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.

You’ve all heard of VH1’s Behind the Music haven’t you? Well, this is my own version, and I call it behind the tweet. This will be a way for me to expand my own thought beyond 140 characters. So, here goes.

Original Tweet: “Trying to make an informed decision can often lead to indecision. Act when the time is right.”

In our quest to find the perfect house, my wife Jenna and I have struggled with indecision. When one of us actually likes a house, the other doesn’t. Just when we think we know what we’re looking for, it changes. It’s all created a fair amount of frustration for both of us. Our real goal is to make the most informed decision that we can possibly make. We’ve owned two houses before, but we still realize the depth of the commitment we are on the verge of making.

The only problem is that over the past year of looking and becoming “better informed” we have really become better at being indecisive. The more options we see the more discontented we become with what’s in front of us. We are constantly asking ourselves the question, “Is there something better just around the corner that we haven’t seen yet?” If you haven’t experienced this feeling before let me be the first to tell you that it can drive you crazy. It’s all very stressful, but the end result in our case is that we simply have to stay in our nice and adequate apartment for a few more months (not too big a deal at all), but what if we were talking about major life decisions?

What things in your life have you put off or delayed in efforts to become “better informed”? Has that lead you to a stagnant life/faith plagued by indecision?

My point is, we have to find the right timing for every decision. Act too early and it will be impulsive. Act too late and you could miss out. Seek God for a season and them make a Spirit lead decision because trying to make an informed decision can often lead to indecision.

Wow. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a chance to blog about anything, but it’s been a good time for me. I have enjoyed a time of rest and relaxation for the first time since the launch of Horizon. Jenna and I visited the city of St. Louis with some friends while Reed hung out with the G-parents. It was a bit nerve wracking for me, but I prayed through my first Sunday away from Horizon, and God took care of everything, with the help of my very capable team members.

I also took a vacation from email, and all computer related activities. I turned off most of the features on the iPhone, and left my computers at home. This technology downtime was good for me and everyone around me. But, now things are back to normal and I am more ready to go then ever before. Look out world.

Tuesday is the new Monday, at least for this week. Because of our Memorial day observances, most of us haven’t started our work week until Today, which is Tuesday. For me, Monday represents a time to regroup before I hit the week’s work really hard. I usually use it to re-focus myself and re-energize my mind as I prepare for the upcoming Sunday’s teaching. Sometimes the weight of a message can really beat you down and you need some time to recoup before you can do it again, but this week I’m already in the hole by one day and need all the time I can get.

So, I skipped my rejuvenation period and went right to work….NOT! That’s what I would have done six months ago. Now, more than ever, I realize that if I am going to be available for God to use in my weekly preaching I need time to re-focus myself and clean my pallet so God can use my freshly prepared mind. God’s message demands a fresh mind and deserves a prepared heart.

Martin Luther once said (and I’m paraphrasing), “I begin each day with two hours of prayer. And on those days when I have a lot of work to do I begin with three hours of prayer.”

Realizing that God can use a half day of work that is fully focused on Him more than He can use a full day of work that isn’t can change everything.

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?

I wanted to share something that Perry Noble posted on his blog recently. This is the same question I have wrestled with many times in my life, and it’s one you need to wrestle with too. Here’s the conversation he shared.

MENTOR: “What would you be willing to attempt for God if you knew you could not fail?”

PERRY: I knew the answer…I didn’t even have to think about it…it literally just flew out of my mouth, “I would plant a church.”

MENTOR: “then you are a coward if you don’t!”

Not all of us are being called to plant a church like Perry, but we still need to insert our own answer in the middle and realize that the only thing keeping us from doing that is cowardice. It doesn’t get any more true than that.

Something that I have come to realize since my entrance into the realm of church leadership is that reformed thinking is a, “No, no!” What you learn to be true at age thirteen is supposed to be true for the same reasons twenty years later. Case closed. Church leaders are supposed to already have everything figured out and have all their answers dialed in for any situation that might arise. As long as you can spit out some scripture, then that will be enough. Never mind that we misinterpret and misunderstand it.

For many in leadership, their faith and the backing for it is nothing more than a regurgitation of what we were instructed to believe by their Pastor, Professor, or Parent. There has never been a personal thought or original concept drawn from scripture that lives inside of them, and to me that makes their knowledge as dead as their faith.

For many years I was a perfect example of this. I grew up with my church clothes on and a Bible in my hand, and did pretty good at playing the game and knowing the answers. There wasn’t a question I couldn’t answer from my close-minded, pre-packaged cereal box of knowledge. Sure, I had read the Bible and knew the scriptures behind my answers, but the logic wasn’t my own. My thinking was the application of others’ “knowledge,” and not my own.

I have recently been challenged very deeply by this truth. The mode of arrival to knowledge is just as important as the knowledge itself. Just because an answer is true, doesn’t mean we think it’s true for the right reasons. The right answer from the wrong thinking is really the wrong answer (are you confused yet?). What really matters is obtaining truth from scripture that is directly from God and not from someone else’s logic.

To quote myself (total inside joke), “I’ve said all of that to say this.” If we are not constantly reforming our thinking as it relates to the truth of scripture, then what we know to be true will become irrelevant. If our answer to why the world needs Jesus is, “otherwise they will go to Hell,” then this vital truth has been rendered irrelevant. Using this logic the most essential truth in all of the world has been demoted to a simple avoidance of pain and suffering, not the realization of sin and the measures Jesus took to remove its effects from our eternity.

I believe that as we learn, it’s logical to concentrate on the answers to questions first, but at some point we have to fill in the gaps. At some point we have to reform our thinking and transform our minds. Otherwise, we will remain infants in our knowledge and ability to transfer than knowledge to others.

Dang, I’m really not this deep in thought on a normal Thursday afternoon, but God is rocking my world and thinking with His truth today.

AHHHHH! That’s how I’ve felt over the last few weeks. I have been all over the east coast at conferences and workshops learning from some of the brightest and most passionate men in the world of church growth and multiplication. This whole trip has really set me off and most of the the time I was left screaming, “AHHHH, I want to get back to Cincy to get back to working on Horizon’s re-birth,” or, “AHHHH I hate driving and would really rather be home right now.” Either way, I’m glad to be home.

For now I’m going to do my best to keep my mouth shut until I have a chance to process things more and preach this Sunday. But, I can say that there are a lot of changes that are going to be made at Horizon and I want them to go through leaders and partners first. They will come to you soon enough. All I will say for now is this…God has shown me that unless you are living boldly, then you’re not living up to your potential. He has convicted me that for the last two years I have grossly underestimated His power, and thus stunted the growth of my work. These changes are not the implementation of a new model or system I learned, but rather are going to be a return to the passion this church was started with. It’s funny how a year of church planting can kill passion.

If you’re coming to Horizon this weekend, you better bring a seat belt! This rocket’s ’bout to blast off.

Yesterday was an significant day for my wife and I. It was ten years ago yesterday that we met and fell in love. It may sound weird to put those two things together, but for any of you who have met my wife you know that it’s hard not to love her from the second you meet her. She just has a way of making you feel like you’re the only person in the room when she talks to you. I may not have known the full extent of that love or how it would grow over time, but I was hooked from the beginning without any hesitation.

With our relationship gaining the perspective of the X factor this year (X is the roman numeral for 10 for those of you that didn’t put that together) I have decided to share ten things I have learned over the past ten years about my wife (in no particular order).

10. She has the gift of discernment. She’s sees things in people and situations that I never will.

9. Even when’s she’s mad at me, she still loves me. My wife has put up with a lot of crap from me over the years, but she has never stopped loving and respecting me. Not many people can do that.

8. She hates it when I say this, but she is gorgeous (inside and out).

7. She is an incredible mother. She has a patience and understanding with our son that I will never have, and I thank God for the way she balances out our parenting.

6. She is an incredibly loyal to my leadership. I am constantly leading both at home and in my professional life, but I have never had anyone who is as loyal and trusting in me as a leader than my wife. Her attitude gives me the confidence I need to lead our family.

5. Her sense of humor is more than a little weird. She’ll laugh at things that no one else will, but she doesn’t care. I’ll never stop loving that about her.

4. Her dedication to God’s work through our family is amazing. I don’t know too many women who would tolerate the path ministry has taken us on, much less handle it with the grace and perspective my wife has over the last seven years.

3. She has an ability to change someone with a conversation. Even if she says very little.

2. She hates watching movies because instead of engaging in a conversation we sit and stare blankly at a screen for hours. After ten years I’m starting to agree.

1. Her generous spirit has helped me to become a more giving person in every aspect of my life. No one else could have done that.

Here’s to ten more great years, and ten more after that, and ten more after that, and well…you get the picture. Love you honey.

Today is opening day in Cincinnati, Ohio. Though the opening day of the baseball season might not be such a big deal elsewhere in the world, in Cincinnati it is a HUGE deal. Cincinnati loves its baseball. We have the oldest major league baseball franchise and we celebrate it every year in a huge way; even on a day like today.

As I write this the outside temperature is 37 degrees. I even felt a little bit of sleet falling as I walked in from my car. By all accounts, this is not a great day for baseball, but that doesn’t seem to matter to anyone in Cincinnati. Like every year the great hoopla surrounding opening day continued, despite the weather. There was a parade, tv specials, and everywhere you go people are wearing their Reds gear.

Though I am a great lover of all sports I am not a huge fan of baseball, and because of this I haven’t really participated in any of the opening day festivities today. Sure, if the weather was awesome outside I might have gone to the parade, or a cookout or something that celebrates the event, but not when the situation is less than ideal. I guess you could say that I’m, quite literally, a “fair weather” fan.

Here’s what I’ve learned today as I’ve watched this city’s response to the sport they love. I’ve noticed that no matter how bad the situation looks or how uncomfortable it makes them, true followers of the game WILL continue to celebrate. If you haven’t guessed where I’m going yet then let me finish this thought….Even when things look difficult in the church, or less than ideal, true followers of Christ still show up and celebrate. It doesn’t matter if it’s inconvenient, or a bit uncomfortable for them they still show up to celebrate the grace and freedom that they have in Christ Jesus; they still do it. It doesn’t matter if service to the church or its mission adds to their already busy schedule; true followers make time.

I’ve been leaving you with a lot of questions this week and I want to continue that for at least one more post. Are you a committed follower of Christ, or simply a “fair weather” fan? The truth of our answers could be killing the church and we need to do something about it.