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This has been a wild 24 hours for me - I’m busy working on my sermon - for 2 Sundays away.  Last night I was working and listening to the Verge Conference online in Austin - so proud of Matt Carter and his crew and where I see them headed.  There are several conferences going on right now with lots of people from Verge, to Radicalis, to an ACTS 29 event, and several more on the way this month.  I was asked to speak at 2 of them but couldn’t - I’m going to West Africa on a fast trip to speak at a little church of 200,000 and then speaking to their 1500 new church planters for this year.  Now that’s a church!  February must be conference month!  We just had a group of our planters with us. 

As I was listening last night and the camera panned the crowd I thought of all those young pastors - aspiring to be the next Francis Chan or Mark Driscoll or whoever they admire speaking at whatever conference they go to. 

When I started in ministry - I assumed you worked hard, prayed hard, and God moved powerfully and a church or ministry grew.  When that happened everyone got along and was happy.  NOT. 
You can’t aggressively serve God and not face attack and testing.  The two are regular companions but come from 2 different sources, but when handled properly have the same effect.  Yesterday I prayed for my friend Matt Chandler and later I heard of another friend in the ministry accused of things that are unsubstantiated.  Jesus faced both of those.  Then I got an email from a friend who crashed in ministry but is doing something else now.  I went to bed with a heavy heart thinking of those 3 incidents.  I couldn’t help but think of all you young church planters from NorthWood and I wanted to challenge you.  How do you handle stuff like this?

1.  Keep your heart pure.  This is why I passionately teach our church and you young men and women going into the ministry to start your day off on your knees in the word of God.  I’m not talking about sermon prep - I’m talking about heart prep.  Pray until your heart is broken, soft, and open.

2.  Don’t let offenses pile up.  People are going to sin against you - it’s not fun.  People will accuse you falsely; judge your motives, gossip to 30 people in the guise of asking for prayer.  See it for what it is - the flesh of man.  If you don’t, you’re going to be the ultimate pleaser of men or worse you’ll be one tough, angry, cuss of a preacher. 

3.  Listen to people who love you.  You’re not perfect.  Your wife, your kids, your parents, your close friends, your staff, your leadership - don’t make yourself Jesus.  God has called you to a mission, but that mission doesn’t make you right in everything.  Every preacher who has ever fallen - had people warning him along the way, but he refused to listen. 

4.  Have a group you entrust yourself to.  One of the greatest things I thank God for is our elders at NorthWood - they are not staff, they are church members - but their focus is not just on church issues - they aren’t afraid to challenge me and love me.  I wish I would have understood the concept of elders 25 years ago - I would have done it a lot sooner.  I also have 3 pastors that I listen to as they speak into my life and ministry.  One is black- he’s my pastor, one is Chinese, one is Korean/Irish, and a couple of whities!  You’d better have someone you can be honest and open with.

5.  Stay true to your calling.  The last time you’ll do something unanimous is when you have more than 100 people.  Everyone will have a word, a direction, an instruction, a vision - and if you don’t know what God has called you to, you’ll get off track - when that happens, you lose God’s anointing on your life.  Conferences, speakers, and books can help you - but they can’t call you or direct you - only God can do that.  His will is not found in the latest thing, but in his heart.

6.  Glorify God in all you do.  How do you do that?  When you sin, admit it and repent.  When Satan is attacking you - rebuke him and have people praying for you sharing it with those that are closest to you.  When God is testing you - like Matt Chandler - glorify God like Matt, knowing he’s in control and he loves you and is making you more in his image. 

Not long ago, I was somewhere very unsafe in the world with some very “feared” people of the world.  I had taken a list of things that I needed to get done back home.  I had my tablet and was working waiting for someone to take me somewhere.  I had traveled and was tired - someone once told me when I’m in places like that “sleep with one eye open.”(One day I’m taking Stetzer with me on one of those trips to shut him up!)  I was sleeping but would keep waking up checking my surroundings.  I finally thought, “What can I do here if something happens?”  The answer was a simple “NOTHING AT ALL.” Here’s the reality, whether you like it or not, even as a leader, you have far less control over things that you might like.  You have two options - Rest - as in Hebrews - or stress.  Stress will drive you to lots of unhealthy things.  Rest, puts you in the arms of Jesus to hold you and keep all that is his.  I challenge you - REST.