“What the Duck?”
 
Imagine a gaggle of good-hearted Avatars from the Beta Antares solar system zooming to our planet to find out what the various gods of Earth are like. One gets sent to the North American Christ-following humans, and his brothers go to various other Earthly quadrants to complete an important mission. Their entire race doesn’t actually have a God, and the superiors want them to go find one that could make sense for them. 

If I were helping the open-minded missional Avatar, I’d keep it simple by inviting him over to watch a few of our culture’s most respected TV shows about God.  I’d lead out with The History Channel blockbuster “The Bible,” then end with a chaser of five back-to-back episodes of “Duck Dynasty.” 

A few days of this would probably be good enough to confirm what all evangelicals know about God, His Story, and His Son.  He could go back and let them know that the BIG GOD of the North American quadrant is mostly cranky and mean. Further, Satan is some guy named Obama, and that God’s Son, Jesus, is a gorgeous Men’s Fitness model from Alabama.  And then, after just a few “Duck Dynasty” viewings, he would have even more detail about Christian families.  They live in ornate, eclectic, woodsy communes full of mansions and mobile homes, and they spend all their free time blowing squirrels out of trees with long metal fire sticks.   Most importantly, the young avatar could tell them that real Christians always wear cammo.
Ughhh. I just don’t know quite what to say anymore to people that are trying to find the real story of God.  Don’t get me wrong, I actually love “Duck Dynasty,” and I’m sure “The Bible” also shared the basic story of God in a videographic entertaining way. But dang if we don’t always seem to give people as much to laugh at us about as we do to make them curious.  We still don’t even let Jesus look Jewish or Middle Eastern!

Last night I was sharing a 6-hour presentation called “The Story of God” to 30 real estate agents who asked me to help them understand God without all the religion.  It was a great time, and as I walked them through the entire narrative, I could see them come alive with hope that God and Jesus could be found without the trappings of the odd stuff that makes even us old-timers scratch our heads. 

When it ended, I felt pretty good.  Many came up and gave me hugs and thanked me profusely for the unique way I shared the story without making them feel weird or judged.   And then one man came up and said, "Thanks, Hugh. Tonight was really good for me, but I’ve got to be honest.  I’ve been watching ‘The Bible’ on TV and I am always amazed at how goofy the depictions of Jesus and other characters are.  I might believe in the story you told, but I could never be a Christian. They are just too weird!”

I drove home with a pain in the pit of my stomach…again. 

I actually have no real issue with those two shows.  My issue is that it seems as though conservative Christians (which I think I am still one of) always seem to come off as out of touch, inappropriate, clueless, one-sided or blind-to-culture boobs.  Our story is always pretty good and fairly accurate, but the mediums by which we tell the stories (church services, TV shows, mini-series, or the lives of average Christians) trump the good story with lousy images. 
And can someone tell me why cable has to always load up a bunch of biblical TV shows right before Easter?  My honest take is the people of God don’t seem to make the story approachable or intriguing the rest of the year, so we’re happy to support advertisers who will make us look like we care about the world for a week or two.  Double ugh.

The scriptures paint a strange reality that we, the people of God, are the book of God that the world reads.  We are letters by which people see or don’t see His character.  Jesus told us we would be the witnesses.  That means we wouldn’t just tell the story of God, we would show the story by how we live.

I’ve heard Christians say how excited they are to try to invite their friends over to watch episodes of “The Bible,” as if that is the silver bullet for reaching their friends, but I surmise it would be far more helpful if we learned our neighbors names and put a good year or two into making the kingdom tangible to them first.

The only hope to helping an Avatar—or your next-door neighbor--find the real story of God is to live it.  As the scriptures declare, it is “Christ in us that is the hope of Glory.”
Yes, I’m sure a few people will come to faith by watching this stuff. But the shows’ biggest impact will be to bless a few of the already faithful, and then raise a few hundred of million dollars for next year’s Easter prelude.

No, our only hope to turn the sneering, jeering, laughing, eye-rolling gaze of our culture is to find a few Christ followers who live such large and loving lives that no amount of Americanized portrayals of faith can overshadow the truth they see in fallible but real people who humbly admit their need for a Savior.  That truth would be something even an Avatar would talk about. 

Hugh Halter  

Coming off of a great Easter gathering at Adullam, I woke to this encouraging note from a buddy Joe.

When we consider the power of the message of Christ, consider also the power of how we share this message.  People sniff out trite religious stories that have little reference to our human condition. This unchurched, barely-believing friend, was open to the Jesus story not just because of the story.  She was open because the messenger was believable.  Because a divine message was housed in a human.  This isn’t a pat on my own back, or evidence that any human is more important than the story.  But it does show that it matters to Jesus how we bare witness of Him.  In other words, how we tell the story!  I believe the posture of how we engage the lost world was modeled by Jesus and as we are encouraged in 1 John, ‘to walk as Jesus walked,’ we have an opportunity to be tell His story well or at least better than we have been.esR

During this sermon, I did apologize for how Christians have not lived the story or made it sound easy to believe. I was honest about my own continual failure and even about my occasional doubts.  I gave real examples of how Jesus has made small incremental changes in my life, over many years, but I didn’t make it sound like I had reached some pinnacle that others can get to in a weeks time.  The story our collective community told was that there’s no insiders or outsiders and that God’s story is for everyone.  They could see it and feel it in how we related 30 minutes before the service together as well as how we stayed another 30 minutes after the ‘religious time’ was over.

These simply changes in posture don’t remove all the barriers to someone finding faith, but they sure do make it easier for the story to be heard. And that’s a good starting point.
 
Hugh

Preparing to perform a wedding for two very special friends, Dave & Julie. As I worked over my notes and watched the sun come up, I couldn't help but drop a tear or two on my desk. Marriage is an epic mystery that screams of God's truth. 

Church, why do you fight so hard against those who take positions on marriage or civil unions that appear to contradict this mystery? Why do you fear man's attempt to rename or reconfigure this thing called marriage? With or without a fight, it is highly likely that in all 50 states, marriage will no longer require a pastor to perform it and will be granted freely by humans to humans. 

Here's the good news: No matter how we (heterosexuals/homosexuals) defile the INSTITUTION of marriage through our sinful human condition, the ORDINANCE of marriage can and never will be defiled. God thought it up, God alone holds up his own design for a man to leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." Marriage between a man and a woman is safe because it is a spiritual mystery that God sees, ordains, and blesses. 

We defile marriage daily as we speak harshly to our spouses, embitter our children, log onto porno sites, neglect placing our spouses as the most important focus of our lives. We divorce, remarry, and do it all over again, as Christians as much as non-Christians do. We screw it up hourly, yet God does not wring His hands, throw His arms in the air and declare marriage a wasted design or waste of time. Marriage under the hand of God is safe for eternity because He alone designed it. May we all work towards His design but receive grace when we fall short. 

Hugh Halter

Bottom Line: You won’t have a missional church unless the families in your church learn to go on mission together.

Most parents have huge hopes for their children. Peace, safety, ample provision, happiness and the American Dream. But God has a bigger dream for your family that should make you rethink everything. People are leaving the church in droves. Three out four children will also choose to opt out Americanized Christian religion. Why? It doesn’t capture the heart, stretch the mind, or call for any substance. Fortunately, God’s story is big enough and the “Family” remains His best way to inspire, include and disciple the missional life in our children. A Righteous Brood is a prophetic call, but also a practical guide to making the home the front line of mission.

Inside A Righteous Brood, Hugh Halter will take you behind the scenes of this family as they planted two churches. With a severely disabled son, a 50 hour-a-week job as a house painter, and two other children in hockey six days a week, Hugh will get beyond the fluff and help you see God’s power behind a family that gives itself to divine purpose.

This story-formed book will keep you laughing, crying and discovering answers and hope for your mundane struggle of balancing real life with God’s mission and your call to make disciples under your own roof.

A Righteous Brood will change the missional influence of your church!

The author would like to thank the following sponsors for enabling his eBook to be a free download:

Exponential www.exponential.org
deidox.com www.deidox.com
missiopublishing.com www.missiopublishing.com
coachnet.org www.coachnet.org
arenaimpact.org www.arenaimpact.org

Click on the book above to download the book. 

The Wrong Questions of Leadership

Originally posted August 2011

Take no thought of your life…"Whoever wants to find their life must lose it for my sake…if you want to be first, you must be last and be a servant of all.”

This last week I received an email from a pastor who I have never met, but who felt compelled to ask me for wisdom related to his call in ministry. He had been pastoring for almost a decade and as he processed the future of the church and the missional call of God on his
congregation the questions came out like this.

“What will happen to my job if I really call my church to kingdom action and even confront our spiritual lethargy?”
“Will I still have a job?”
“How can I change my job description so that my roles line up with what I feel I want to spend my time on..and will my Elder board accept and still want me to pay me to do less inside the church?” “How can I make sure I spend most of my time in my gift areas?”

These are all great questions and ones which I have often asked in my own mind, but the longer I work with professional Christian leaders, the more I believe these to be exactly the WRONG questions for anyone to ask.

Now, that I’m going on 25 years of Christian leadership, if there’s one thing I’ve learned, God does not answer the wrong questions. Thus if we really want to hear from God regarding our future, we need to get the correct questions in view. The three scripture that are spliced together are the words of Jesus to the ancient day version of the wrong questions. The boys who wanted to follow Jesus were wondering about their role in his economy, his community, and his kingdom. Some wanted to see where they stand in relation to the other guys; some wanted to figure out how to rise to the top or at least be positioned within the key circle of influences, and some were trying to figure out the cost of being with Jesus.

Regardless of their motives or questions, Jesus makes it simple by leveling the confusion related to ministry/leadership/and provision. It isn’t about US, OUR calling, OUR gifting, or OUR roles. Everything is about Him, His desire, His plan, and His glory.

Thinking back to now hundreds of emails and conversations with present church leaders and young emerging leaders, I realize that I can count on one hand the amount of times a certain leader actually brings up God or the lost, least, or leery in their considerations. Why don’t
I hear, “Hugh…I really have a heart for these people, or a burden for my home town, or a burning pain in my heart to see this situation changed…can you help me figure this out?”

These should be the question we ask, and I’m absolutely positive, that God will answer them!

Now of course, his answer may shock us. If you have a genuine burden for young people, he may direct you to become a teacher, a social worker, or start mentoring a troubled youth in
your neighborhood. If you’re heart is for the poor, he may ask you to start by volunteering at a poverty-needs ministry in your home town or give money away.  If you can’t make it through the day without crying or praying for lost friends, he may just ask you to throw a party, join a Yoga class or volunteer at an Aid’s hospice. Answers on how to help real humans come fast and easy…at least if you’re serious.

To spend time re-orging your job description or trying to figure out how to keep your paycheck could be a waste of His time and yours. Yes, if you’re trying to move from paid professional church staff positions, you’re in a bit of a pickle if you really want to help the ones Jesus might
be more focused on. I say this tongue in cheek but also with a great sense of seriousness. In the present church/culture divide, pastors are the least positioned to help where the rubber meet the road, so begin with a heart/gut check and decide if your heart is on the pavement or
not.

What do you really want to do? Who do you really want to help? What do you really want your life to count for? If the answers come back “people/hurt/pain/redemption/life change/transformation of neighborhoods/evangelism…..open your mind and heart and let God lead you to people. If however, your tensions are between church growth, church establishment, paychecks, parishioners in the seats on Sunday…expect a long
drawn out silence from God. Calling isn’t based on provision: Plumbers are just as called as anyone else and their provision allows them to minister to a few friends, their
children, or a neighbor.

Our gifting isn’t the same as doing what we like to do. Gifting is based on God empowering you to do something you don’t necessarily feel confident about or even want to do in a given situation. Biblical Financial provision is for those who feel called to equip the saints to do the work,” not for people who do the work. Regardless of your longevity in ministry posts, realize that there should never be any sense of positional entitlement. God does not owe us
anything. Remember, we’ve been bought with a price and we owe God everything and if he wants to bring us low, low is the place to be. If he wants to bring us high, then high is fine. Getting paid or retaining a certain lifestyle was and is still not part of the “perk package” of
Christian leadership. Christian leadership will always be based on who wants to dive under the muddy ropes and slither through the real life dirt and grime of human pain. That was the life of Jesus, our great cloud of witness, our prophets, and this paradigm of life will be life of the
leaders of the future church, if the church is to have a future.

Hugh.