Monday Morning Insights

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    Today’s Goal:  Make Some Mistakes

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    You probably do not remember what you were doing on December 30, 2001. I do--it was one of the worse ministry experiences I have ever had. The staff and I had this "great idea" that on that evening that we should do a "staff roast" and let people in the congregation tell stories about us. I confess that we must have eaten a tray of stupid sandwiches before that brainstorming session. It was a huge mistake. (Please do not ever try the roast thing!!! It's just not good--and that is all I can say without breaking down into tears!)

    Last year we wanted to do a baptism in the Fine Arts Center, the place on the campus of Anderson College where we are currently meeting. We scheduled the event--and had 111 people to dunk! One slight problem--the place where we are meeting is, once again, an ARTS center...most of those do not come equipped with places to baptize people.

    "No problem," we thought, "we will just put a hot tub on the stage and baptize people that way." Once again, I confess, we had hit the stupid sandwich buffet.

    I KNEW we were in trouble when our youth pastor baptized the first person and tons of water came spilling over the side. (No, we did not expect that!) This continued until the pool was only about half full. (We later got an e-mail from a person who said they noticed that someone's elbow did not go completely under the water...and because of that she was concerned that the person was not truly baptized! NO--I am not kidding!)

    NO PROBLEM--after the "first round" of baptisms the band played and we brought in a water hose from outside to fill up the hot tub. BAD IDEA! Why, well, for starters--we were not aware that the outlet we had the hot tub plugged into had tripped--and so the "hot tub" was no longer getting hot. The second problem was that is was about 20 degrees outside...and so I am literally standing in this freezing cold water for 30 minutes & trying to look happy about the whole thing.

    Lesson learned--we still do baptisms--but not that way--it costs us several hundreds of dollars to get the stage at the Fine Arts Center refinished--and it took me three days to warm up!

    I could go on and on about all of the really stupid things we have done around here...and here is my promise--as long as I am pastor--we will continue to make some really dumb decisions from time to time--we call them mistakes.

    Mistakes are common--everyone makes them--it is an identifying mark for humans. AND organizations make them--the government, stores, the church (seriously--does anyone think the crusades were a good idea?)

    I spoke with the staff this past Monday about making mistakes and shared the following--this is, of course, an abbreviated version.

    #1 - If You Are Not Making Mistakes Then You Are Not Trying!

    I can say that our mistakes here at NewSpring have came from people who love Jesus, love the church, love people--and are really trying to do what they think is right. In doing that we will drop the ball from time to time. However, that is OK--the church has played it safe for way too long.

    #2 - Do Not Try To Hide The Mistake!

    If you make a mistake then address it. We don't do this many times in the church world, we "pray about it" and expect God to handle it. (Does it seem that at times we over spiritualize everything?) But the best thing to do when making a mistake is to address it!

    #3 - Do Not Fear The Outcome

    When you make you can count on the fact that your approval rating will drop in the public polls. Our job, however, is not to worship people--but to worship Jesus--to do what is right before doing what is easy...and trusting in a Sovereign God to take control.

    #4 - The Only Bad Mistakes Are The Ones You Do Not Learn From

    Uh, enough said, right?

    A great post by Perry Noble over at his blog.  I totally agree with Perry… when we’re constantly trying new things, stretching ourselves in our Kingdom work, we are going to make mistakes (alot of them, actually!).  He has some great ideas on how to make mistakes something valuable in your ministry.  Perry writes…

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    1. RevJay on Tue, November 15, 2005

      Mistakes are not like failures. We should learn from our mistakes and become a more grounded Christian from them. Sometimes our greatest mistake is not learning from the mistakes of others. The Bible is full of mistakes and we could preach the rest of our lives on the mistakes of Adam, Eve, Cain, Able, Seth, and everyone in the scriptures except Jesus. God knows our mistakes will happen; nothing is a surprise to Him. He has already made provisions for us to learn and recover from the errors of our ways. The four points are good and I am sure you guys will come up with others. I await the future posts on this subject. RevJay

    2. Brian La Croix on Wed, November 16, 2005

      In total agreement with the article.  I can’t say enough about how grateful I am for our church board’s willingness to try new things, even with the risk that they might fall flat.


      A few things have, but we’ve had plenty of successes as well, especially recently.


      And we try to have a good laugh about the stuff that doesn’t work.  Although, it would admittedly be hard to laugh about spending a ton of money to refinish a stage…;0).

      Brian

       

    3. Jade on Wed, November 16, 2005

      Funny, funny post.  Our church made one last night.  For reasons not to get into we moved for one time only our Wed. night service to Tue. night.  We had tornadoes come through here and power went out.  But the church people still want to have church…........ in the dark.  So i had my youth service as usual.  (Understand also every adult was in a special service so my wife and I were alone with then teens) But I could hardly even see the teens.  My Wife and I spent most of the night going by the teens with a candle yelling hand check!”  (For those of you who are Y.P. when you yell hand check teen must show you that their hands are where they should be.)  To be sure some guys and girls were behaving themselves.  Teens boys and girls in the dark is not a good IDEA.  I told that to the church and suggested for the teens to stay with their family for the special service.  Oh they would not listen.  The result was some couples getting caught making out and them getting into trouble.  After some parents heard what happened, let’s just say next time they will listen.

    4. Brian on Mon, November 21, 2005

      The biggest one I have made so far is connected with an illustration in a message live on the radio no less.  It involved a compound bow and blunt arrows and a bad archer(me). Thankfully no one was seriously hurt, and now we laugh about it and i am referred to as “Robin Hood” all over the community. At least no one forgot the point (focusing on what Jesus wants us to do)thank God for people who can forgive.

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