My word for the year has been “enlarge,” as in, “Lord, enlarge my heart to care about what you care about,” and, “Enlarge my influence.” Paul prayed for an enlarged influence:

We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others, but our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged. (2 Corinthians 10.15, ESV)

You may notice that I use The Passion Translation from time to time. It’s a new translation for me, and I have gotten increased insights both from the text and from some of the notes. Recently, I found another “enlarge” verse!

God, you are my righteousness, my champion defender. Answer me when I cry for help! Whenever I was in distress, you enlarged me. I’m being squeezed again—I need your kindness right away! (Psalm 4.1, The Passion Translation, emphasis mine)

“Whenever I was in distress, you enlarged me.” I like this: God increases my capacity to handle whatever comes my way. I’m reminded of some of the lyrics of “Day by Day” (not the one from Godspell):

Day by day and with each passing moment, strength I find to meet my trials here.

And

As your days, your strength will be in measure, this the pledge to me he made.

Paul experienced this:

I find that the strength of Christ’s explosive power infuses me to conquer every difficulty. (Philippians 4.13, The Passion Translation)

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“People are a good use of time.” June has shared this with me often since she read it in Laura Vanderkam’s book Off the Clock.

We had a chance to put that into practice a few days ago. A friend came over to pick up a book around 5:00p and stayed to visit for at least half an hour. I was antsy to make a run to Home Depot to pick up some paint for a home project I needed to do the next morning, but it was a good visit. After he left, June wanted to put the furniture back onto our recently painted deck (a worthy project since the kids are coming to visit shortly!). While we were working on that, our next door neighbors, whom we hardly see, were out walking their dog, which they had just acquired. So they came up on the deck, and we visited for nearly an hour. By then it was past time to eat. Fortunately, Home Depot is open late this time of year, and I finally made my run around 8:00p.

All that to say, the late trip to Home Depot allowed me to see a spectacular sunset when I came out. 

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. (Psalm 19.1, ESV)

O God, to the farthest corners of the planet people will stand in awe, startled and stunned by your signs and wonders. Sunrise brilliance and sunset beauty both take turns singing their songs of joy to you. (Psalm 65.8, Passion Translation)

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I’ve been meditating in the first three verses of Psalm 1 (NIV):

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.

Very simply, it breaks down into:

• What blessed people don’t do (verse 1)
• What blessed people do (verse 2)
• The result (verse 3)

Today, let’s consider the result of Abiding NOT and Abiding IN: fruit!

What is fruit? I like what Mark Greene, a colleague of Neil Hudson, author of Imagine Church, that I refer to occasionally, has done. In Fruitfulness on the Frontlines, he defined six types of fruitfulness. And before I list them, let me hasten to say, these are not six things to add to an already long list of things we think we’re supposed to do! They are better looked at as “How is God using me today?” Here’s the list:

• Modeling godly character
• Making good work
• Ministering grace and love
• Molding culture
• Mouthpiece for truth and justice
• Messenger of the gospel

Normally, when we think “fruit,” we think of the first and last items on the list: modeling godly character is God’s developing in us the fruit of the Spirit as defined best in Galatians 5:

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. (Galatians 5.22, 23, NIV)

The last one, Messenger of the Gospel, is the fruit of people following Jesus because of our influence as seen in John 15.16:

You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain…

If this were just fruit of the Spirit, we wouldn’t have to go anywhere to do it!
I’ve written briefly about these six characteristics of fruit-bearing before, but a review is always good!

In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. (Colossians 1.6, NIV)

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I’ve been meditating in the first three verses of Psalm 1 (NIV):

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.

Very simply, it breaks down into:

• What blessed people don’t do (verse 1)
• What blessed people do (verse 2)
• The result (verse 3)

Yesterday, we looked at verse 1–Abide NOT—Today, let’s consider what blessed people do (verse 2):

• Their delight is in the law of the Lord
• They meditate on his law day and night

That is, instead of abiding in distractions as I wrote yesterday, they are abiding IN the Word, reminding us of John 15, which talks both of abiding (compare Psalm 1.2) and fruit (compare Psalm 1.3). 

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. (John 15.4, 5, NKJV, emphasis mine)

How do we abide in the Word? Kickstarting our day with intentional time with God as I’ve written about often helps as does scripture memory. The purpose of scripture memory is to facilitate “day and night” meditation and deepen our relationship with God. 

I’m reminded of my friend Jim Downing, who passed away last year at age 104! He often spoke of meditation, and he developed a unique way of going through the psalms once/month. There are 150 psalms and 30 days in most months. That’s five psalms/day. But instead of reading psalms 1 – 5 on day 1, psalms 6 – 10 on day 2, and so on, he advised the following:

• On the first day, read psalms 1, 31, 61, 91, and 121
• On the second day, read psalms 2, 32, 62, 92, and 122
• And so on
• EXCEPT on the first 22 days, add one stanza of Psalm 119. That prevents you from trying to read all 176 verses of Psalm 199 when you get there!

It works. Try it! 

¹   Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD!
2  Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart,
3  who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! (Psalm 119.1 – 3, ESV)

Tomorrow, we’ll think about fruit.

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I’ve been meditating in the first three verses of Psalm 1 (NIV):

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.

Very simply, it breaks down into:

• What blessed people don’t do (verse 1)
• What blessed people do (verse 2)
• The result (verse 3)

Today, let’s consider what blessed people don’t do:

• Walk in step with the wicked
• Stand in the way that sinners take
• Sit in the company of mockers

I looked up the three verbs—walk, stand, sit—and landed on “sit.” One of the meanings is “abide,” the same idea that occurs often in John 15:

• Abide in me and I in you (verse 4)
• Abide in my love (verse 9)

“Abide” carries the idea of resting in, staying, hanging around. As I write this, I’m abiding in my recliner—easy to get into, hard to get out of!
If we’re not abiding in Christ, in what are we abiding?

• News?
• Sports?
• Talk shows?
• Social media?
• Self-talk?

None of those things is bad for an occasional visit. We take two newspapers. You know I like sports! We’re on Facebook to keep up with the kids. But in what do we abide? I once listened to two men go through the entire Auburn football roster, by number, reviewing each player’s position, height, weight, hometown, etc., all without anything in front of them. Impressive. They clearly abide in Auburn football! 

June suggested that some of us abide in our self-talk. When we could turn our minds to the constant presence of Jesus, instead we’re busy rehearsing the latest negative conversation or hurtful thing that someone did to us or some other disappointment in our lives. 

Let’s pay attention to where we abide, and tomorrow I’ll write about the alternative: abiding in Christ through the Word.

You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. (John 15.3, 4, NKJV)

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Last time we visited the deck on May 21, it had been prepped for paint, but it was under 12 inches of snow! Now it’s done, and it’s a story worth telling.

First, I had hired a handyman to do the whole thing. The paint for the deck floor is heavy, and the last time, about 6 years ago, I put it down myself and couldn’t use my hand for a week! The handyman wrote a proposal and even met me at Home Depot to pick out the paint. Then, a few days later, he abruptly pulled out. Now what? 

I called my friend Thomas, a physician’s assistant and part-time handyman, and asked if he would do it…and I will pay you! He considered the work a blessing since he could use the extra money. So there was the first answer to prayer and a win-win.

Then, as I wrote earlier, the snow intervened, and we had to wait for it to dry and find a window in between rain storms. The afternoon he planned to paint the deck floor rain was originally forecast. I asked the Lord to please hold the rain. The day dawned with the rain forecast removed. He started. Then, partway in, there were severe weather warnings for our area! He switched to a smaller deck under cover, and I continued to pray. To make a long story short, we got only a few drops of rain, and he finished the floors of all three decks. Praise the Lord!

That left the spindles: three decks, 275(!) spindles. After I worked two hours (one hour on each of two days), I realized I needed help. I had neither the time nor the stamina to do it. So I prayed again. 

While I was walking the dog on Wednesday, 17-year-old Sam, who lives across the street, drove into his driveway. I asked him if he wanted a painting job. Turns out he had just left his job at Papa John’s and wanted the work. He did 3 hours that afternoon, showed up at 8:15 a.m. the next morning and did 4 hours before leaving for a prior engagement. We worked 7 hours the third day and finished. I did some of the work on the outside of the decks, but he did ALL the spindles. The work was hard. “I have a lot more respect for painters now,” he said. But he was proud of a finished job well done. “I’m going to take some pictures to show my mother!” 

And, on the third day, over pizza, he and I had a serious conversation about spiritual things. That part of the story isn’t over!

You do not have because you do not ask. (James 4.2, NKJV)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. (Proverbs 3.5, 6, NKJV)

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8.28, NKVJ)

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We’ve been talking about what Pastor Bobby Warrenburg defined as four culture shifts that need to occur if churches are to be intentionally disciple-making:

• Attendance culture to transformational culture
• Collection culture to mobilization culture
• Competition culture to collaboration culture
• Addition culture to multiplication culture

Today let’s finish it out with the one I skipped: moving from a competition culture to a collaboration culture.

The opposite of collaboration could be competition; it also could be independence. For whatever reason, churches don’t like to collaborate. “If we collaborate on Vacation Bible School, the neighborhood kids might end up in his church rather than mine! Plus, how do I know that all of “their” teachers have their theology right?”

Maybe we don’t trust the Lord of the Church to send people to the churches he wants them in. And maybe we’re overly concerned with the “map” instead of the “compass,” as I wrote recently.

I don’t know the answers, but I suspect there should be more collaboration than independence and competition. Maybe this little video could be instructive. It’s only 30 seconds: please take a look with the sound up!

Five men forming a human pile driving machine. Here are a few things that I saw:

• Collaboration is absolutely required. The task would be impossible by one person in their setting.
• They collaborated with joy! Singing synchronized their efforts and also lightened the burden of what looks like a dreary task.
• They chose not to worry about a lot of things we (or at least OSHA!) would be concerned about: no hard hats, no steel-toed work boots, no safety supervisors. Just guys doing the job. 

We need more workers! When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9.36 – 38, NIV)

We need more workers working together! A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13.34, 35, NIV)

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We’ve been talking about what Pastor Bobby Warrenburg defined as four culture shifts that need to occur if churches are to be intentionally disciple-making and wrote about the first one:

• Attendance culture to transformational culture
• Collection culture to mobilization culture
• Competition culture to collaboration culture
• Addition culture to multiplication culture

With respect to mission, this last is the most important: can we move from an addition culture to a multiplication culture?

Jesus was firmly committed to a multiplication strategy, else why would he invest so much time in just 12 men? His last command, which we know as The Great Commission, included, “…and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” And he has just commanded them to make disciples. So if we are making disciples, our disciple (Jesus’ disciple!) isn’t finished until that disciple is making disciples. Paul’s instruction to Timothy includes four generations:

You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others. (NLT, emphasis mine)

Paul -> Timothy -> Trustworthy people -> Others

We have talked before about lasting ministry: there’s no better way to ensure that our ministry lasts than to invest in others who will continue to carry it on! In 2 Timothy 2.2, there are no permanent students. A culture with permanent teachers and permanent students is an addition culture. A culture where students become teachers is a multiplication culture. That’s the meaning behind Colossians 1.6:

In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world… (NIV)

Fruit is an apple. Bearing fruit and growing is an apple tree! I’m more interested in apple trees than plain apples! Or, as someone said,

“We can count the number of seeds in an apple, but we can’t count the number of apples in a seed!”

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Yesterday I introduced what Pastor Bobby Warrenburg defined as four culture shifts that need to occur if churches are to be intentionally disciple-making and wrote about the first one:

• Attendance culture to transformational culture
• Collection culture to mobilization culture
• Competition culture to collaboration culture
• Addition culture to multiplication culture

Today, let’s think about shifting from a collection culture to a mobilization culture.

This is a subject I’ve written about extensively, contrasting “gathered” and “scattered,” what he calls “collection” and “mobilization.”

Hugh Halter, writing in his book And: The Gathered and Scattered Church, notes that most churches regardless of size: from home churches to mega churches are much better at gathering than scattering, of collecting than mobilizing. 

I’ve shared before that Neil Hudson from The London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (LICC) in his book Imagine Church makes the case that people are already scattered. The trick is to use the church’s gathered time to equip their people for their scattered time. To help them realize that the places God has already put them are where God wants them to live out their faith. First, the church has to make the culture change we’re advocating here.

For example, In Imagine Church, Neil talks about a church which liked to send out mission teams into the poor areas of their city, followed by a member of the team telling of their work during a Sunday morning service. One day an elder’s wife realized, “I’m a medical doctor. I see more of those people in a week than the rest of the mission teams do in a year. And no one has asked me to tell my story on Sunday morning!”

Neil’s colleague, Mark Greene, in The Great Divide, talks about the church member who lamented: “I teach children’s Sunday School, and they bring me up to the front of the church and pray for me. Five days a week I teach in the public schools, and the church has never prayed for me for that!”

Back to another aspect of the college illustration from yesterday: students don’t “gather” or “collect” in colleges indefinitely. Colleges know that they are training the vast majority of their students for life away from the school. The students graduate (especially this time of year!) and are automatically mobilized into the job force to use their education. 

May our churches do the same!

And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach. (Mark 3.14, ESV)

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. (Philippians 2.14, 15, ESV)

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My friend and fellow disciple-making coach Ray Bandi recently told me he’d heard Pastor Bobby Warrenburg share four culture shifts needed in churches if they are to become disciple-making.

• Attendance culture to transformational culture
• Collection culture to mobilization culture
• Competition culture to collaboration culture
• Addition culture to multiplication culture

I will be sharing my own thoughts on these over the next few days.

First: attendance versus transformation

We’ve been talking about transformation, which, after all, is God’s plan for us:

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind… (Romans 12.2, NKJV)

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4.22 – 24, NIV)

But transformation cannot be achieved by having people merely attend events and services. We’ve talked about this before. Here’s another analogy: college students attend football games, but no one is transformed, and no degrees are granted to those who only go to games! College is four or more years of intentional effort, usually in small group environments with requirements and accountability. 

Yet attendance is precisely what most churches major on. Listen to pastors talk with each other, and most of the conversation has to do with Sunday mornings: how many are there, how many services are required, and in what style, etc. The phrase one hears most in church is, “We’re glad you’re here!” One pastor friend used to say, “Give us one hour on Sunday, and your week will go better.” 

I’ve said before that I’m not against Sunday services! Many important things happen there: worship, community (before and after!), basic instruction, inspiration, and motivation. But it’s difficult to impossible to train for transformation in a large group environment. My friend Ron Bennett, whom I quoted yesterday, likens it to golf. He says a church needs the large group on Sunday morning (driver), mid-sized groups (long irons), small groups (short irons) and one-to-one (putter). Attendance at large groups is not enough. As I wrote a few days ago, you don’t learn to play piano by attending concerts!

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (James 1.22, NIV)