Joel Young Blog.com

Last week we started an open-ended sermon series at Horizon on the books of 1 & 2 Timothy. These two letters from Paul to Timothy, and really the entire church in Ephesus, have a great deal of insight contained within them. Not just insight into what the church should be doing, but what they were struggling with as well. I don’t want to say that I enjoy it, because that might come across wrong, but I am often encouraged by hearing what other churches are struggling with. Sometimes it’s right in line with what our local church is struggling with, and that can remind us that we’re not alone in our plight.

Looking through the lens of these letter for the past few weeks has helped me to realize that there are somethings that deserve more attention and emphasis than we currently give them at Horizon. And that’s been a great thing.

So here’s my question…

If someone, who knew your church and pastor well, wrote a letter to your church about the work that is being done, what would it say? What things would you be commended for? What things would you be commanded to stop?

Sometimes we don’t see things the way they really are until someone shows them to us.

I’m more than just a little excited that we are starting a new series this Sunday at Horizon called 1 & 2 Timothy. This series will be an extended look at these two letters that are filled with wisdom on leadership, life, and love. We’ll be learning from the wisdom of Paul, who was one of the first men to plant churches for Jesus Christ’s Gospel. He was a pioneer of what we are doing RIGHT NOW. How cool is that?

As a preacher there is nothing that excites me more than getting an opportunity to preach the Bible straight up. No frills, no cute titles, no wishy washy parallels. Just letting scripture speak straight to the hearts of God’s people. If I can give people the truth of scripture and get out of the way then hearts and lives will be changed. I hope you’ll join us for the entirety of this series. It’s going to be great!

Sunday morning at 11am.
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I have been processing a lot of things inside my own head lately. I feel like I am finally getting what it means to let God do the leading, both in my life and in my work, and it has caused me to spend more time listening than I ever have before. During this season of listening I have come to some humbling realizations about myself, but none have been more real than what God gave me through Jenna, my wife, last week.

Sunday was one of the best worship experiences EVER at Horizon and we were trying to process it all as we came down from cloud nine that afternoon. If you know me, you know that I process out loud and therefore say everything that I’m thinking. On this particular Sunday I was elated with the response to the sermon God has laid on my heart. It was really one of those weeks where I had to pray ALL WEEK that God would say something through me because I felt so inadequate and unable to articulate His message, and boy did He. The Word rocked everyone there and caused many people to honor my delivery of that Word like never before.

Selfishly, here’s what I was thinking, and what I said to my wife. “When did these people begin to respect me, and the Word that God has put inside me, so much? It’s not like they didn’t before, but today I really felt the weight of their respect for me as God’s instrument to lead His church like never before. Why/how did that happen so suddenly?” As carefully as she could my wife articulated to me what was crystal clear to her. She answered, “Because now you believe you can lead this church.”

WHAT?!?! At first I was taken back, and a little angry. How dare she question my confidence in following God’s leading. I seriously thought to myself, “She just doesn’t get it. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.” I mean, confidence has never been something that I have lacked before.

Then, after a few minutes of silence I came to this humbling realization: SHE WAS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! I had been leading this church and trying to follow God’s prompting for over a year, but up until a month ago I really didn’t have confidence that God could do the job through ME. I don’t know what I was thinking, but the way I lead was telling people that I had doubts about God’s ability to use ME.

It’s a humbling thing when you realize that the only thing standing in the way of God radically blessing His calling on your life is YOU.

Yesterday at Horizon was one of those Sundays that was awesome beyond words. God showed up and he rocked our world. Here are some of my unfiltered thoughts after what could possibly be described as my most encouraging day of ministry ever.

• I LOVE PREACHING!
• I love it when people come to church for the first time, and are so affected by it that they are bringing friends the following week. That’s God at work in their life.
• When a sermon affects the preacher, it will affect the church.
• Planning for God’s power and expecting Him to show up is BEYOND EXCITING!
• Most people don’t care about where you are, they care about where you’re going.
• Seeing bits and pieces from the sermon posted in people’s facebook statuses gets me PUMPED UP!
• The aforementioned fact does not excite me because people are quoting me, but because GOD’S WORD IS AFFECTING PEOPLE’S LIVES!
• When I get excited I use ALL CAPS and EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!!!
• I love the people I serve with at Horizon.

Most of you are probably aware that Newsweek recently published an article that stated the “decline” of Christian America. Well, they gave Mark Driscoll an opportunity to respond to the article and its content and I really appreciate his point of view so I wanted to share it with you all.

What he talks about is this article is spot on the point of our latest series at Horizon called “Practical Atheist (Are You Who You Say You Are?)”. Check out the entire article by following the link below.

“Has Christian America Come to an End?” by Mark Driscoll, Pastor – Mars Hill Church

Over the past few weeks God has really convicted me to assume less, and make no apologies. I need to quit assuming that people are unable to step out of their situation into a situation of faith, and quit apologizing for asking them to consider it. Since I’ve become a church planter I have “encouraged” everyone in my path to consider becoming a part of our work at Horizon. Not because I want to put butts in the seats on Sunday morning, but because every church needs people to do the work of reaching a community. Previously, I have been apologetic about this. I would say things like, “I know you’re in a comfortable place right now, but…,” or “I don’t know how this fits into your life, but…” I was basically saying, “I’m sorry that I have prompted you to consider God’s true calling for your life.”

What I have come to realize is that if we are ever going to reach the world of people who are nonbelievers we have to be unapologetic about our approach. We can’t prompt someone to react to God’s calling and then say we’re sorry. As I personally, and our church corporately, continue to search for people who feel called to make a HUGE impact for God’s kingdom at Horizon we will remain unapologetic. We’re not sorry God is challenging you. We’re not sorry God is stretching you. We’re not sorry that God is causing you to deny yourself, your desires, your direction to follow His. Doing these things will all benefit the kingdom of God whether it’s your very first step of faith to accept Christ through baptism or a mature believers decision to follow God in an uncomfortable direction.

I’m NOT sorry. Are you?

This morning as I am preparing my sermon for this Sunday I have come to a realization that has never hit me harder. Sunday will mark the start of a new series at Horizon called “Practical Atheist (Are you who you say you are?)”. In just the beginning stages I can tell that this is going to be a series that is very revealing for most people. The whole idea is that some of us claim to be followers of Christ, but practically speaking we aren’t. We don’t live like we fear God, we don’t give like we trust God, and we don’t set goals like we know God’s power. When it comes to the practical side of our lives we show a disbelief in God, and in the face of all the things we claim this is what really matters.

Our five week trip into the implications of our actions will be life changing and perfectly aligned with Horizon’s audacious vision and direction.

What could a more practical view of your faith do in your life? Would it change you?

This weekend was a powerful time at Horizon. We didn’t have a record attendance, we didn’t do something cool and edgy, and we didn’t hype up the mornings events; God simply showed up and woke us up. I believe that I was able to focus more on the message He had to speak through me this weekend than ever before. I really was a mouthpiece for His message and it was powerful. There were tears, new friendships, and times of celebration, but that was yesterday.

Now, it’s Monday morning and we are all left to the realities of the real world and what that means in relation to the vision God so clearly laid out on Sunday. Tonight I’m going to have the attention of our entire group again to cast this vision in a more specific manner, but I know it will be different. I know that people have already come down off the high of Sunday morning and will try to slip back into the realities of our abilities, and forget about God’s abilities. It’s just a natural occurrence for our minds because it’s hard to live every day in the realm of God’s ability (hard, not impossible).

The real problem is that Monday is always tomorrow. While I believe that we are always one step away from being the bold church that God has called us to be, I also believe that we are always one step away from slipping back into complacency. The reality of Monday is ever present, so we should seek and pray for boldness every day of our lives.

Today, fight back Monday with a big ugly stick!

This past week was a refreshing time of learning for me. I had the exciting opportunity to travel to Orlando, FL with several other church planters to be with several thousand more at EXPONENTIAL (The National New Church Conference). It not only gave me some much needed energy, time off, and encouragement, but it allowed me to see what God is doing through church planters world wide. It’s cool to see that the things our church struggles with are the same things that churches in Korea struggle with. People across the world are more alike than we realize.

The greatest part of this week is what happened at the end. Well, technically it was the beginning of a new week, but if you’re a pastor you know what I’m talking about (our weeks run Monday to Sunday because Sunday is what we work towards all week and Monday is when it starts all over). Today, I was able to sit back and enjoy what God is doing at our church; not what I was doing, not what someone else was doing, not what our planning was doing, but what God is doing.

That is worth more than a building, a budget, or a salary. Some of us need to open our eyes and look at what God is doing more often. I know I do.

I have been learning a lot over the last couple weeks. It’s like God is giving me what I’m praying for, but I was never ready for it to happen, stupid I know. I’ve been praying for him to clear a path that will lead our church to change the community we exist within. I want God to change the world through us and I knew he could do it. What I didn’t count on was that this path would lead me to so much adaptation.

Over the last month we have restructured, restaffed, and reevaluated everything we’re doing. Through it all I have seen that the mark of a true leader isn’t how well he/she executes the plan they have set into motion, but rather how well they adapt to the inevitable changes that will need to be made along the way.

What kind of leader are you? Are you unwilling to change your path or thinking because it will make you look like a failure? If so, you care more about your ego than whatever it is you are leading. Leaders of the church can’t afford to live this cliche. We have to adapt and change our strategies and methods to follow God’s path for our ministry WHENEVER HE ASKS US TO.

What do you need to adapt?