back. The plot begins with Rocky as an established world-title-holding champion who fights only against weaker, underqualified opponents. Most of the time he enjoys an easy, complacent life of fame. Then an arrogant, well-trained challenger savagely beats him, accidentally landing a fatal punch on Rocky's trainer. Having lost both his title and his mentor, Rocky loses heart and wants to quit.
Another fighter, Apollo Creed, talks to Rocky about recovering "the eye of the tiger"-his decisive fighting spirit, the hunger and need to give his all. Eventually Rocky finds the eye of the tiger and returns to his training with renewed vigor. Rocky then goes for a rematch, which proves to be the challenge of his lifetime, and he wins. Church leaders need the eye of the tiger as well. We've got to be so in love with the church that we are pouring our hearts into it.
Even though I write books and like to travel, church is my life. It isn't a laboratory for experimentation, or an employer that gives me a paycheck, so much as a people and culture that I love.
When I'm on autopilot, with my mind or heart elsewhere, I can't be the culture setter at New Hope. By losing the eye of the tiger, as the movie soundtrack says, "You trade your passion for glory" and you quit "rising up to the challenge." You play church by going through the motions and being content with mediocrity.
As I walk with God, he motivates me to long for biblical culture and not settle into a comfortable life as Rocky did. Instead, God stirs me to identify our totems (basic principles), live them, and commu nicate them. With the Spirit's enabling, I want to end the contests of this life having given it my all, able to say with the Apostle Paul, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing" (2 Timothy 4:7-8).
Suppose you're 5'1", had asthma as a child, and have zero hope of ever being mistaken for Rocky (or Xena the Warrior Princess). Do these verses apply to you, spiritually speaking?
Good news: you don't have to be a towering personality like Focus on the Family's James Dobson to be a culture setter. If you can get the right culture going, stuff grows on its own. It's like allowing an orchard to grow, rather than one person mandating that it must grow.
I remember a pastor who gave testimony at a conference our church sponsored. He shared some wonderful miracles of a home whose family life was transformed by the love of his church. It was ir relevant (and I'll never know anyway) whether his was a church of seventy, or seven hundred, or seven thousand in attendance. The point has nothing to do with size, but with how lives are being transformed. My response was to thank God. I thought, "This world needs every single church we've got! Each has a purpose, niche, and role to play.
If each of us has the right culture, then all of us together as a team can do ‘capital C’ Church."
FOR DISCUSSION: What can you do in your own church to be a ‘culture setter?’
You can order your own copy of the book Culture Shift: Transforming Your Church from the Inside Out by going here.
Leadership Network has just released a brand new book called “Culture Shift: Transforming Your Church from the Inside Out”. This is a great book and one that I recommend every pastor and church leader read. In the book, Pastor Wayne Cordeiro writes this short excerpt about how pastors can keep their edge. I thought it was something that should be shared here…
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bernie dehler on Mon, April 11, 2005
Good article.
Writer says:
“Good news: you don’t have to be a towering personality like Focus on the Family’s James Dobson to be a culture setter.”
I think Dr. Dobson is not inherently great. It’s the consequences of all the small steps, taken in obedience, that makes his ministry great.
Dr. Dobson and his ministry is one of the main role-models for me in my ministry. We need more like him!
...Bernie
http://freegoodnews.blogspot.com
Rev. Curtis Johnson, Jr. on Tue, April 12, 2005
Very often after we’ve worked hard for years to build what may be considered as the perfect ministry, you know the one that receives praise from both members and community. I believe that this is when complacency creeps in and sows its destructive seeds.
Not much different than the star athlete who thinks that he is the best of the best and that there is nobody who can reach his star. We adopt attitudes that drain our ability to be objective and God’s vision for our lives and ministry dies to our own. Without (God’s) vision we lose control or as scripture would put it we cast off restraint! Proverb 29:18
My suggestion would be to “Remember the Climb”. As we climb our mountains we should gather stones of memorial for each and every challenge that God helps us endure and each nugget of wisdom that we’ve discovered through His word along the way.
Like Joshua and Israel after crossing the Jordan, we need to place them up in a heap (that is in our hearts) to serve as a reminder of from where we’ve come and for what purpose, but mainly by whose hand it has been and will continue to be accomplished..
God’s Blessings to you all!
Wayne Cook on Tue, April 12, 2005
Excellent article!
Changing cultures is not an instant event, but a lifelong process.
As a pastor, I have found that if I set out to influence people or change a culture, I must have a “method to my madness”. The method starts with the holiness of God. I must understand it, desire to experience it, and connect with it. When that happens, God does a changing of MY OWN CULTURE. He gives me a love for people, particularly those in my immediate sphere of influence. When I exercise that love, it becomes a culture changing force.
As we grow older, we tend to lose that edge. We grow physically and emotionally tired and it affects our connection with God and people. Focusing on our Lord and concentrating on our relationship with Him will continue to change us for as long as we allow Him to do it.
Thanks for the reminder!
Wayne
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