27 Tough Questions Pastors Ask

Dick Hardy is a pastor's pastor. He is a man that has a God given passion to reach out to other pastors to help them become more effective in the ministry. He is a Paul that speaks not only to Timothys, but also to other Pauls. You can clearly see this in his book 27 Tough Questions Pastors Ask.

27 Tough Questions is a primer on what you need to know but chances are haven't been told about doing ministry in today's society. It deals with many of the pitfalls pastors run into that prevents their church from growing. It is not designed as a book that tells you how to run a church, but rather it assumes that you already understand many of the day to day basics of church life, and attempts to fill in the gaps to make you a better pastor. In fact, Dick states that his book is about "Everything but Preaching". Overall, the book covers concepts on the major areas of; Leadership & Management, Staffing, Conflict Management, Discipleship, Budget & Finance, and Hospitality.

Dick does a really good job of giving you the concepts and some different things to think about within these key areas. For example, he tells pastors that it is their job to lead; not the congregation, not the board, not the staff. Someone must do it, and that someone is the (senior) pastor. He also talks about building cultures of prayer, change, and reaching out... especially to young families. These and other concepts are key to having a strong and flourishing church as opposed to one that stagnates and dies.

While there is a great deal of good in the book, i did still have a number of qualms. For instance, it is clear that this is Dick's first book. The flow to the book is not very smooth overall. One example of this is in chapter 2 where the term "buy-ins" shows up. It seem very important. Yet, it is not very clearly defined, and after one chapter it is never used again.

The 27 Questions also feels like it is weighted a little odd. This is clear just by looking at the table of contents. There are two chapters on discipleship, two chapters on conflict management, and five chapters on hospitality (six if you count ch. 12 on phone hospitality). Now maybe i'm wrong and the weight is correct for what pastors are needing, but it just felt more than a little skewed when i read it through.

The final criticism i have is the followup. The chapters are small, and in most instances they leave you feeling like you have just seen the tip of the iceberg with a ton more information still buried well beneath the surface. In some of the chapters there are a few action points to work off of, but many times the reader is left feeling like there needs to be more. I felt like there needed to be either more application information, or there needed to be a list of resources to give the reader more to work with in finding the answers to these very important questions.

Overall, do not let the criticisms deter you. 27 Tough Questions Pastors Ask is a really good book that belongs up on every pastor's shelf next to books like Axiom by Bill Hybles and Be a People Person by John C. Maxwell.

Feel free to find out more about this book and other work Dick Hardy is involved in at The Hardy Group.

Within Reach... Yet Unreachable

I went for my walk this morning and went past some construction that is being done on a nearby major intersection. As i walked by this morning it looked so desolate; dry, dusty, lifeless, vacant. The businesses that were there looked the same way. Numerous of them were closed, and one of them had sprayed on the window that it was for sale. There was no one there, and it seemed as though nothing worth seeing. Overall, it looked like a small wasteland.

In the construction zone on the other side of the street was a dusty, dirty, old truck. The truck was white with very little writing on it. On the back of the truck in big black letters that said "Water" on it. It struck me that that image very much defines our society, our youth, and our families. It's very desolate. Young people, families, lives, all empty, dry, desolate. All without life. Meanwhile, the very thing needed for life, is just sitting there all bottled up and out of reach of everything. There is such potential, the ground and the world around it is screaming out for it, yet it is unreached / unreachable unless it is released.

This is us. This is our families. This is our towns & cities. This is our country & world. All of these things reaching out, wanting and needing what is sitting there all bottled up within easy reach. Yet it is completely unattainable unless the water is released. So now what?

Now obviously, this is a construction zone, and everything that is going on, the desolation, the dirt, the water truck, all have a reason, and all have a purpose to play. The road will be completed. Hopefully the business and people will return. Life, of sorts, will return at the right time. In the end, that purpose will be played out.

However, the image will stand. The image of the dry & desolate land reaching out for something that is right there within reach, yet completely unreachable. Something that is needed, but that needs only to be released.

Vision to Reality - Facing the Giant

So now what? This is the difficult part. I see and for the most part understand the problem. That's the easy part. It's what to do next that is the difficult part. The problem exists on so many levels in our society that it is nigh impossible to tackle it all. It deals with institutions and views that are ingrained into our society and that have been a part of this culture and environment for over a century. How do you break the backbone of a century's old view and mentality that pervades an entire culture, society, and world? How do you tackle something that is so far encompassing that it invades us in every area that we live? It is defined in how we work, what we do in our "spare" time, how we live, how & what we eat, what we teach our kids, how our kids learn, our own expectations, what we see and invades our home. How does one even pretend to tackle this problem without being destroyed by it?

There are individuals, families, and even entire communities that have seen these problems for a long time and instead of fighting it have separated themselves from the problem and the society that it pervades. At times they have become outsiders looking in critically and rejecting our society as a whole, or they just don't even care and would rather be their own entity and allow the rest of society slowly destroy itself while they go on living their own lives. I can understand it, and in a way it is a very awe inspiring view to see the battle against the onslaught of outside forces. However, it does so little to actually create the change that needs to occur.

So how do you fight a battle that is so much larger than yourself that you can't even see & comprehend the vastness of it? How do you fell a giant that encompasses a planet in the face of a people that doesn't even recognize that the giant exists, that may only see a finger or toe of the giant and attempts to fight only that part, or that don't even understand that the giant is a problem? The answer is that one person alone can't... but then we never really are alone, are we?
II Kings 6:1-23 especially vs. 16 "And he answered, Do not fear, for those with us are more than those with them."

Image from andyburnfield used under cc license.

Redefining the Vision

It's nice to not be feeling miserable all the time. Now i just need to get past the complete exhaustion phase and the massively stressed out one. Anyways, that's neither here nor there.
I think it's time to reiterate and refine my vision, and to look at what i am doing and needing to do to bring that vision to fruition.

What is my vision? My vision is to have youth and young adults prepared for adulthood, trained to be adults and able to handle healthy relationships with their peers and those of the opposite sex. To mature and grow in their relationship with God as well as to become leaders and successful as people.
So, what does that mean? That's a good question. I'm glad that you asked. It means.............. Um, could you repeat the question please? Oh, yeah. What it means is that we need to prepare youth to be adults. Instead of just expecting that one day youth will be adults and will act like adults when they mature enough, we need to be helping them prepare and grow into adulthood. Unless youth are trained and expected to act like adults, chances are they are not going to.
Where has this vision come from? Our society has created this idea, this concept, that youth are kids and not adults. They are not supposed to act like or become adults until they are at least 21. The time between 17 or 18 and 21 is the ramp up stage in which they put their childish ways behind them and prepare for the real world. Prior to that is the adolescent stage in which youth rebel against authority and begin to become their own person. Adolescence is a troublesome time in which youth begin to "find themselves" and define who they are by standing against authority. The problem that i see is that these are modern and very unhealthy concepts. Traditionally, prior to the industrial revolution and the modern educational system, children were raised to become adults. When they were young, children were expected to help out and be involved where they could. As they grew they were given more and more responsibility until they were around the age of puberty (much older than puberty hits now, usually around 15-18). At that time they went through a rite of passage and became adults. As adults they were expected to act like adults, and to be able to provide and take care of a family. Which, with some help from family and the community, they could do since they spent their lives training and preparing for it. Now, however, even after 12+ years of "formal" education and many times 4 years of post high-school education, young adults still don't know how to be adults and take care of and provide for their families.
So, what now? That's a good question that i don't have enough time to get into right now. Check back tomorrow when i want to deal with plans, purposes, and steps to take.

Image from HelenaN used under cc license.