This was too good to keep to myself. From Mark Batterson's The Circle Maker:

With God, there is no big or small, easy or difficult, possible or impossible. This is difficult to comprehend because all we've ever known are the four dimensions we were born into, but God is not subject to the natural laws He instituted. He has no beginning and no end. To the infinite, all finites are equal. Even our hardest prayers are easy for the Omnipotent One to answer because there is no degree of difficulty.

Talk about your deep theological truths.

For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.

At Team D’s* last major planning meeting, we read through the Book of Titus, a letter from the Apostle Paul to a young leader named Titus. There was a ton of good stuff in there, but one of the things that stuck out to me was Paul’s comment that an overseer must be disciplined.

I’m not disciplined. I don’t mean that I’m a hoodlum. I mean that I don’t lead an ordered, structured life.

This is a problem. I need to have the discipline to get up early to read my Bible, because I know I won’t do it at night. I need to have the discipline to exercise, because that triathlon is looming, and I’m not ready.

In the last few posts I’ve talked about how at NCC we’re believing God for a piece of property so that we can better serve God’s kingdom. And my wife and I are also looking purchase a house. While plans can always change, we see ourselves in DC for the foreseeable future. We’d like to have a family here, and in the meantime, we want to be able to use our house to entertain out of town guests, help out friends who need a place to stay, and share our lives with those around us.

Thoroughly confused as to how these relate? Wait for it…

Last Sunday, Pastor Mark preached on the story of Jericho, where the Israelites marched around the city of for seven days before God gave it to them. PM also talked about praising God for the things He’s done, even when from a human perspective it doesn’t seem as if He has yet done them.

That Sunday afternoon and every morning since then, I’ve ridden my bike around Capitol Hill (where we’d like to live), praising God, believing that He will provide the right house for Rachel and I. We’ve put offers in on three places that didn’t work out, and as difficult as that has been, I believe that God has something better in store for us.

I’ve also been stopping at the property that NCC is attempting to purchase,^# walking around it, and praising Him for providing it.

It has been a great experience and one that taken some discipline. Getting up at 7 AM to ride in 45 degree weather doesn’t come naturally, but it’s more than worth it. It has also taken some discipline to stay on task. I’ll be honest, some days I’ve done a fair amount of road raging when I should have been praising.

I’m planning to finish tomorrow by circling Capitol Hill 7 times. (This time in a car, it’ll be over 50 miles!) I’ll also be walking around NCC’s new property 7 times, praising God for it.

*NCC’s Discipleship Team
^#At least, I’m pretty sure it’s the right property. I know I’m at least in the right area

Here at NCC we’re in the middle of a sermon series called Miracles. There have already been some incredible stories of the things God has done. He’s provided over $15k for an orphanage in the Congo and made amazing financial provision for one of our unpaid interns.

When we started this series, I didn’t really have a miracle I was praying for. Sometimes I have a hard time getting in line with these church-wide things. It’s not an attempt at rebellion or arrogance (although it’s probably at least a mild form of both). In this case, there just wasn’t anything I felt like I needed a miracle for. I have a great wife, just got a great job, am in need of nothing, and feel like I’m spiritually in a much better place than I’ve been in a very long time, maybe ever.

But then Pastor Mark said something that really struck a chord in me. He told us to be a part of other people’s miracles. So that’s what I’m praying for. I’m praying that God would use me to bless others.

Since then, I’ve found some places where I could use a miracle and have even experienced one, but more on that later.

Altar calls aren’t something we’ve done very much in recent years here at NCC, but they’ve been happening a lot more recently. We’re in a place where we’ve been challenging people to make a decision to put Jesus in charge of their lives. Over the coming days I’ll be going through the Gospels looking for stories of those who decide to follow Jesus. I’m excited to read the stories of those early believers.

As Mark, our senior pastor, put it, we want to help people to start a journey, not just raise a hand during a service and go on with business as usual. We are commanded to make disciples, not “get converts.” Disciple implies relationship and committment. There is a conversion experience, but we are called to a journey of faith with Christ and fellow believers, not just a one time intellectual act.

What are you grateful for? If you spend some time at National Community Church, you’re likely to hear Mark Batterson talk about a gratitude journal. The idea is that each day you write down something that you are grateful for. In Mark’s words:

Keep a gratitude journal this week. Find something everyday to be grateful for. It’s a spiritual discipline. Psalm 103:2 says, “Praise the Lord and forget not all his benefits.”

In the words of the hymn:
Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your many blessings. See what God has done.

Your focus will determine your reality!

I’ve decided to start keeping a gratitude journal on Twitter using the hashtag #gratitude. After searching, it looks like some others have already put the hashtag it to good use, and you should join in too!

I’m aiming for three things a day. I feel like that will force me to think about it more than just one thing would. Today I’m grateful for free museums with places to sit and read, for the wonderful night I had last night, and for my day off.

What are you grateful for?

This past weekend at NCC‘s Leadership Retreat, Pastor Mark talked about the idea of input vs. output, that we need to concentrate on the input (i.e. doing the right things) and let God focus on the output (i.e. how everything turns out).

The theme for this year’s retreat was Greater Things. In fact, this is the theme for NCC in the coming year, and so we’ve been thinking and talking about the greater things that we are believing God for. To tell you the truth, I’ve been having a hard time putting my finger on what these are for me.

I realized that right now I’m much more concerned about the input than the output. I’m more concerned about seeking God, investing in others, and supporting the team and fixing the facilities at Union Station than I am about seeing a very particular thing happen.

It’s a strange tension, because I do think it’s a good idea to set goals (and have set them), and I do have a large scale vision for what I believe God is going to do.

I guess it comes down to something like this. If I’m being the person that I’m supposed to be and doing the things that I’m supposed to do, then God will give the increase. He will make the vision happen. Otherwise, I’m probably doing it out of my own strength, likely trying to build some kind of personal kingdom for my own glory.

What are my goals, plans, and resolutions for 2009? Well, I’ll be posting those throughout the day but first, a bit of New Years resolution housekeeping.

NCC (especially Mark Batterson) is big on encouraging people to set goals. So here are some tips that I’ve picked up about goal setting while being at NCC.

From Heather Zempel, goals should be SMART.

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Require Faith
• Time-Related

I think the easiest way to explain is to give an example. One of my goals for 2009 is to strengthen my relationship with God. That’s pretty vague. How to I determine if I’ve accomplished that goal? So, I need to break it down.

For the month of January I plan to go through the Morning Prayer from the Book of Common Prayer every morning. That is specific. I can measure my success or failure. It is certainly something that is doable, but it will not be easy. I’m not a morning person. Waking up 45 minutes early every morning will take quite a bit of effort. Finally, it has an end point. This gives me something definitive to strive for, ensures that there is a time certain when I can evaluate the accomplishment, and frees me from the impossible task of committing to something for the rest of my life.

Heather also talks in that same blog post about breaking goals down into categories. I’m planning to use the categories:

• Physical
• Intellectual
• Devotional
• Creative
• Ministerial
• Relational
• Personal

One more important point, in his sermon on Sunday, Mark encouraged us not to set too many goals. If you plan to change everything in your life at one time, you’ll inevitably fail. Ever tried to move from a fast-food diet and no exercise to something like Body-for-LIFE while committing to having dinner as a family 5 nights a week, spend less time at work, become a more avid reader, improve your golf game, and invest more time at your church? FAIL

Take steps. Take steps that require faith. Take steps that are big and meaningful, but don’t try to do everything at once. For example, as I mentioned in a previous post, I’m putting my book on the back burner to focus on other things. I’ve got too much going on right now to commit to that. I’d rather do a few things well than do everything poorly.

A few weeks ago I came across a blog called Without Wax. While Without Wax is written by a pastor, Pete Wilson of of Cross Point Church in Tennessee, I think that all Internet marketers, social media gurus, etc. could learn a lesson from Pete.

The thing that’s so amazing about Without Wax are its comments. It’s updated an average of once per day and has 585 subscribers in Google Reader (GR).

By contrast FireDogLake, a liberal political blog with 1,449 GR subscribers (2.5x as many) and a significantly higher Alexa ranking, receives roughly the same number of comments as Without Wax.

Here’s another comparison point. Matt Cutts’ personal blog has 14,887 GR subscribers and has an Alexa ranking between FireDogLake and Without Wax. He posts 2.8 times per week and actually gets fewer comments than Pete does. While the following information isn’t super-helpful for comparison purposes because we don’t have it for any other blogs listed here, I can tell you that during 2007, Matt had 2.27 million visits and 31,373 RSS subscribers.

We can also look at another blog in the same genre as Pete’s. Evotional is written by Mark Batterson, pastor of National Community Church (where I attend/work). Mark has 1,114 GR subscribers, posts at a similar rate as Pete does (10x per week), and has a similar Alexa ranking. He receives far fewer comments than Pete.

What’s my point? Well, Pete Wilson, author of Without Wax, has the highest level of community engagement that I’ve ever seen on a blog. Sure, some blogs get more comments, but they’re huge. The mighty TechCrunch with its nearly 1 million RSS subscribers and 3 million daily visits doesn’t get that many more comments. The number of comments on Pete’s blog simply blows me away.

While I’m not sure exactly why Pete gets so many comments, here’s my thought. He writes relatively short posts, not Mark Batterson short but still short, and at the end of many of them he asks readers a question that they can answer in the comments. This question is written in red to make it stand out.

Maybe we can get Pete to drop by and give us some more insight. You can always ask him on Twitter. UPDATE: Pete said he’d drop by and comment later, so no need to bug him on Twitter, although feel free to follow him!

Do you have any insight into this?

A few days ago I mentioned that NCC was doing a sermon on politics this past weekend. I wanted to post the video for those of you who didn’t get a chance to see it. Pastor Mark handled the topic very well, and while I may have different opinions on a few issues, it was an excellent message and one that is obviously timely.

The sermon is also available as streaming audio, downloadable video, and downloadable audio, and in case this sermon piqued your interest, you can check out some others at http://theaterchurch.com/media or subscribe to the podcast.

Since we’re on the subject, I should make the disclaimer that the political views I express here in my blog are not in any way the political views of National Community Church, which doesn’t have any political views. Also, I don’t believe that my political views are normative for followers of Jesus. As the Sojourners have said, “God is not a Republican. Or a Democrat.” In other words, my politics are my politics, not the Church’s politics, not NCC’s politics, not Christian politics, just mine. My faith may inform my politics (although it’s more complicated than that), but other followers of Jesus would say the same thing and come to radically different conclusions (more on that another day).

Date: 11/03/2008 – Disclaimer

I figured it’s safer to share this via video because you can’t stone me.

I want to make highly charged statements that will cause divisions and ultimately split our church. Okay, that’s exactly what I don’t want to do.

One of the things that struck me early on is that a lot of the churches in DC want to tell their members how to vote and what to think on matters of domestic and foreign policy. I have opinions, but I don’t think that is our job as a church. All of this stuff is important, but I think that our job as a church is to make disciples. We certainly want to teach things that affect all aspects of our lives, including politics. We need to think critically, biblically and tactically about every issue. I think we need to have more Christians called to culture shaping positions like politics, but all to often our politics are obstacles that keep some people from getting to the cross. Jesus didn’t come to set up an earthly kingdom but a spiritual kingdom that would transcend every earthly kingdom. When people wanted to make Jesus an earthly king, he resisted them. Why? Because he was setting up a transcendent kingdom.

Here’s what I want to do this weekend. I want to share some biblical principles that should shape our politics. I know some of you are disappointed.

Point 1 – Blood is thicker than water.

Family comes first. Your friends will come and go, but family is forever.

Here’s the bottom line. Were an incredibly diverse congregation. We have people who have been inspired to work on the McCain campaign and the Obama campaign. So essentially, we cancel each other out (j/k).

Galatians 3:26-29 – …you are all one in Christ Jesus.

If Paul had been writing in the 21st century, he probably would have included Republican and Democrat.

Those divisions disappear in Christ Jesus, we’re all one in Christ. What Paul is saying is that our allegiance to Christ comes first, the family of God second, and politics or whatever else third.

The blood that runs through God’s family is thicker than water.

I remember that one NCCer who was looking for a job on the Hill years ago was in a small group that fasted and prayed for him to find a job, but the thing that was most impressive was that there were people in his small group from both sides of the aisle.

We’re to take our obligation to love each other more seriously than our allegiance to either political party

Point 2

Philippians 3:20-21 – We are citizens of Heaven.

Yes, we’re citizens of the U.S. And I’m proud to be an American.

I don’t think you can look at the history of our nation and not see that we’ve done some things wrong as well as some things right, and I believe that we are a blessed nation.

I know some of you are looking for clues as to who I’m voting for, and this might seem like a clue, but it might just be a jedi mind trick. Caring for the poor, homeless, sick, etc. is not a political agenda, it is a Godly platform. The government has gotten involved because the Church has dropped the ball. The church in too many instances has abdicated its responsibility.

Donald Miller’s church started something called the Advent Conspiracy. It’s an organization that promotes less materialism at Christmas and instead to help others with the money you would have spent on yourself.

BTW, Donald has publically endorsed Obama, and I didn’t know that when we met. When I say that, some of you like him more, and some of you like him less. We didn’t even talk about politics, but I got e-mails from people who were angry. There’s an issue on which I disagree with Donald. Some people would even call it a litmus issue. I may disagree with him, but I can’t disagree with the fact that he biked across the U.S. to raise $250k for (kids with cancer?).

We need to be the blessing. We need to be going into our schools and ask how we can be a blessing. We need to be volunteering our time and serving our communities.

Let me put a dream on the radar. We held an event called the “Convoy of Hope” a few weeks ago. It was amazing, we distributed groceries, had a job fair, etc. But we realized it was just a means to an end. I believe that in the next year we will have a ministry center where we can care for the physical and spiritual needs of the community. Call it a Dream Center.

I believe politics is a noble calling. We need people in culture-shaping position. I believe God places people in strategic places. Joseph in Egypt.

John 6:14-15 – After people saw the miraculous sign Jesus had done, the people wanted to make him King by force, so Jesus withdrew.

People wanted to elect Jesus, Jesus for president, but political policies are not ultimate solutions. The Lord’s Prayer, the will of God being done

Point 3 – Don’t pass judgment on disputable matters.

This is incredibly important when it comes to politics. Therea re issues in the Bible that are Black and white, and when you turn something that is black and white into grey, that is called relativeism, and that is wrong. I believe we need to stand our ground on political issues that are black and white, but when we take issues that are grey and make them black and white, that is called legalism. Both are incredibly destructive.

Romans 14:1 – Don’t pass judgment on disputable matters.

There are some doctrines that are fundamental.

But there are other issues, the rapture, eternal security, whether or not to sing the 3rd verse of a hymn that we have always debated.

Rupertus Meldenius – “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.”

I know there are one or two issues that some people are the only important issues, and there are one or two that I weigh more heavily than others.

Not everyone is going to be passionate about the same things that I am passionate about. Sometimes we think that if everyone doesn’t care about the things we care about then their lukewarm Christians. We need people who care deeply about health care, about life, about the environment.

We need our differences, and when it comes to disputable matters or matters of conscience, we need some latitude.

Point 4 – If you don’t vote, don’t complain.

The Israelites were always complaining and grumbling. I think we need to stop being part of the problem and start being part of the solution.

You know what, if you do vote and your person doesn’t get elected, then don’t spend the next four years complaining.

Here’s what’s going to happen this week. We’re going to go to the polls, and unless there are lots of hanging chads, we’ll know who wins. If your candidate wins do a little dance. If your candidate wins, maybe it’s time to enact Matthew 5:44 – But I tell you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Maybe if we started praying, it would change the political tone in our country.

You know what, when I’m gossiping about someone, I can’t look them in the eye, but when I’m praying for someone, I can.

Point 5 – Respect those in authority

Romans 13:1, 7

I know what some of you are saying, “Paul didn’t live in 21st century America.” No, he lived in Rome, which was worse.

It’s fine to joke, and I know some of us have trouble showing respect to certain candidates/officeholders, but we need to show some level of respect for their office.

I know it’s not always easy, but if you have the courage to follow the example Jesus set, I think you can make the same difference Jesus did.

Jim Collins, who wrote Good to Great, talks about Level 5 Leaders. He said what makes someone a Level 5 Leader is humility, which may be surprising. When we lead in a humble spirit, when we engage in a humble spirit, ultimately, it’s change we can believe in.

Alleviating suffering and caring for the poor is not a political agenda; it’s a God agenda. God is bigger than a good president or a bad president. The church ought to be an example of unity for Capitol Hill. Proverbs (?): true wisdom has two sides.

Final thought:
When the election is over, it will be 4 years until the next one. How about the church helps solve problems in the interim.

Shane Claiborne: What’s more important than how we vote on Nov. 4 is how we live on Nov 3 & 5.