One of the key components of a Christian church is worship. Visit any church in your town this Sunday morning and you’ll experience some form of worship ministry during the service. The worship leader will get up, you’ll have the songs displayed in a hymnal or on a projector, and everyone will be encouraged to sing along. Usually, worship is the very first thing we do at church. It sets the stage for the whole Sunday morning gathering. You can remove a lot of things in a church service, like different programs and practices, but you can’t do without worship. Worship is important.

If you’ve had the opportunity to visit other congregations or have been a part of different churches, then you know that there’s a lot of variation in the body of Christ when it comes to worship. Churches worship God in different ways. Some use an organ or piano and focus on congregational singing of hymns. Others enjoy contemporary music styles with a full band and an immersive experience. I’ve even been to a church that had a country western band and played cowboy worship songs. Not really my cup of tea, but hey, there’s lots of variety, and there’s something for everyone. Even within our own Calvary Chapel family of churches, you’ll get different expressions of worship based on where you attend. There’s freedom to follow the leading of the Spirit, and we enjoy that freedom.

Now, I know that some of you are probably thinking, “Yes, but ‘worship’ isn’t just singing songs. Worship is a way of life.” First of all, good observation, wise one. And yes! I agree with you. But today we’re talking about the worship part of the church service (the song singing and music playing), not the big-picture idea of worship in the Bible. Nevertheless, here’s a short definition of worship and the heart behind the musical worship we have in church:

What Is Worship?

The dictionary defines worship as “The feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity: ‘the worship of God.’”^[1] It comes from “worth-ship,” to ascribe worth to someone or something.

Jesus said that true worshippers worship in Spirit and in truth.^[2]
In Romans chapter twelve, we find a great summary of spiritual worship:

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”^[3]

So worship is really a response to God’s greatness, as we, in Spirit and truth, offer our lives to him sacrificially.

Now that that’s settled, let’s get back to the topic of worship ministry in our church services. How should we worship the Lord together, and what are some practical things we can learn about worship ministry?

Music That Ministers

I grew up in the Church of Christ. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the denomination, the Church of Christ doesn’t use musical instruments during worship. In fact, it’s not called “worship”; it’s called “singing.” Thankfully, the church I grew up in had a lot of good people in a loving congregation. In that church I learned the stories of the Bible, and I learned about Jesus, but I also learned that using instruments in the singing was a big no-no.

As I got older and visited heathen churches that used instruments, I discovered that music actually makes singing better. The Bible has lots of examples of musical instruments in worship. In fact, Psalm 150 alone mentions eight different types of instruments. The Scripture commands us to “Sing His praises with the harp and the trumpet.” It calls us to “make a joyful symphony to the Lord.”^[4] I’m not drumming all of this up just to make a point. I really don’t want to string you along or toot my own horn, but I believe that Instruments play an important role in the worship service of the Church.

I remember when I was a very godly Bible college student, I had a gift to critique worship services. I could methodically identify everything that was wrong with them. One thing that I found offensive was when musicians would play instrumental solos in the middle of the song. I thought it was so carnal^[5] because, in my opinion, they were doing it to draw attention to themselves. Then I met Marcello. Marcello was the new electric guitar player at our Bible college and a very gifted musician. He didn’t say much, and I didn’t really know him that well, but when he’d play, my heart was lifted to heaven. I felt like Elijah in 2 Kings, “‘Bring me a musician.’ Then it happened, when the musician played, that the hand of the LORD came upon him.”^[6] My view of instruments changed, and I realized that a quality guitar solo or violin piece added to a worship song can enhance worship and not hinder it.

Spirit and Truth

One of Calvary Chapel’s core distinctives is “striking the balance.” We don’t overemphasize spiritual gifts, but we also don’t deny the work of the Spirit. Pentecostals say we’re too much like Baptists, and Baptists say we’re too Pentecostal. I say we have a good balance. Balance should apply to worship too. There has to be a balance in our worship song selection that includes both Spirit and truth. We want to experience the power of the Holy Spirit in our times of worship, but we also want to make sure we’re singing the truth about God from His Word. We tend to miss the mark on one side or the other. We either have a Spirit-filled worship service with songs that are not as doctrinally sound as they should be, or we have a bunch of theological songs and no spiritual anointing. We need both.

As a pastor, I’m often asked why we sing certain songs and not others. I reply that it’s usually because the song is either biblically inaccurate or it doesn’t communicate our heart of worship. On the other hand, we’ve been criticized by some for singing worship songs by Hillsong, Bethel, and Elevation Worship, to name a few. I know that with any ministry or church, you have the good and the bad. Even though I don’t necessarily agree with all the theology of these ministries, I do appreciate the songwriting gifts of their writers and have seen them inspire many to worship. I personally believe that it’s enough to judge individual songs for doctrinal content and spiritual anointing, and if they check out, to incorporate them into the service. If the song is good and biblical, then we sing it! My view is that it’s a case-by-case basis for song selection. Ultimately, we follow the principle of “Spirit and truth” and seek to strike the balance.

Team Too Loud vs. Team Too Quiet

There’s a law—like the law of gravity—that’s called the law of commenting on the volume of worship. This affects everyone from the long-term ministry leader to the new congregant. There’s an invisible force that compels them to say something. Having been a pastor for 20+ years, this is the number one complaint/comment I get. And it’s from both sides.

“Excuse me, pastor?”

“Yes, how can I help you?”

“I just want to say that the music is so loud and I’m afraid I will get hearing damage if I stay one more moment.”

Then, at the same service, a few minutes later…

“Excuse me, pastor?”

“Yes, how can I help you?

“Is there any way to turn the volume up? I’m having a hard time worshipping; the volume is so low it sounds like background music.”

Without going into too much detail, what we’re experiencing in our worship services with the too-loud-crowd and too-quiet-crow are two different preferences of worship style. It has nothing to do with one being better than the other but rather with how people like to worship. Those who like lower volumes favor hearing themselves and others sing. They’d like the music to support the singing rather than being immersed in the music. On the other hand, those who like a bigger band and louder volume would rather be enveloped in worship. They choose to feel the moment and share in the same immersive experience with others.^[7]

I personally lean toward a more immersive worship experience. I like to sing at the top of my lungs and not worry about everyone turning around and looking at me. But I also appreciate times of refrain and corporate singing. I love hearing the congregation sing together. Good worship leaders can have a nice mix of both, but usually, a church will specialize in one or another.

Chasing The Feeling

We recently had a young family leave our church because of the worship. In a new church plant, you’ll always have people come and go, but it’s always hard when people you love leave. Before they left, they had a meeting with one of the elders and explained their reason. They said that the worship wasn’t Spirit-filled enough. Even though they loved the teaching, and had made many friends and connections in the church, they were afraid that they were going to “dry up” spiritually due to the worship.

This came as a shock to us because God has blessed the church with several incredibly gifted and seasoned worship leaders. Yes, our worship style is simple, but I feel the presence of God every Sunday as people sing to the Lord and lift their hands in heartfelt praise.

After digging a little deeper, we discovered that this couple had a background with churches and ministries that focused more on Spiritual experience and feelings than on biblical teaching and discipleship. Ministries like these will often look to the emotional expression of the congregation during meetings as a benchmark for health rather than internal biblical transformation over time. If people aren’t intensely worshipping, with visible demonstrations of the Spirit (intense emotional expression, every person’s hands raised, prophetic words, spontaneous utterances, etc.), then that means that the service is lacking in Spiritual power.

Don’t get me wrong; I love a great worship experience as much as the next guy. I’m a big fan of worship nights and big loud worship events, but I also realize that our personal experience isn’t the end goal of what we’re doing here. Sadly, many Christians are chasing the feeling rather than using the feeling to focus on Christ. It’s a classic case of looking to the gift (emotional experience in worship) rather than the giver (Jesus, the object of worship). They get caught up in the next big thing, going from one intense worship experience to another, and forget the value and maturity of being still and waiting on the Lord.

Sometimes, God wants us to be quiet and let all the noise drift away. “In the secret in the quiet place / In the stillness You are there.”^[8]

The Heart of Worship

Ultimately, what matters most is not the different components of worship, or how loud or quiet the music is. It’s not really important if you like to sing hymns or prefer contemporary classics (You may even like that cowboy worship). At the end of the day, the real question is, did you worship with your whole heart? Did you have a connection with God? Even if you did not feel a rush of emotion, did you offer a sacrifice of praise to Him?^[9] Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. He’s looking for a heart of worship.

“I’ll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the ways things appear
You’re looking into my heart
I’m comin’ back to the heart of worship
And it’s all about You
It’s all about You, Jesus”^[10]

Footnotes

^[1] Oxford Languages, Google Dictionary. https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/
^[2] See John 4:23
^[3] Romans 12:1 (ESV)
^[4] See Psalm 98:4-6 (NLT)
^[5] “Carnal” is a term we used to use in Bible college to refer to someone who was not spiritual, someone who was “in the flesh.”
^[6] 2 Kings 3:15
^[7] There is a great article on this by a worship leader named Dan Wilt. Find it at https://www.danwilt.com/is-it-too-loud-worship-accompaniment-vs-worship-immersion-culture/
^[8] Lyrics from Andy Park’’s “In the Secret”
^[9] See Hebrews 13:15
^[10] Lyrics from Matt Redman’s “The Heart Of Worship”

I grew up in the Church of Christ. My parents were saved when I was three years old, and we moved from San Luis Obispo, California, to the mountains of New Mexico. We started attending the Church of Christ in our town and were warmly welcomed into the congregation. This was the church that I grew up in. It wasn’t a large church, but it was full of friendly, caring families. They looked out for one another and tried to follow God the best they could. I have many fond memories of those early years at church, especially potluck Sunday, the last Sunday of every month. The casseroles were delicious.

These were good people, but I discovered that the church had some unique teachings and practices that made them different from other churches and denominations. They didn’t, for example, allow musical instruments in worship. They said that unless a person was baptized, they weren’t saved. They didn’t let women on the stage unless it was to help lead the kids out to class after the singing. There was also a hesitancy to recognize other denominations as “real” Christians. These things, I learned, were the teachings and practices that made that Church unique. As a child and later a teenager, I didn’t think too much of it. This must be what church is, I thought, because it was all that I knew. These were their distinctives.

Fast-forward to high school. I’d just graduated (barely), and my parents were frustrated with me—to say the least—frustrated about my bad decisions and immoral lifestyle. We still went to church every Sunday, but the sermons and studies were far from relevant to my life. I was disconnected and disinterested. Many of the church members loved me, and I knew that, but there was also a very strong sense of feeling like I was the outsider, the bad person, and the one who didn’t fit in. I’d bring my friends to church (misery loves company), but they were worse than me. Sadly, with a few exceptions, like our youth minister John (God bless him; he did the best he could), we didn’t feel welcome in this church anymore.

During my late teens, a man named Ben and his family came to plant a new church in town. He and my father quickly became friends. They were both ex-hippies and loved what we now call classic rock—it was a match made in heaven. They found connection and comradery in a small town where most people were either ranchers or hunters. The church they planted was called Calvary Chapel, and their goal was to “Simply teach the Bible simply.” My parents started attending this new church, and their lives were forever changed. There was something about the teaching that was unique. They’d never heard the verse-by-verse style before. The worship was different, too. It wasn’t Hillsong or anything, but at least they had a piano and guitar to add to the melody. And then there was the grace…there’s freedom in the grace of God!

After I graduated, Ben and my dad conspired to send me to Southern California. Through Ben’s contacts, they met with the head of construction for a large property in Murrieta that Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa had just purchased. There was an opportunity for me to get out of my small hometown and move to California. I could work in landscaping and help prepare the site that was to become the Calvary Chapel Conference Center, and later the new home of the Bible College. They even offered me room and board! Little did I know that I’d be surrounded by Christians night and day, and that my time there would eventually lead to my (re)conversion. The rest is history.

So, what does Calvary Chapel mean to me?

As I later discovered, Calvary Chapel has its own unique place in the Body of Christ. Its own distinctives. In fact, there was even a book written by its founder, Chuck Smith, called The Calvary Distinctives. I’m not going to go through the whole list of things that make Calvary Chapel what it is, but I would like to share the things that are special to me, and the things that I seek to replicate in every church and ministry I plant and pastor.

The Grace of God

Growing up in a somewhat legalistic church,^[1] I know firsthand the difference between a works-based Christianity and a faith-based one. Legalism is menacing because even if you have all the right doctrine, you may still be guilty of a legalistic approach to ministry. It was a game changer when I first learned that God saves us and works in our lives by grace, through faith, and not by any works. Sadly, though this should be a staple of Calvary Chapel churches, many have left the grace of God and focus more on strict requirements to be accepted by the beloved. “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?”^[2]

The Word of God

One of the biggest bonuses of attending a Calvary Chapel is the emphasis on teaching the Bible. Paul said, “I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.”^[3] That’s what we do at Calvary week in and week out. This focus on teaching through books of the Bible is rare today. Churches are teaching topical messages and sermon series, but they don’t have a big commitment to expository teaching. At Calvary Chapel, we simply teach the word simply!

The Holy Spirit

When I first came back to Christ, I was very similar to the disciples in Acts chapter nineteen. Paul asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”^[4]That was me. I didn’t know very much about the Holy Spirit at all. Thankfully, though the ministry and gifts of the Holy Spirit can be a controversial topic, Calvary is committed to the leading, filling, and gifts of the Spirit today. Like my friend Bruce Zachary says in his book What We Believe And Why, “We need the Holy Spirit to empower us: It is the power of the Spirit through the Word which brings about true change in people.”^[5]

The Importance of Balance

Are you a Calvinist or an Arminian? Do you believe in the Bible or the Holy Spirit? Are you more like a Baptist or a Pentecostal? Are you a once-saved-always-saved, or are you a lose-your-salvation? Do you believe in wearing suits to church, or are you a shorts and sandals guy? The list goes on. Chuck Smith said, “When the Bible speaks clearly, we must as well. But on other issues, we try to recognize the Scriptural validity of both sides of a debate and avoid excluding or favoring those in one camp over the other.”^[6] I love the focus on balance within Calvary Chapel. We don’t draw hard lines on many issues and seek peace by providing a balanced view. Or at least we should.

The End Times

“Here, there, or in the air!” That’s what I heard one Calvary Chapel pastor say to another as they left the conference. The reference was to the Church’s rapture, and if I’d been ignorant about the Holy Spirit before Calvary, I was certainly way more in the dark about the end times. But Calvary Chapel taught me that Jesus is coming back soon. The Bible is full of prophecies and many haven’t yet been fulfilled. In fact, before the world completely crashes into chaos, “We who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”^[7] The study of prophecy and the end times totally changed my perspective on the world. We’ve a job to do and limited time to do it in. I realized that by focusing on the imminent return of Christ as we do at Calvary Chapel, we become more intentional about reaching the lost for Jesus before that day comes.

The Love for Hippies

I think one of the biggest reasons I love Calvary Chapel is its warm and welcoming attitude toward the outcasts and rebels of its culture. This is how the Jesus Movement and Calvary Chapel started! “The hippies,” “the hippies.” All we used to hear about was the hippies. “They were so bad,” we were told. “They didn’t wear shoes,” “they used drugs,” and “they stank.” The hippies were a sexualized group of misfits and rabble-rousers. Yet, we at Calvary Chapel let them in. And we’re so proud of the fact that we let them in. We told them, “You can come in, and if we have to, we will tear out the carpet!”^[8] Good job, us! But that was way back then in the sixties and seventies. I haven’t seen a hippie at Calvary Chapel in a long time. Where are they? What happened to all those hippies?

After they got saved, they became civilized and started megachurches.

Now it’s 2024, and we have a new set of “hippies.” They aren’t called hippies anymore, though. They’re called ________ (you fill in the blank; you know them). It’s the group of young people in our culture that are the sexualized misfits and rabble-rousers. They’re the ones that, if they were to come into church, they might be rejected by the righteous among us, just as they were back then. This is something for all of us Calvary Chapel people to hear, including myself. If we want to see our churches thrive, we must be willing to focus on the lost in this world. For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son. What was so great about Calvary Chapel back then (and what can make it great today) was that people were loved unconditionally, even those who weren’t easy to love.

Conclusion

That’s what made the difference for me. I was part of a church that said, “Clean up, and then you can come in.” However, Calvary Chapel said, “Come in, and Jesus Christ will clean you up.” This is what Calvary Chapel means to me, and I’m so excited to see what God does through our movement in the years to come!

References

^[1] This is not meant to be a comparison with the church I grew up in, or against the Church of Christ in general. I just use my own experience as a frame of reference. I look back and appreciate many of the things about that church—the people most of all. That church recently left the Church of Christ and are now a growing community church. They even use instruments in worship! God is blessing them. I love visiting when I’m in New Mexico.
^[2] Galatians 3:3
^[3] Acts 20:27
^[4] Acts 19:2
^[5] Page 19, What We Believe And Why – https://calvarynexus.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/What-We-Believe-and-Why-Bruce-Zachary.pdf
^[6] The Calvary Distinctives, Striking the Balance, Page 107
^[7] 1 Thessalonians 4:17
^[8] Chuck Smith famously said that when his board of elders said hippies couldn’t come to church because of the new carpet.

I met Chuck Smith on a tractor at Murrieta Hot Springs.

It was 1996, and I had just moved to California from my home state of New Mexico. I had been offered a job at the hot springs to work landscaping and help to restore the property the year after it was purchased by Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. The place was a mess. There were abandoned buildings, an old bar (later to become The Overflowing Cup coffee shop), hundreds of random rubble piles, and even a few ghosts roaming around.^[1]

The forty-six-acre property was not even close to looking the way that it would in the years to follow. There was a lot of work to be done to transform it into the haven for ministry and Biblical education that it would become.

I relocated to California due to some difficulties I was experiencing in my hometown. My dad, in collaboration with his Calvary Chapel friend, arranged for me to work at the hot springs, doing landscaping in exchange for room and board. It didn’t seem like a good deal at the time, but it was the only option for me since I was in a bad situation getting worse.

That’s a story for another time. All I knew was that as an eighteen-year-old in ’96, I was glad to be in a new place, and I was looking forward to new opportunities. I had no idea that God would use the experience over the next three years to redirect me onto a path of ministry in Calvary Chapel, and to give me one of the greatest examples of servant leadership that I have seen: Chuck Smith.

The first thing I noticed when I saw Pastor Chuck was his smile. It was big, bright, and impossible to miss. You could see it from a mile away. He had that bald head with gray hair on the sides, and the smile went ear to ear.

It seemed a little out of place, especially for a construction worker. Yes, I thought Chuck Smith was one of the construction crew. The first day he pulled up on the tractor, I didn’t know him as “Pastor” Chuck. I assumed he was one of the workers. A very happy worker.

I was only a few weeks into my job. Me and a few others were digging trenches for the new irrigation system, and it was a hot day. Pastor Chuck was driving around the property with Karl Benz, the head of construction. They were assessing damage, stopping to pick up trash, and doing other small projects. When they pulled up to where we were working, they stopped, and Pastor Chuck got out.

“Uhm, ohh, you fellas need to get some water. Why don’t you take a break and get something to drink?”

Those were the first words I heard him say. There was something about this guy that impressed me. It wasn’t just the smile; it was a sense that this was a man of God. I got the feeling like he knew something I didn’t, and that he was special in some way.

I didn’t know who he was at the time. But later, the other guys were going on about how he was the big boss, and how I should’ve been more attentive when he was talking. But he didn’t act like any “big boss” that I’d ever seen. What kind of big boss smiles at the little people and cares for the common workers? What kind of big boss drives around picking up trash, and digging holes, and carrying rocks, and the hundreds of other tasks I saw him do?

The answer is that it’s a boss who follows Jesus. And Chuck Smith was a man who followed Jesus.

“Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve”^[2]

Pastor Chuck spent a lot of time at the property during the construction and renovations. I didn’t really get to know him personally, but I was able to observe him regularly. I saw the way he worked when no one was looking. I saw the care he put into trimming the rose bushes near the top of the springs. I saw the friendliness he showed to everyone there, including myself. I also saw him back a tractor into one of the cars in the parking lot, but I never told anyone about that.

He was a regular guy just like the rest of us. But there was something unique about him. Years later, after I recommitted my life to Christ, I realized what was so special about Chuck Smith. It was his close personal relationship with the Lord. He really knew and loved Jesus. Everything else that we admire about him came from his relationship with God.

As time went on, I went from working landscaping to attending Bible college. The campus had changed from being a mess to being a place of peace. CCBC moved down from Twin Peaks, and I started attending classes. I met my wife there. We have such wonderful memories. Murrieta Hot Springs had been transformed, and so had I.

Twelve years later I attended a pastors’ conference at Murrieta Hot Springs. I visited the rose garden above the springs, and I saw Pastor Chuck walking with a few of the other pastors. The Lord brought back all the memories of those early days. It was a special moment.

He looked over at me with that big smile and said hello. He didn’t know then the impact that he had on me as a young man—and the hundreds of others like me—but he does now. Those early years were very formative, and I will always be thankful for the example that I was given in Chuck Smith.

References

^[1] That’s not a joke about the ghosts. To be more accurate, they were demons. You can talk to some of the old Calvary Chapel pastors who visited the property in those early days to pray and cast the demons out of several of the buildings on site. The hot springs were formerly a very dark place, and there were spiritual renovations taking place at the same time as the physical renovations.
^[2] Matthew 20:26–28 (NKJV)

Our world is full of leadership advice. A simple online search will result in an endless number of leadership resources. From TED Talks to TikTok, and everything in between. Just type “leadership” in your favorite podcast provider and see what comes up. It’s because we want practical strategies for becoming effective leaders. And for those of us who are pastors, we want to know how to lead the church that God has put in our care.

Leadership is important, but not all leadership advice is created equal. As Christians, we must be very careful where we’re getting our information. The advice you’ll get from the world is going to be much different than the advice you get from the Lord. In fact, the wisdom from the world is foolishness to God, and God’s wisdom seems foolish to the world (see 1 Corinthians 1:18-25). When it comes to leadership, God says it best:

“’For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,’ says the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.’”^[1]

So, what can we learn about God’s kind of leadership that will help us be better pastors and leaders? Good question! Let’s take a moment, add to the already massive mound of leadership content, and talk about one of my favorite leaders in the Bible: Moses.

Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?^[2]

Within most Calvary Chapel congregations, we lead our churches using the “Moses Model” of church government.

I’m aware that there are different ways to lead a church and that some are better than others. It’s not my intention to go into detail on the different forms of church government. That’s an article for another time, and for a more academic mind.

For our purposes, we’ll just say that Moses is the guy that most Calvary Chapels pattern their church leadership after. In fact, it was the late great Pastor Chuck Smith that said,

“In the church today we see this structure (the Moses Model) in a modified form. We see that Jesus Christ is the Head over the body of the church. It’s His church. He’s the One in charge. As pastors, we need to be like Moses, in touch with Jesus and receiving His direction and guidance. As pastors we need to be leading the church in such a way that the people know that the Lord is in control.”^[3]

Great! Jesus is the head of the church, and we need to be like Moses and get our direction from Him. So, if we’re supposed to be like Moses, we need to know what Moses was like.

Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.^[4]

I think that one of the main differences between the leadership style of the world and that of the church is the issue of pride. For the Christian, pride is a leadership killer. The Bible says that God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.^[5]

“It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.” – Saint Augustine

The biblical qualifications for a pastor state that a pastor must not be arrogant^[6] and that he must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit (pride) and fall into the condemnation of the devil.^[7]

So, why do we have so many prideful pastors in our churches today? That is a good question, and I don’t have all the answers, but I will say that it’s not very Moses-like.

I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit upon them all!^[8]

Moses wasn’t a jealous leader. He didn’t cling to power. He wasn’t afraid of the success of others, and he didn’t use his position to hold gifted people down. In fact, Moses was a leader who rejoiced in the accomplishments of other leaders, even those in his own congregation.

“And a young man ran and told Moses, ‘Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.’ And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, ‘My lord Moses, stop them.’ But Moses said to him, ‘Are you jealous for my sake?…’” ^[9]

All pastors struggle with jealousy, envy, and insecurity to some extent. Deep down we suspect that someone else could do the job better than we can, and we could be in danger of losing our position. We also find it difficult to be happy for the church that is growing down the street. It’s tough seeing our peers getting success and recognition especially when we aren’t.

It’s important that we’re aware of our weakness. Though jealousy is a common struggle, we must never let it control us, or make us negatively critical. It’s easy to become blind to our own faults, so we must learn to rejoice in the success of others, and try to build up the body of Christ through encouragement and cultivation of promising new leaders.

I once heard a story of a church that started because of the jealousy and insecurity of the sending pastor. The church was a fairly large congregation, and the pastor was a gifted teacher and evangelist. He would travel around the world for evangelistic events and mission trips. When the pastor was on the road, one of the younger pastoral interns would teach for him. The intern was also very gifted, and over time the people began to enjoy the teaching of this younger man.

On a packed Sunday, the pastor returned from a trip and stood in the back of his church. As the younger man preached, a congregation member turned to him and asked if it was his first time there. “This pastor is so gifted,” he explained. “I just love the way he teaches God’s word, and the church is really growing.” The man didn’t even realize that he was talking to the senior pastor of the church!

The following week the pastor let the intern know that God was calling him (the intern) to go plant a church somewhere else. They prayed for him and sent him out with a handshake and a “where God guides God provides.” Sadly, what could have been an incredible benefit to the church ended up being a missed opportunity. It was because of the insecurity and jealousy of the pastor.

A Moses Model pastor would rejoice in the success of others and want to see all of God’s people gifted for ministry. Remember, Moses himself was very reluctant to take any position of authority (see Exodus 3:11), and it was Moses who encouraged Joshua to lead the congregation—because he saw God’s gifting and calling on his life.

And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant.^[10]

Faithfulness and servanthood are such valuable qualities in a leader. Faithfulness means that you’re committed to God and to His people no matter what. It also means you’ll do the job for as long as it takes, and whatever the cost.

Faithfulness, commitment, and patience go together. Moses faithfully waited on God’s timing for forty years, from the time he killed the Egyptian as a young man to when he was called to deliver Israel. Moses again faithfully waited on the Lord for forty years after the Exodus, wandering around with a bunch of complaining Israelites until it was time for them to go into the promised land.

Moses was faithful, and Moses was also a servant. A true servant leader sacrifices his own comfort and wellbeing for the ones he’s serving. That’s what Jesus did for us. He didn’t come to be served but to serve and give his life.^[11]

Moses had the same attitude when it came to serving the people he was called to lead. At one point, he even prayed that he would be removed from God’s book so that the people’s sins could be forgiven! (See: Exodus 32:32.) He cared about them so much that he was willing to suffer for them.

Moses’ example of leadership is very different from the attitude of many pastors today. Many church leaders are more concerned with their own needs and desires than with serving the people. They forget that they’re called to serve, not to be served.

This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear.’^[12]

There are about a hundred other things we can learn from the life of Moses on leadership, but we will save those for another time, and summarize it in one final point:

A Moses model leader always points people to Jesus.

It’s not about us; it’s not about our churches or our ministries. It’s not about our clever messages and sermons, or the amount of people that love us. It’s all about Jesus. It’s all about hearing His voice. All great leaders throughout church history have this one thing in common: they draw attention to Jesus rather than themselves.

When you take a leadership position without an attitude of humility, a desire to see others succeed, patient faithfulness, and the heart of service, you’re setting yourself up for failure. In short, the only way to be a Moses Model leader is to always stay focused on Christ.

I think the reason why Moses was so successful is that he lived for God’s promises through the messiah Jesus. (See Hebrews 11:26.) Moses could do this because he had a real and personal relationship with God.

“So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend…”^[13]

Friendship with God is the key to successful Moses Model leadership. We need to abide in Christ, walking and talking with Him daily.

References

^[1] Isaiah 55:8–9 (NKJV)
^[2] Acts 7:27 (NKJV)
^[3] Chuck Smith, The Calvary Distinctives, 25.
^[4] Numbers 12:3 (NKJV)
^[5] James 4:6
^[6] Titus 1:7
^[7] 1 Timothy 3:6
^[8] Numbers 11:29 (NLT)
^[9] Numbers 11:27–29 (ESV)
^[10] Hebrews 3:5 (NKJV)
^[11] Matt 20:28
^[12] Acts 7:37 (NKJV)
^[13] Exodus 33:11 (NKJV)

When we were kids, we’d play would you rather. Would you rather is a game where you ask each other ridiculous questions and then take turns picking the answer that you “would rather” do. Pretty simple, yet surprisingly entertaining. We’d ask each other questions like would you rather be really short or really tall? Would you rather be in a zombie apocalypse or a robot apocalypse? Would you rather live in the hottest desert or in the coldest part of Antarctica? Would you rather date Drew Barrymore or Alicia Silverstone? (It was the 90s junior high version of the game apparently.)

Eventually, without fail, our games of would you rather always ended up on the topic of superpowers. Would you rather be really strong or really fast? Would you rather be able to breathe underwater or be able to see through walls? And of course—the most famous would you rather question of all—Would you rather be able to fly or be invisible? (That’s a tough one to be honest. I think I’d like to fly because it’d be a lot more fun. Invisibility does have its perks though, especially since I’m an introvert.)

There’s a point here. When you think about it, we’re all answering would you rather questions every day. This game isn’t just for kids; it’s not just pretending. These are decisions we make in the real world. These are the questions that determine the priorities we have, and the answers we give mold us into the people we become. You can tell a lot about a person from their responses in the real-life game of would you rather.

Would you rather let someone else get the credit at work or take it for yourself? Would you rather eat out every day or learn how to cook food at home? Would you rather stand up for the bullied kid at school and get punched in the nose or keep quiet and look cool in front of your friends? Would you rather be strong but have to go to the gym, or be out of shape but get to sleep in?

These are the kinds of questions we must answer, and sometimes this game isn’t very fun or entertaining.

Then, of course, even in the real-world game of would you rather, we always get to the topic of superpowers. I’m not talking about the Superman make-believe kind of superpowers; I’m talking about the kind of superpowers that God has given each Christian by the Holy Spirit. These are things like the gifts of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit, and the virtues that can only be produced by the Spirit.

Christian Superpowers

You are gifted.

At our church we’ve been studying the gifts of the Spirit, and it’s been fun going through each of the gifts and trying to determine what gifts God has given each of us. The gifts of the Spirit are given to us by God’s grace and according to His will. Our job isn’t to choose the gifts that we want, but rather to discover them.
“But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” ^[1]

Some have more visible gifts, like teaching and leadership, and others have more behind-the-scenes gifts like service and giving. For each of the gifts that we’ve been given, we’ve also been given a measure of faith to operate in the gifts, and this is determined by God too.

“For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” ^[2]

Take note of the first part of that verse about thinking highly of yourself. I’ll get to that in a minute. The point here is that you’ve been supernaturally gifted by God, and we have the privilege to go out and use the gifts for His glory.

You are fruitful.

It’s not only the gifts of the spirit that we’re supernaturally endowed with, but also the fruit of the Spirit.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control …”^[3]

Thankfully, we don’t have to choose which of these we get to have. By the Holy Spirit, we’re entitled to have them all! This is the important topic of abiding in Christ and walking in the Spirit. The closer we are to God, the more fruitful we become. And this is possible for all of us. The Christian life is really a growth process where God is the gardener. He’s watering, pruning, and cultivating us for a fruitful life in Him.

You are humble?

The third category of superpowers that we’ve been given is what I call Christian virtues. These will include the fruit of the Spirit of course, but also include other things like honesty, humility, justice, compassion, trustworthiness, hope, and others. In this group are attributes that we see in Christ. God is good, and Jesus is the image of the invisible God,^[4] so all the things that Jesus does and teaches are good!

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience”^[5]

Within this group of superpowers is that little word humility. If we were playing a game of would you rather, I wonder if humility would be a go-to answer? Would you rather be rich or humble? Would you rather be a strong leader or be humble? Would you rather have charisma or be humble? Thankfully, I don’t think these things are mutually exclusive, but the reality is that when compromises are made, humility is often the first thing to get cut.

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

It’s hard being humble.

Honestly, the challenge is that when God starts to use us, and we start walking in His power and gifting, we slowly but surely start to think that it’s somehow because of us. Other people will fan the flame too.

“So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?”^[6]

If we’re not careful, pride will take over, and we’ll start to think that we’re something great.

Oh Lord it’s hard to be humble
when you’re perfect in every way.
I can’t wait to look in the mirror
‘cause I get better looking each day.^[7]

Everything depends on this.

The thing about humility is that it’s essential for every other Christian superpower we have. I don’t want to say that it’s the most important attribute on the list, but I’ll say that every other gift, fruit, and virtue depends on this one thing: being humble.
“But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: ‘God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.’”^[8]

Our access to all the power of the Holy Spirit comes to us by God’s grace. It’s not earned or deserved. It can’t be worked for or obtained through self-effort. It’s all by God’s grace, and we receive it by faith.

So that leads us to this very important question: Why is humility so important? The answer is because without humility, God’s grace isn’t available to us. Not only is God’s grace not available to us, but God Himself will actually start working against us!

Without humility you become the villain.

This is scary because with pride comes self-deception. We can deceive ourselves into thinking everything is ok. We become like the Pharisees who looked so good outwardly, but inside they were dead. “Everything is great,” we think. “We’re still doing the works of God. We’re gifted, our ministry is powerful … everyone says how good things look.”

You know who else was very gifted, powerful, and beautiful? Satan.

“You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’”^[9]

The greatest villain of all time started out as one of God’s most wonderful creations, but he fell because he lacked humility.

Would you rather …

Let’s get back to our real-life game of would you rather and our Christian superpowers. My prayer is that all of us will be a little more thoughtful about the place of humility in our decisions. It’s really very important, and sadly there’re so many other things that we’ve been choosing lately. What are our ambitions? What are we living for? What are we willing to compromise on to get it? Before you’re tempted to sacrifice humility for success, remember these words:
“Better is a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble with it.”^[10]

That means stay humble, stay little, stay small in your own eyes.

Choose humility even if it means missing out on all the greatness and success you think you need. At the end of the day, it’s better to stay humble if it means staying closer to God.

Make humility a priority in life. The world relies on pride, the devil lives on pride, our flesh is full of pride, but by God’s grace, we’ll choose humility. It’s through humility that every other gift, fruit, and virtue become available to us!
“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”^[11]

References

^[1] 1 Corinthians 12:11 (NKJV)
^[2] Romans 12:3 (ESV)
^[3] Galatians 5:22–23 (ESV)
^[4] See: Colossians 1:15
^[5] Colossians 3:12 (ESV)
^[6] Acts 3:12 (NKJV)
^[7] The song is “It’s Hard to be Humble” by Mac Davis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WTrMuZOZvM&ab_channel=MacDavis-Topic
^[8] James 4:6 (NKJV)
^[9] Isaiah 14:13–14 (ESV)
^[10] Proverbs 15:16 (ESV)
^[11] James 4:10 (NKJV)

On a recent podcast interview I did with Brian Brodersen, he said that the great commission IS to plant churches.^[1]“Jesus’ mandate was to go and make disciples,” Brian said. “We know from the rest of the New Testament, obviously, the apostles thought he meant go and start churches, because that’s exactly what they did.” Pastor Brian went on to talk about the importance of church planting in the Calvary Global Network and shared his heart for more churches to be planted worldwide.

And this is not just talk. We are getting back to our Calvary Chapel roots with a renewed vision to plant one thousand churches in ten years. This is an achievable goal, especially with the large number of Calvary Chapel churches—and with the assistance of the Cultivate program that has the infrastructure and resources to help you fulfill God’s calling to plant. This new initiative by CGN has over sixty experienced coaches on hand ready to help the sending pastors and church planters fulfill their calling. We work with the local church to provide everything from assessment and training to funding. By God’s grace, at CGN we are re-focusing on the great commission—and putting a huge emphasis on planting churches.

If you do not have a heart to plant a church, you may have already tuned out. But if you are still reading, I would encourage you to keep going. Take a minute to examine how you could be used by God in this important commission because all of us are called to church planting in one way or another. As the Bible says, some plant, and some water, but God gives the increase.^[2]

For those who have sensed a calling to plant, I want to give you five things that have helped me over the years in my church planting journey. These are very practical things that I have personally seen work in various church planting efforts. I have learned that sometimes it is the simple things that can have the biggest impact.

1. Confirm Your Calling

I was only twenty-three years old when Lynne and I joined the church planting team headed to Kampala, Uganda. One of my friends, Rob Dingman, said that we were jumping into the deep end of the pool for our first try at missions and church planting. But we believed that God had called us, so we bought the plane tickets.

Ten years later, as we were leaving Uganda for the United States, we looked back on the season of ministry in Africa. It was wonderful. By God’s grace we left behind a thriving church, planted in the heart of the city, and multiple church plants that had been sent out from there through our Calvary Chapel Bible College extension campus and training program. It was a mission success, but it was not without its difficulties. Challenges happen more frequently in church planting because when the hand of the Lord is upon you, the hand of the enemy will be against you.

But God is faithful, and He was the one who had called us to be there.

Tough times happen, but it was during the difficulties that we were able to rest on the fact that God had called us. Without this confirmation of our calling, we would have left within the first year. Church planting is not easy. It is front-line ministry. It is storming the gates of hell (see Matthew 16:18).^[3] That is why you need confirmation of calling. A confirmation of calling is simply a confidence that God is the one who has opened the doors and led you to do this. Paul encouraged Timothy by saying “This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare.”^[4] Timothy’s confirmation came through prophecy, and he held tightly to it during difficult times.

There are whole books and articles written on the calling of God, so I will leave you to those. For now, I would encourage you to be sure of God’s calling, because when times get tough—which they will—that may be all you have left.

“He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.”^[5]

2. Gather Your Team

Just like in professional sports, you need to have a quality team if you want to win. Church planting is not an individual sport; it is a team effort. You should have people around you who are going to help you fulfill the vision God has given to plant a church. Nothing beats a team of quality people.

What should we look for in team members? Besides the obvious things like having a relationship with God, and being a man or woman of the word, I would suggest three simple things:

• A good team member is a servant. They are joining the team to serve, rather than joining to be served. It may sound like a no brainer, but you would be surprised at how many people are in it for what they can get, or for self-glory, rather than for what they can contribute to the mission.
• A good team member is skilled. I have heard it said that all God is looking for is a willing heart, and that He does not need your talents and gifts. That is true, but you are not God. You need people who are gifted and skilled in the specific work you are asking them to do. Worship ministry, children’s ministry, media team, preaching, and hospitality all require gifted people to lead.
• A good team member is steadfast. Remember that thing about difficult times? You need people on your team who are not going to run when the going gets tough. You need tough people who are going to run toward the goal, even if difficult. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”^[6]

When we planted a church in Bellingham, Washington, we were blessed with a team of fifteen people to help in the work of the ministry. I could not have possibly done it without them. You need a team to succeed at church planting. It does not have to be fifteen people, but you need at least enough to spread the load of this important task.

3. Plan Your Budget

It takes money to plant a church. Without money we will not be able to do the things God is calling us to do. How much money will we need, and what are some of the expenses involved in the new church plant? That varies from place to place. Thankfully, we have resources like Cultivate to come alongside potential planters and sending churches to help plan budgets—and work through financial needs.

Here are a few things you need to plan for when you go out to plant a church:

• You need money for your family. How are you going to provide for your family while planting a church? You can raise support, be supported by your sending church, work bivocationally, or a combination of these. Or maybe you are independently wealthy. If so, you can just skip to the next section.
• You need money for your meeting space. Some places are cheap, and others are not. Some spaces are available throughout the week, others are rented for service times only. Remember that your meeting space will have a big impact on whether people will join your church or not, so make it a priority.
• You need money for your equipment. There are a lot of little things that you need to acquire for a new church plant. If you are sent out from a bigger church, maybe you can “borrow” some of their stuff. If you are starting from scratch, you will need to budget for things like sound equipment, advertising, chairs, renovations, and more.

Ministry can be expensive, and you should be ready to sacrifice personally for the sake of this new church plant. Over time, the needs of the church will be met by the congregation, but for now, plan ahead, work at raising money, and manage your expectations. Doing the work of the Lord is costly, but God will provide for all your needs through Christ Jesus!^[7]

4. Craft Your Culture

Everyone has a culture, including the people you are trying to reach.

Culture is defined as “the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group. Also: the characteristic features of everyday existence (such as diversions or a way of life) shared by people in a place or time”^[8]
Church planting is mission work. Just like with any missionary on a foreign field, we must learn the culture and customs of those to whom we are ministering. A lot of church planters become ineffective because they are unable or unwilling to adapt to the culture they are trying to reach. Church planting in our own country is a little easier, but you must still try to understand the different cultures represented in order to reach them more effectively.

The fancy word for what we want to accomplish is “contextualization.”

Timothy Keller explains contextualization like this: “It’s adapting your message to be understandable and compelling to particular hearers without compromising the truth in any way.” Keller continues stating that “The first task of contextualization is to immerse yourself in the questions, hopes, and beliefs of the culture so that you can give a biblical, gospel-centered response to its questions.”^[9]

Planting a church in rural Montana will be much different than planting in Tampa, Florida. Take some time to humble yourself and learn from the people around you. No one likes a know-it-all, and do not expect people to come to your church if you arrive with a superior or willfully ignorant cultural attitude. We need to get to know the people in order to reach the people.

“I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”^[10]

5. Publicize Your Church

There is a reason you are planting a church here. You know that there are people in this town that need a church like this. You believe that many people will benefit from this good Bible teaching, Spirit-filled church. If they only knew it was here, they would certainly plan on attending.

So, get out there and spread the word!

How are those people who need to be part of your congregation going to hear unless there is someone telling them about it? I am surprised at how many churches neglect this important part of ministry. Maybe they are embarrassed, or maybe they think it is unspiritual to “advertise” a church. Whatever the reason, I can tell you that we have had great success in planting churches because we put time and resources into spreading the word.

A few of the many things you can do are:

• Develop a social media presence. Use Instagram, Facebook,^[11] YouTube, and others to reach your community. Have a volunteer who is gifted at photography take pictures of church services and ministry for content. Find a skilled volunteer to help with your social media accounts.
• Get a simple website with service times, location, and an “about” section where people can see who you are and what you believe. Post a few videos of your service to help newcomers see what is going on. Work on search engine optimization and Google ad words (these are free for nonprofits). You may need to take some time researching this, or getting a volunteer, but it is worth the effort.
• If you can get a meeting space or permanent presence on a busy road or part of town, that is ideal. The more people who see your sign the better. Have signs, flags, and banners printed with your church logo and information to put out front.
• Get involved in community organized events and gatherings. People need to see you out in the neighborhoods and at places like farmers markets, road cleanups, volunteer events, and the like.
• Word of mouth is the best. Once people start coming to your church, they will tell their friends and neighbors. This is the most effective way to get the word out about the church. Provide them with things like stickers and invite cards.

There are many things you can do to spread the word. Get out there and let people know that God is doing a new thing in your community!

Success Is from the Lord

Never forget that Christ is the head of the Church. We are simply working for Him on his mission to seek and save the lost. Ultimately, success comes from the Lord, and He is the one who will help you along the way. Do not put too much pressure on yourself.

Something I have learned recently is that I do not need to stress out so much on performing for God. We just need to enjoy the process of following His call and being obedient to His commands. In the end, the strongest churches are the ones that are planted with patience and faithfulness.

References:

^[1] “A Vision to Plant a Thousand Churches” – Brian Brodersen & Clay Worrell (https://cgnmedia.org/podcast/cultivate-church-planting/episode/a-vision-to-plant-a-thousand-churches-brian-brodersen-clay-worrell)
^[2] 1 Corinthians 3:6
^[3] I believe that church planting is an offensive against the gates of hell. “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
^[4] 1 Timothy 1:18 (NKJV)
^[5] 1 Thessalonians 5:24 (NKJV)
^[6] 1 Corinthians 15:58 (NKJV)
^[7] Philippians 4:19
^[8] Merriam-Webster Dictionary https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture
^[9] For these and more, read Keller’s great church planting book Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City https://timothykeller.com/books/center-church
^[10] 1 Corinthians 9:22 (NKJV)
^[11] Facebook may seem “uncool” and outdated, but it is the number one social media platform for adults over fifty years old. 70% report using it regularly. https://www.marketingcharts.com/demographics-and-audiences/boomers-and-older-228353

My wife Lynne and I went onto the mission field when were young. We left America in our early twenties and spent ten years in Africa planting churches and ministering to those in need. During our whole married life, we’ve been involved in missions and church planting in one way or another. We may have missed out on a lot of other stuff, but we had a blast doing what God had called us to do. The missions life is a good life.

Lynne and I met at Calvary Chapel Bible College, and like many other good bible college couples, we got married right after school.

Calvary Chapel Bridal College. Am I right?

We then moved to Georgia (the state not the country) for our first two years of marriage. We connected with a new church plant and learned practical ministry from my friend Ben Sloboda. He’d planted a Calvary Chapel in Athens, and we both got jobs in town and helped at the church.

It was a great couple of years. Judah, our son, was born there, and we learned a lot about ministry and life. We also started to see that God had a specific plan for us. We ended up turning a short-term trip into a long-term career.

Mission Work Was (and Still Is) Our Life

Our goal had always been to move onto the mission field—preferably somewhere in Africa. While at Bible College, Lynne heard a motivating message from Wes Bentley of Far Reaching Ministries. He shared about the work that God was doing through a small group of missionaries in Uganda. As he spoke, Lynne’s heart was stirred for the orphans of East Africa. She was feeling the call to missions, and she was responding with faith. I felt the call too. Once we were married, we committed to following God wherever He would lead us. We both had a desire to work in foreign missions, serving God overseas.

Long before ever stepping foot on the mission field, missions was our life. We supported mission organizations. We prayed for people in other countries. Missionary conferences and visiting missionaries were a few of our favorite things. We both loved hearing stories of people serving Christ in far off places. We loved all the amazing things that God’s people were doing around the world. That’s what we wanted to do too. We wanted to give our lives for the lost. We wanted to be like Jim and Elizabeth Elliot (without the dying part). We wanted to attempt great things for God and expect great things from God. We wanted to be missionaries.

After that first motivational message back at Bible college, Wes Bentley prayed for Lynne to be a missionary to Uganda. It was a prophetic prayer, and two years later we joined a mission team headed to Kampala. That was the beginning of an amazing journey that our family was privileged to be a part of. God prepared all this in advance, and we simply had to walk with Him by faith.

I feel like I could write a book about all the stuff we got to see and experience on the mission field, but this isn’t the time for that. I think even some of the “normal” stuff we did would make for an interesting read. It definitely wouldn’t be a book where we were the heroes of the story, though. Frankly, most of the time we were just holding on for dear life. It’s kind of embarrassing when I look back at some of the foolish things I said and did. Don’t get me wrong, there was a lot of good stuff, but I sure would’ve done a few things differently.

At any rate, our eventual success as missionaries in Africa wasn’t because of us. We went with insufficient training, insufficient funds, and insufficient support. It was almost as if God selected a couple that couldn’t possibly take the credit even if they wanted to. That was us. Thankfully, even in our insufficiency, we were sent out by a sufficient God. In our weakness, God is strong. By the grace of God, we were able to establish a successful Calvary Chapel ministry in East Africa that continues to this day.

All of Us Are Called to Mission Work in One Way or Another

I’m not here to write about our missions adventures. I’m not here to write a book of stories recounting God’s faithfulness to us in Africa. I’m simply here to write a short article about how I think that all of us are called to mission work in one way or another.

If someone were to ask you the question, “Why are you a missionary?” You may respond with, “Who says I’m a missionary?” They, believing it to be true, might reply, “You are a missionary.”

But are all Christians called to be missionaries? The answer is yes and no.

Yes, because all Christians have been given the great commission by Christ. He says, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15). This is our job. This is our purpose as a church in the world. He said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). So, if we as Christians are supposed to go into the world and make disciples, then I think we’re all called to the task of missions and church planting in some fashion.

A simple definition of the word missionary means someone who’s sent on a mission with a message. It’s Jesus who has sent all of us on His mission with the gospel message. So according to Jesus, all of us are missionaries in that sense.

Don’t get scared though. It doesn’t mean you’re called to go to Africa or that you must leave your job and travel to a foreign country. We’re not all supposed to be missionaries in that way. God has a specific calling for all of us, including the type of people who travel to the remote parts of the world, or who plant churches among unreached tribes. That may or may not be you.

Unfortunately, I see a lot of Christians using the, “I’m not called to be a missionary” attitude as an excuse to not be involved in reaching the lost. They think because they aren’t called to “missions,” then they can focus on other things. Listen, just because God hasn’t called you to be a foreign missionary, it doesn’t mean you aren’t supposed to be involved in the mission of God in the world.

I remember years ago hearing a quote from John Piper: “Go, send, or disobey.” That’s heavy but it’s true. If we don’t take the Great Commission seriously then we’re not in line with the heart of God. He’s seeking people from every tribe tongue and nation to worship Him around the throne (Revelation 7:9). If we don’t all get involved in mission work, and get the message out to all these people, then they won’t be able to hear and be saved (Romans 10:14). That’s on us.

This means that we need to stop living for ourselves and start putting our time, resources, and effort into reaching the lost for Christ. The great thing about it is that we can do that wherever we are. We are all on mission, even if it’s right here at home. It’s like the sign outside of the church parking lot, “You are now entering the mission field.”

Ready to Serve, Send, and Go for the Sake of Christ

So, go and share the gospel with someone. Write a check to a missionary family. Join a missions small group. It’s not that complicated. Answer the call of God by saying, “Here I am Lord, send me” and watch the amazing things that He will do in your life.

You know, Lynne and I aren’t on the mission field in Africa anymore. We aren’t worried about not having enough support, the power going out, getting malaria, or dealing with the many complexities of living in another culture. We are just down here in Florida hanging out and planting a church. We are pretty much back to normal life again, and we are thankful to God for this season. But, deep down, the truth is that we still feel the same zeal and passion that we have always had for the great commission. Whether we’re here in America, or traveling to a foreign destination, we’re ready to serve, send, and go for the sake of Christ.

And that’s God’s heart for all of us. He wants us to join Him in His mission to seek and save the lost. So, are you a missionary? Well, you get the amazing privilege of answering that for yourself. I’m hoping the answer is “Yes!”

In a small town in southeastern Idaho, a middle-aged man was sitting on his front porch talking and reminiscing about the past with his nephew. The man was in his forties, with graying hair and a subtle look of regret in his eyes. His life, which had at one time been great, had become mediocre.

“Man, I wish I could go back in time …” he said. “I’d take state.”

In high school, this guy was a big deal. He was the quarterback on his varsity football team, and rumor had it that back in ‘82 he could throw the pigskin over a quarter mile. But even if it were true, that was a long time ago, and it had been many years since the glory of his high school football career. Those days were gone. The best was in the past, and some things just can’t be relived.

He looked over at his nephew sitting on the steps next to him.

“How much you wanna make a bet I can throw a football over them mountains?” he asked.

But his nephew didn’t answer.

The sad truth—the hard reality that they both knew—was that he was living in the past. His best years were behind him. Even still, there was a look of longing on his face, a small glimmer of hope. Something inside this man still believed it was possible, if only he had the chance to do it again.

He looked off into the distance and asked,

“You know a lot about cyberspace? You ever come across anything … like time travel?” ^[1]

Can’t We Just Go Back to the Good Old Days?

Nostalgia can be a powerful tool to boost us into a better future. It can also be a dangerous device to keep us stuck in the past. It’s how we apply nostalgia that determines whether it becomes a benefit or a detriment. Will we use the fond memories of the past to motivate us into a promising tomorrow, or will we stunt our growth through unbelief, not appreciating, or anticipating, that great things are still possible today?

I celebrated my birthday a few weeks ago. We had the family over to our house for a small party, and toward the end of the night, we all sat around our dinner table. I was with my wife, Lynne, and our grown kids, and we were looking at old pictures and videos of our time in Africa.

It was nostalgia at its best.

“Look at how young we were!” I said to Lynne, as we flipped through some pictures from early 2003.

“And what were we thinking doing all this crazy stuff?” Lynne said, laughing.

She was looking at a picture of herself and our toddler son Judah holding hands in the middle of the jungle near the Uganda/Congo border. She was six months pregnant.

Lynne and I moved to Uganda when we were twenty-three. We had a one-year-old son, and Lynne was pregnant with our second child, Julia. We didn’t go onto the mission field with enough financial support or missionary training, but we ended up living in Africa a total of ten years. Our two daughters, Julia and Liana, were both born there—one in an African hospital and the other at our house with a midwife. It was an amazing adventure, and one we will never forget. We have so many treasured memories of God’s faithfulness, and sometimes we can’t believe that was really us. We saw Him work in ways back then that we haven’t seen since, and we long for many of those same experiences.

When people hear our story, they often ask what motivated us to make the decision to move to Africa at such a young age. Why go with a one-year-old, while pregnant, and with very little training or financial support? Lynne is always the first to answer, and her answer is always the same:

“A lot of faith, and a little bit of stupidity.”

And she IS a woman of faith. I wish I had space here to tell you of all the amazing things she did on the mission field. She’s awesome! But I disagree with her answer, slightly. I think it was the other way around. We had a lot of stupidity, and a little bit of faith! Nevertheless, God is faithful, and His grace was strongest in our weakness.

In looking back, I know that we lived a life of faith, even if it was small faith. God moved powerfully through our family, and He did things I still find hard to believe. Of course, we made some mistakes along the way, but overall, we wouldn’t change it for the world. In fact, we often look back and think, “How can we experience that again; how can we go back to the good old days?”

I’ve prayed that prayer before, and the expected answer was “you need a lot of faith and a little bit of stupidity.” Just like it was last time. After all, that was the secret to success, wasn’t it?

But the Lord’s response was different. He said, “I don’t want you to experience that again. I want you to do a new thing, in a new way.”

It’s a valuable lesson: God doesn’t want us to live in His past faithfulness and fruitfulness; He want’s us to walk in a new work for today.

Over the years of doing “new things” for God, I believe that the best answer is not the one we got in the past but the one that God has for us in the present. God doesn’t want us to keep repeating what He did back then; He wants us to live for what He wants to do right now.

It’s time to make some new good old days.

Were the Good Old Days Really Even That Good?

We all like remembering the way it was back then. The success we had, the experiences, the way we felt walking in the Spirit, doing God’s work. But sometimes the way we remember it isn’t exactly the way it was. Selective memory can be a real problem. We tend to remember and exaggerate the good things, while conveniently forgetting about the bad.

And it could be even worse than that. New research from the UC Irvine Translational Neuroscience Laboratory suggests that this selective remembering of positive experiences can be a marker for memory loss in the elderly.

“Nostalgia is almost second nature for us, and seems like a healthy way to reflect on the past. Who wouldn’t want to reminisce about childhood, college, or that first job, when life was wonderfully uncomplicated. Viewing life through rose-tinted glasses, however, may not be such a good thing.”^[2]

Yikes! It looks like for some of us the stories get bigger and better as we get older and dumber.

I’m not trying to minimize the awesome things God has done. We really DID experience wonderful times in the past and some of it so well documented that we couldn’t forget. Let’s champion the successes of the past. But let’s be honest, we have a way of eliminating or minimizing all those other times when things weren’t so great. It’s easy to glamorize the past and forget about the bad parts of the good old days.

The Negative Effects of Nostalgia—What Are We Saying to Future Generations?

There’s something else about nostalgia that we should be careful to avoid. That is, we should avoid giving mixed signals to the new generation about the work of God in their day. By always talking about, “back in my day,” and “It was better back then,” we’re really minimizing the genuine work that today’s Christians are experiencing with God.

This story from the book of Ezra always blows my mind. All the people should’ve been happy at this momentous occasion. The temple was finally being built! God was doing a new and amazing work in their day. But not everyone saw it that way. While many were cheering and celebrating, others were weeping uncontrollably. These two groups of God’s people responded to the same event in totally different ways. The new generation of Israelites were pumped, but the older generation couldn’t let go of the past.

“And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord: “For He is good, For His mercy endures forever toward Israel.” Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of the fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes. Yet many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard afar off.” (Ezra 3:11–13, NKJV)

I just had my birthday, so I’ll put myself in the older guy category. The message to us is that we shouldn’t minimize the work that God is doing today just because He isn’t doing it the same way as He did back then.

Throughout history, we see God working a new work for every new generation. I think the best way to use the memories of God’s past faithfulness is to celebrate them and more importantly, to learn from them. They teach us that God is faithful. They show us that He has done it before—and He can do it again. God will pour out His Spirit into a new revival in our day; we just need to be ready for it!

Be positive. Let’s start to celebrate the successes of our successors.

The Best is Yet to Come

At my birthday party, as the family gathered around the photos and videos of our lives in Africa, I felt so thankful. Thankful for a wonderful family, and thankful for the life of faith we experienced together. I really enjoyed the sense of nostalgia, reliving the memories that were so special to us. The memories of God’s faithfulness were powerful and tangible.

It was that evening that God gave me a word about nostalgia. He gently reminded me that looking back should motivate me to move forward. He wants to do a new work in our midst right now.

I know that in twenty years it will be my birthday again. We will get out the pictures and videos from our lives “back then,” and the kids and grand-kids will all gather around.

“Remember what God did?” I’ll ask. “It was so amazing; I can’t even believe it really happened.”

The kids and grand-kids will laugh with us at some of the silly moments. They will ask questions about the time we took that step of faith and answered the call of God.

“Wow grandpa, look how young you and grandma look!” one will say.

“I can’t believe we really did that. What were we thinking?” Lynne will ask.

And at that future birthday party, with the family gathered around, we’ll be talking about what’s happening right now.

Because these ARE the good old days.

Each summer, my brother and I would go to Christian camp to learn life-changing lessons and meet other kids our age. We would pack our bags, load up in the church youth van, and drive from our small town in New Mexico to a local Christian college in West Texas. Like most teenagers at camp, I was more interested in having fun than in hearing sermons from the youth leaders. In fact, I really couldn’t tell you what most of the teachers taught, or the Christian principles we were supposed to learn. It’s not that the meetings were bad; I just wasn’t interested in the subject matter, and to be honest, they just weren’t very memorable.

I do remember one of the sessions though. Vividly. There were about thirty of us, and we were led into a dark room at the far end of the campus. The lights were off—it was nearly pitch black—except for the array of thirty TV screens of different shapes and sizes set against the back wall. All the TVs were on and playing at full volume. They demanded our attention with movies, video games, and assorted videos playing on repeat. It was like one of those brainwashing scenes in movies where they make the character sit in a chair and watch images flash on the screen while blasting heavy metal. We thought it was so cool. Classic youth ministry stuff.

After a few minutes of sensory overload, the screens were turned off, one by one. The kids in the room began recognizing what was playing on the individual televisions. The movie Home Alone was playing on one, a Budweiser commercial on another (wazzup!), a few music videos here and there, and of course, VeggieTales on three or four.

The last TV to turn off was also the smallest. It sat there for a few minutes, flickering images from a movie none of us had really noticed before. The youth leader let it play a while longer for dramatic effect. We were all mesmerized by its simplicity, especially since we’d just been bombarded with other noises and distractions. The television was playing The Jesus Film, and it was at the part where Jesus was being led to the cross.

Twenty-seven years later, I still remember the point of that class: Keep it simple. Don’t let all the other things distract you from a pure devotion to Christ. You know, it’s true. We clutter up our lives and our churches with all the other distractions around and end up missing the most important thing: Jesus. Paul said it best when he wrote to the Corinthian church:

I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3)

It was the type of wake-up call that the Corinthians needed, especially since they’d been compromised by the world. We need it too. God doesn’t want us to overcomplicate Christianity. He doesn’t want us to add a bunch of extra stuff to our faith. He wants us to keep it simple.

I’m going to share three things I think “keep it simple” means. These three things can apply to us personally, to our families, to our social interactions, and to our churches.

Keep it simple means keep it essential.

When it comes to our faith, there are certain beliefs and doctrines that we don’t compromise. These are often called the essentials of the faith. They’re the fundamental teachings of Christianity. Without these core beliefs, we can’t call ourselves Christians at all. So, this is really a given. We must have good doctrine and correct belief. But Christianity is about more than that. We need to believe in the essentials of the faith, but we also need to live out our faith essentially.

What I’m talking about here is not doctrinal essentials but devotional essentials. Spending time in prayer. Reading God’s word daily. Fellowshipping with other believers. Things like that. Getting back to basics. The temptation is to start adding a bunch of “non-essential” elements to our devotional life. For example, we can get so caught up in the latest Christian books or programs that we neglect the essential quiet time in God’s word. If a new Christian fad or fashion sweeps through social media, we get excited about this “new toy” and forget about the fundamentals of meditative prayer and time alone with Jesus. Keeping it simple means keeping it essential, and keeping it essential means we’re focused on the core elements of our devotion to Christ.

This applies to our churches too.

I really love all the different expressions of Christianity throughout the church world. It frustrates me when pastors make fun of other churches or criticize them for not doing things the same way that they are. There are so many wonderful churches with various worship styles and teaching methods, with large congregations and small. I love it. I’m not here to criticize or put down a church, but let’s be honest, many of our churches need to re-focus on what’s essential. The truth is that churches have added a lot of extra noise and nonsense to the ministry and have strayed from the simplicity that’s in Christ. We can do a better job of cutting the clatter so we can get a clearer picture of our priorities.

I’ve been learning this lesson on priorities for our church. Currently, we’re about a year and a half into a new church plant south of Tampa, Florida. Church planting isn’t easy, and it’s always good to start with a clear vision of why you want to plant a church and what makes your church unique. Our church has adopted the motto, “keep it simple,” and the church is growing. We’ve found that people are hungry for an authentic expression of Christianity without all the bells and whistles that have been added over the years. At our church, we stick to being relational, Spiritual, and Biblical. We try to keep things as simple as possible so we don’t miss out on what’s truly important: Jesus.

Keep it simple means keep it authentic.

As a kid back in the nineties, I loved skateboarding. My friends and I would skate all the time. We watched the videos, had the gear, and learned the tricks. My friend Preston had a halfpipe in his backyard, and we were there every day. Everything we did revolved around skateboarding. We embodied the skateboarder’s creed: “skate or die!” There was one thing I realized about my skate days that I’ve applied to my Christian life today: authenticity. Although I wasn’t really that good at skateboarding, I was committed to the culture. It was something I truly loved and not something I did just to be cool. In fact, because we were so committed, it was easy to identify when someone wasn’t. We called them posers. A poser is a kid who outwardly looks like a skater but is only there for social status. He has all the right clothes, knows all the right words, and hangs out at the skate park, but he’s just there to impress everyone else. They look like the real thing, but the closer you get, the more you realize they’re faking it.

Christianity is full of posers, and if we’re honest, some of us are faking it with the best of them.

I think this is why it’s so easy for people and churches to get caught up in all the extracurricular content. They are afraid that if you minimize the distractions, and get right down to it, there’s nothing authentic about their Christianity. It’s much easier just to pretend and be part of the show.

You know, the best skater in our town was this poor kid named Jake. He didn’t have the newest gear, and he didn’t dress in the latest skate fashion, but he loved the sport. When Jake dropped into Preston’s half pipe, you immediately knew that he was the real deal.

Keep it simple means keep it exceptional.

Occasionally when I’m sharing our “keep it simple” church vision with other pastors, they misinterpret it to mean keep it boring or keep it low quality. But the reality is that keeping it simple means keeping it exceptional. There’s nothing more exciting than Jesus. There’s nothing of higher quality than Him. When you present a beautiful diamond to someone, you display it on a simple black background. You don’t need a bunch of other stuff around it that would distract from the main thing. You have a quality product that doesn’t need extra flash to make it better. It’s like the old saying “less is more” which is used to express the view that a minimalist approach to artistic or aesthetic matters is more effective.¹

In Christianity, less is more.

For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:2 (ESV)

This doesn’t mean that Christianity should be simplistic, however. There are some very complicated topics in our faith that need to be addressed, and certain points of theology that take decades to comprehend and appreciate. We don’t need to “dumb down” the gospel just because we don’t want to take the time to dig deep. It was Jesus Himself who said we should love God with our minds (Matthew 22:37), but Jesus also said that we get worried and troubled about many things, and only one thing is necessary (see Luke 10:41-42). In other words, keep the main thing the main thing. Sit at the feet of Jesus.

This should lead us to spend more time on the important things in life while minimizing all the extras and distractions. When we focus on a few key things, we’ll become much better at those things. Focus on a pure devotion to Christ. Keeping it simple should lead to exceptional faith and ministry and not the other way around. Don’t use simplicity as an excuse for laziness, but instead press into the exceptional life God has called you to live.

When I think back to all those TVs in that youth room, I remember the emotion of seeing that single tiny screen with Jesus carrying his cross. The image wasn’t bigger, or louder, or flashier, or better produced than the others. It was simple, but there was something special, even compelling, about it. As all the other screens faded to black, the simple message of the power of the cross of Jesus Christ was communicated louder than anything else that day. It’s that message we need to re-discover amid a church world full of complications and distractions.

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References

¹ ArchDaily Team, “Less is More: Mies van der Rohe, a Pioneer of the Modern Movement,” archdaily.com, March 27, 2021, https://www.archdaily.com/350573/happy-127th-birthday-mies-van-der-rohe.

Welcome to episode 2 of the Cultivate Church Planting podcast. We believe that the gospel is the hope of the world and that the world needs more gospel-centered churches. I’m your host Brian Kelly, and in today’s episode Shannon Quintana and I are talking with Pastor Bill Welsh about some of the difficulties of planting in another culture.

Shannon has over 20 years experience in ministry and is currently the worship leader of our new church plant in Bradenton, Florida. Pastor Bill just so happens to be her dad, and Shannon was gracious enough to help co-host this episode.

Bill Welsh is a church planter and pastor of Refuge Calvary Chapel in Huntington Beach. He planted in the eighties with his young family in Australia and has a lot of wisdom and insight into ministry and planting overseas.

Welcome to episode 1 of the Cultivate Church Planting podcast, where we believe that the gospel is the hope of the world and that the world needs more gospel-centered churches. I’m your host Brian Kelly, and in today’s episode, I’m joined by Clay Worrel, executive director of CGN, as we talk with Pastor Wayne Taylor about the need for revival in church planting.

Pastor Wayne is a church planter and pastor in Seattle, Washington, who was a part of the Jesus movement revival of the 1960s, where he helped to plant what has become a movement of over 1500 churches with Calvary Chapel.

In this episode, we discuss the importance of revival in church planting and explore whether or not it is possible for a revival to happen again today. We also delve into the key factors that could help to bring about another revival, as well as the role of church planters in sparking a new wave of gospel-centered churches.

Don’t miss this insightful conversation as we explore the important topic of revival in church planting with two experienced church leaders. Join us now on the Cultivate Church Planting podcast.