I heard a speaker at a church recently say, “If I can’t hear the pages of your bible turning, then you’ll hear me leaving.”

I COMPLETELY understand what he meant.  I SYMPATHIZE with his sentiment.  I desperately want keystoners to MARINATE on the word of God!

I love the sound of the pages turning too.  I want my children to CONSUME the bible.  I love it when we bring our bibles to Keystone!

YET, I have some thoughts…

What about those who are not believers (yet!)? Should we expect them to bring their bibles?  If your church is bringing the ‘lost’ to your weekend experiences, then about 1/3 of the church will be bible-less.

What about those who use iphones or Ipads for scripture? You won’t hear the pages turning, but they may be your most biblically hungry believers.

What about the preacher himself? This one hits home!  Every preacher I know utilizes multiple passages in a message.  Sometimes they will mark them with a note for easy turning.  Most of the time, though, they will insert a printed paper with the notes or various scriptures in their bible.  I carry a full notepad with me, utilizing my actual bible only when I have a spontaneous verse I want to quote.

Let’s be careful not to go overboard in our zeal, thereby putting burdens on people that aren’t biblical.  THE KEY: lead your church to SATURATE themselves in the SCRIPTURES! That’s the point!

The entire world seems to be observing the circus of Charlie Sheen.  This man has been reborn, rebranded, restrung.  Yet I get the feeling Mr. Sheen’s evil doppleganger has the real Charlie tied up in the basement.

We secretly watch for the latest ‘sheen-ism’ while openly lamenting yet another example of hollywood gone wrong.

Here’s what Mr. Sheen (or his evil twin) is teaching me.

1. Fill the WAREHOUSE before you the feature the SHOWROOM. Character counts.  How are you living when no one is looking?  Are you installing personal guidelines and levels of help / accountability that build you past your brokenness?

2. Mind the delicate balance between PUBLIC & PRIVATE life. In a way, I’ve lived much of my life with some level of public attention, being the son of a preacher man.  You are not wrong to have a private life… Actually, I fight for it and defend it.  Meanwhile, there is a responsibility for the public platform you have.

3. Take your demons seriously. We all are broken.  We all struggle.  Every little sin wants to be a big sin when it grows up.  Never pet your little sins… They will bite you.  Listen to those who love you & speak boldly into your brokenness.

Are you a LIFE-LONG LEARNER?  This is a HUGE question and can be the true difference between success in failure.  MEDIOCRITY is the best life for those who STOP LEARNING.

KNOW-IT-ALLs tend to live in black & white.  At some point, you become comfortable with your worldview and don’t have time for nuance.

1. You constantly defend your position
2. You don’t listen, you are eager to talk
3. You poke holes in foreign ideas
4. You begin character assassination when you can’t answer another view
5. You stop reading anyone but those who agree with you
6. You stop asking questions

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Eat the fish, leave the bones?”

It means that you can learn from ANYBODY!  Take the meat, leave behind those things that don’t apply or are disagreeable.

Being a LIFE-LONG LEARNER is crucial in ALL areas of your life:

• Are you still learning as a spouse?
• Are you still learning as a lover?
• Are you still learning how to be a friend?
• Are you still learning on the job?

KICK-START your LEARNING MUSCLES today… Ask a question.  Buy a book.  Open your ears and shut your mouth!

Are you currently breathing reality into a ‘God-vision’ for your life? If not, it’s likely you are descending into division.  I am convinced that God isn’t content to bless us as we idle in neutral regarding his purposes for our lives.

As I read the New Testament, it is filled with adventure.  Consider just the book of Acts.  It is loaded with bold declarations, miraculous rescues and awe-inspired moves of God.  Conversions abound. Everyone seems wet with baptism, both by the Spirit and from the nearest river.

Fast forward to 2011.  Church buildings are eroding and being sold.  The culture is outgrowing the church and the next generation is fleeing seemingly irrelevant ritual.

There are many reasons for this decomposition.  One clear suspect: DIVISION.  The church is so busy fighting each other they have no interest or energy fighting God’s battle to plunder hell and populate heaven.  We are so preoccupied with arguing over the establishment of the past we have no vision for ‘making ALL THINGS NEW.’

BORED CHRISTIANS GRUMBLE.  Distracted Christians are self-centered.

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. (John 17:20,21 esv)

Be so busy following God’s vision for your life that to create drama and discord among believers in the church would be a major distraction to you.  Be so filled with the Spirit that it would be unthinkable to slander, gossip, or divide others among the church.

Are you flowing in THE VISION… or DIVISION?

I have always resisted bureaucracy. It’s my rhythm as a leader to flow towards unpredictability and a culture of change. I have seen the death of organizations that are ‘over-organized.’

Yet, there came a time in the life of Keystone Church where I sensed change in the air. The change was IN ME.

I began to see that our Keystone culture that God had planted in my heart was being diluted as our volunteer base grew. Those who had spent time with me seemed to ‘get it’ while others just didn’t.

God gave me a clear direction to CAPTURE OUR CULTURE. This required a lot of organizational work. Then, it dawned on me:

Apple must be very organized to have such cool products with excellence
Zappos must be very organized to have such a relaxed, personal customer service
Starbucks must be very organized to duplicate an experience all over the world

Soon, I became convinced that we must ORGANIZE in order to MOVE FORWARD our culture of creativity and change.

There are so many specific applications to this ‘A HA’ moment. One is our vision:

Leading everyone to experience passionate life in Christ.

I still hate bureaucracies. Our creative vibe has not been squelched, it’s grown! More people are able to catch on & we are able to guard our culture with greater effectiveness.

Have you had a similar ‘A HA’ moment?

If I could boil Keystone down to ONE WORD, it is PASSION! [Disclaimer: this is within the understanding that JESUS is the biggest name at Keystone]. I firmly believe that every church has a unique voice… something that sets it apart.

What is the ONE THING that really RESONATES in your ministry? For us, it’s PASSION.

PASSION IS NOT:

• begging people to serve
• grumbling over secondary issues or preferences
• begging people to give
• swerving into ‘good’ side projects that distract from the MAIN THING

PASSION IS:

• Worshipping with an emotion that comes from life change
• Effortlessly sharing with others the thing you love
• Giving cheerfully, not out of guilt
• serving with enthusiasm & gratitude

Ultimately, PASSION IS something that POURS OUT of you rather than something that must be PULLED OUT.

For you, what does PASSION look like? (keep it clean!)

I pray our city will see the PASSION of Keystone Church!