The Electoral College, SEC Football, NFL QBs, & Church Demographics

Back during the election, Sports Illustrated had a fascinating article about the change in electoral college votes since 1950 because of population shifts.  What was revealed in those changes was that many of the states in the sunbelt had seen huge population shifts, such as Georgia, Florida, Texas and California.  States such as Ohio, Michigan, and Iowa saw pretty dramatic drop offs.  By region, it almost perfectly mirrored the shift in power we've seen the last 60 years in college football.  In 1942, UGA's Frank Sinkwich was the first player from a Southern school to win the Heisman Trophy, and he came to Athens by way Pennsylvania.  Now, you can rattle off Southern Heisman winners like clockwork from the last five years, and they were raised in the sunbelt.  What does that tell us?  The SEC might not keep winning the national championship every year, but the talent isn't going anywhere.  Southern teams have more talented kids to choose from simply because people keep moving to warm weather climates.  There's no fighting it.  It's simple demographics.

So what do you do with demographics?  You adjust.  The NFL adjusted.  In the last 10-15 years, more high schools are running spread-type offenses, which has led to a shortage in pro-style quarterbacks available to colleges.  Colleges have also implemented changes in offenses, being more innovative to use players' natural talents instead of forcing QBs who are not pure pocket passers into pro-style systems.  There was a time when I was growing up that that San Francisco 49ers actually had Joe Montana and Steve Young on the same team.  Now, not even all 32 teams have decent QBs, and are even having success with much less traditional-style QBs.  The Redskins made the playoffs and have a bright future with Robert Griffin III, but they chose to change their scheme by drafting for talent rather than push a scheme without the talent.

What does that have to do with church?  Last Sunday, I went to two different churches in Washington, DC -- one a traditional church with traditional music, one in a renovated historic building with a modern band and music.  Now, you need to know that the traditional church has been around for a long time, and has a huge facility.  The music there was terrible.  Not the style, the talent and execution.  It was just bad.  I can appreciate God-gifted classical musicians.  This was not good music.  It was sub-par.  The modern church was barely over a year old and had a band that couldn't have had a member over 25 years old...and they were awesome.  They sounded like a CD turned up.  This scene is going to play out over and over because of demographics.  Will the church adjust?

I pastor a modern, rock-n-roll church, but I grew up sing hymns every Sunday in a traditional church with an excellent music ministry.  I appreciate excellence in music to honor God.  It's simply going to be harder and harder for the Church to find excellence in classical music because of demographics.  How many 15-25 year-olds do you know that are called to music ministry are trained and talented in classical music?  How many do you know that are serving in music ministry that play guitar or drums and are feeling called to serve the church?  It's not even close.  The largest and fastest growing churches in America (and the ones pumping out people called to ministry) are modern, contemporary churches.  In 25 years, it's going to get harder and harder to find talented people called to ministry in classical music.  The big churches will be able to find them because they have the most influence and will pay the most money.  Power colleges in talent-rich states like Alabama, Southern Cal, and Georgia still run pro-style offenses because they can get those quarterbacks, but many colleges have adapted and run offenses that match the talent.  So, the question will start becoming for each congregation:  Are we a power church that can get the talented and called musicians? 

My fear is that one of two things will happen.

1. Churches will stick with a form, a system, and style despite the lack of talented and called people to fill those positions.  So, they will end up with called people who love the style, love God, and love the Church but are not talented.  The ministry will suffer and new people, particular unchurched people, we'll be turned off because most of society appreciates excellence.  This is like the football team that continues to run a pro-style offense with a sub-par QB when there are 3-4 kids on the team that could excel running the spread.
2. Churches will stick with a form, a system, and style despite the lack of talented and called people to fill those positions.  So, they will get someone talented (because there will always be people talented in classical music) but who is not called, maybe someone who is not even a believer.  This will hurt the Church, and God will not bless it.  People will wonder what happened, but they won't be able to see the compromise the crippled the ministry, all because of a style.  The scary part is there will probably be a talented and called kid sitting in the pews every week, but he plays the guitar.

Understand that this is not a condemnation of the Church.  I love the Church.  I want what's best for her.  I don't expect this to change tomorrow, but we've got to think about the future.  The demographics are simply changing, which means our expectations and practices have to change if we're going to reach the next generation for Jesus. 

Questions in the Valley

"My God! My God, why have you forsaken me?" Psalm 22:1

Maybe you know those words better as the words Jesus cried on the cross. Jesus was actually repeating a Psalm he'd probably memorized as a kid that was written many years before Jesus came along. It epitomized what Jesus felt -- alone.  It is a gut-wrenching cry from the Psalmist. Maybe you've felt that way before. Maybe you're feeling that way now. I'm certain the people of Moore, Oklahoma felt that way this past Monday. I'll bet they continue to feel that way. There are times that life leaves us feeling like God has abandoned us. The prayer never gets answer, the healing never comes, the house goes into foreclosure, tragedy strikes, the marriage fails, the lost child never comes home, and our world comes crashing down. It feels hopeless and desperate. It feels like we are all alone. Psalm 22 is a cry of desperation. There is room for that with God. You can cry to Him. You can shout in anguish. You can even be angry. God can handle it. God is big enough for our questions. When a tornado rips through an elementary school, all we're left with is questions. Where was God? Why did this happen? I can't imagine the devastation.  There aren't many answers.

What I can tell you is this:  The promises of God offer presence, not protection or prevention. God is with us, even in our questions, heaving in tears amidst our heartache. In fact, God is pursuing us, asking the question that He's been asking us since sin knocked the world into chaos in the Garden of Eden: "Where are you?" God is looking for us, running after us, taking on flesh for us, dying on a cross for us in Jesus, and dwelling in us through His Spirit. If we can hold on to that, we can make it to the other side of the heartache. The Psalmist, amidst his questions and cries, reached that point, and in the next Psalm (the most famous one) he wrote, "Though I walk through valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me." May our brothers and sisters in Oklahoma know that God is with them in the valley of the shadow of death. And may those of you in your own valley know that He is with you and in you.

Not So Personal Faith

First off, let me say that I've got a bunch more "Preacher, I've got a question" questions to get to over the summer.  However, while I'm in D.C., I wanted to share some thoughts that God's putting in my head while I'm here.

Today, I got the honor of listening to the Director of the FBI, Robert Mueller, speak.  He wasn't really speaking to my class, but we got to sit in and listen and ask a few questions.  His wife is a former student at the seminary here at Wesley, and he was speaking with the Board of Governors for the school.  It was mostly about national security and all that stuff.  It was very interesting, and I wondered how he sleeps at night knowing all that he knows.

One of our students in the DMin program here for military chaplains ask about him and his personal faith.  His response was terribly disappointing.  He couldn't be in a more safe environment.  There were no press there besides a photographer for the school.  It was seminary board members, seminary professors and ministers who are doctoral students.  He basically said that faith was personal and that you just don't speak about those issues. 

Who in the world taught him that?  I'm deeply troubled by this answer that I've heard time and time again.  I do believe it was taught a generation ago, but I'm just not sure what Bible those who taught it were reading.  Would the Apostle Paul say faith is 'personal?'  Would Peter say it was 'personal?'  Would Jesus say it was 'personal' and 'private?'  Moreover, would Martin Luther King, Jr. or Mother Teresa say that faith is something you don't talk about?  I wasn't looking for the man to preach a sermon.  I was looking for something at least like, "My wife attend such and such church and my faith has been a source of strength in the most difficult hours of this job." 

Friends, if you want a personal and private faith, then you do not want the faith of the Bible.  You want some kind of bland American-ized faith that is not the faith to which Jesus called His disciples, not the faith which Paul used to start the countless churches and not the faith that has changed the world many times over.  Faith in Jesus is radical.  It comes out in our actions, in the way we treat people, in the way we serve and in the way we talk.  Some of us might have jobs that require us to speak a little more political about issues of faith while on the job (and we desperately need Christians in those sectors!), but we shouldn't ever be ashamed to claim the name.  We should never be afraid to claim who we are in Christ.  The Church will never change the lives of those who desperately need our message of hope and grace if our faith is personal and private.  The World needs a Church whose faith is relational and public.

The Parent Leader

I'm up in DC as a student again, this time at Wesley Theological Seminary in there Doctor of Ministry track on Church Leadership Excellence.  It's all about leadership, and my mind is swimming a bit from the informational overload.  I've thought a lot, though, about how we underestimate the various leadership positions we hold, especially parents.

Some would say, "Oh, I'm not a leader."  If you have kids, you're a leader.  You don't get a choice.  You lead someone.  You have a follower or followers.  Lovett Weems, my professor this week, said something today that made me think about parents:  "Leadership is and is not a voice activated system."  There is something important about leaders casting vision.  They must name the dream ahead, the future reality that the organization is shooting for, whether that be a Fortune 500 company, a church, or a family.  However, leadership isn't done simply by casting a vision at a board meeting.  Leadership takes working the plan and massaging the vision.  You have to put feet on it.  You have to do what you visioned to do. 

If you want your baking company to make better cakes, the best cakes in the world, then you need to get busy testing recipes.  If you want your church to reach young people, then you better get to work developing ministry that reaches kids.  Often, leaders name things, but never do anything about them.  And the vision will eventually fail. 

I'll bet you had a dream for how you wanted your kids to turn out.  Maybe you still do.  If you are follower of Christ, what is most important to you?  Is your goal for your kids to become a deeply devoted follower of Jesus who is capable of withstanding the pressures of peers and culture to make God-honoring decisions?  Is your vision for them to independently choose lives of Christian morality and integrity?  Maybe you haven't thought it out that far, but that's probably high on the list.  It oughtta be.  So, what are we doing as leaders/parents to help that?  Are we making worship as a family a priority on Sundays?  Are we teaching them Biblical principals at home or are we solely depending on our church to do that?  Don't you think the CEO of the baking company ought to know what good cake taste like?  As parents, we have to lead our kids and work our plan to help them take the next steps we hope they will take.  When they turn 9 or 10 we'll have to re-cast a new vision for a next step and work it even harder.  Same goes for 13 and 16 and graduation.  What worked at 5 won't work at 15, but they need vision from us for a future reality, and they need us to show them and lead them how to get there.  Let us not just dream a dream for our kids or simply tell them what we want them to be like, let's give them tools, teaching, and growing opportunities to get there.

What is a disciple?

"But even if I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you." Philippians 2:17


Are you ready to be poured out? Discipleship has been on my heart a lot lately. I'm concerned that American churches are full of people satisfied with shallow faith and few moving moments a year in worship. There is so much more to faith. God calls us to radical abandonment. God calls us to not jsut be converts to Christ, but to be disciples of Christ. I recently read this quote a friend posted on Facebook from British Evangelist Mike Pilavachi: "Christians have bumper stickers and catch phrases, believers have creeds and promises, disciples have scars and stories."  That hit me square in the forehead.

Christianity is not an anecdote. Faith in Jesus is not about easy answers and catch phrases. It is messy and sloppy. It is sometimes painful. It is a process. And it is beautiful. The Apostle Paul equated it to being empty of all that is 'us'...being poured out. I want to be poured out because I want to be emptied of me and filled with Jesus. I'm not there yet, but doggone it, I'm working on it. Can you imagine what would happen in our communities if we decided to be poured out, to be dissciples, to open ourselves to the scars, so that we might have story to share? Would you dare pray that prayer? Would you dare ask God to empty you of yourself? It's a dangerous prayer. But it's the only way to live, friend.

A Simple but Life-Changing Prayer

"Help my lack of faith." Mark 9:24


I would encourage you to read Mark 9:14-24. My devotion today took me to that passage, which I haven't read in a while. It's a story I was familiar with, but those words of a dad whose child is stricken by a terrible infirmity jumped off the page at me. That is the simplest and maybe most important prayer: Help my lack of faith. The call of God to believers is to be people that live by faith. The Apostle Paul described it as being led by the Spirit and not by the flesh. Honestly, though, we often lack faith. Instead, we behave in ways that make sense, when faith often requires behavior that seems upside-down. Just think about it. Here's a sample of the Biblical principles that the Bible says are true that make no sense in the world.

• The last shall be first...but Ricky Bobby says that if you ain't first you're last, right?
• When we are empty, we are filled...but the world says to get as full as we can with as much stuff as we can.
• When we are weak, He is strong in us...but business leadership principles tell us to never let 'em see you sweat.
• It's better to give than receive...really? Unless it's tech gadgets. It's always better to receive those, right?
• Through Christ's death, we find life...but I thought death was final.

This is why we lack faith. Faith is counter intuitive. It doesn't make sense. Yet, I know that God is sometimes screaming at me, "Trust me!!!" Just trust me. What would it look like for you to consider living by faith, and not the principles of this world, in your family, at work, in the community, on the interstate, with your dreams and hopes, and in your finances? The point of it all is for us to learn that God's ways are best and that He has a plan for us that's better than we imagined. Let us be people that pray that prayer every time we struggle between decisions of faith and what the world says 'makes sense.' Lord, help me with my lack of faith.

"Preacher...pornography, dinosaurs, and the trinity...discuss."

Today, I thought I'd tackle a few interesting quesitons I got through our "Preacher, I've got a question" series.  And they run all over the place:

• There does seem to be somewhat of a preoccupation in the Baptist/Methodist branch of Protestantism with porn/sex over other sins like, greed, for instance.  Hugh Heffner, Larry Flint, and MTV get lots of attention while Bernie Madoff, Enron, and Wall Street seem to get a free ride. 
• Carter, Why do you always talk about pornography.

I thought these were interesting because my first response was a relatively simple one. We (I) talk about pornography a lot because no one else does.  Pornography is a huge problem in America, particularly among men.  It is leading to affairs, the objectification of women and plenty of other deviant sexual behavior.  There are men sitting in pews all across America who are addicted to pornography and no one is challenging them about it.  It is destroying marriages and lives.  It is an addiction that the Church has been afraid to talk about.  Moreover, it's even ripping apart the ministries of good men who have gotten caught up in addiction and the lies that come with it.  So, I bring it to light.  I talk about it often because it's a big problem.  Some stats say as many as 90% of men look at pornography.  Most studies show that at least 50% of men do.  Those numbers are staggering.  The Bible teaches that we are all image-bearers of Almighty God, so pornography objectifies women into objects, de-imaging them from God's image in which they were created.  This is unacceptable in the Kingdom.  Morever, pornography rips at the heart of the marriage covenant and skews mental images of sexuality.  It's just bad.  For whatever reason, I've never struggled with pornography, but I've had many friends that have, and the battle they have fought has been a difficult one.  I want to help men (or women) be free from the bondage of that sin.  As far as the finance guys, I know at Church of the Way that moving from selfishness to generosity is something we talk about a lot.  That's the goal for all of us.

• As large of an event you would think the creation and demise of dinosaurs are, why no mention of dinosaurs in the Bible?

You got me.  I do know that the Bible says that, to God, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day.  I think a lot happened we don't know about, maybe even from creation day to creation day.  I believe the story of Genesis 1 is that God did it, not how God did it or the details behind it.  The Bible actually talks of some great beasts of the sea and Leviathan.  Who knows what that means.  Maybe there was something around you and I haven't seen.  There's also no mention of the platypus in the Bible, but they exists.  I'm not sure the creation and demise of dinosaurs are that big of a deal to God.  WE are the ones made in His image and have been given dominion over the birds of the air, beasts of the field and fish of the sea.  God is weaving His story in history through humanity. 

•  The greatest controversy outside the protestant faith is the term “trinity” (which is not used in God’s word). Consequently, even some Christians have a hard time explaining it.  If you were to explain the Trinity to someone who feels they have to understand it, how would you do it?

Well, the best way I can understand it is this:  I am a husband, a father, and a son...but I'm still me.  In each of those roles, I have a different part to play, but I'm still me.  I think that's an easy way to understand how we can be many things but the same thing.

The other thing that has always made sense to me is the H2O.  That's right...water.  At room temperature, it's a liquid.  At 32 degrees, it's a solid.  At 212 degrees, it's a gas.  However, it's still two Hydrogen and one oxygen, just in different forms.  The same is true of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Same stuff...different forms.