Church of God LifeBuilders

Imagine yourself in the shop of a master cabinet maker. Wherever you turn you see saws, chisels, marking and measuring tools, routers, and planes of every kind. The focal point of the woodworker’s shop is an assembly line with many cabinets of various shapes and sizes in various stages of construction.

The cabinet maker’s mission is quite clear in his own mind: "I make cabinets." He is equally clear about what tools he needs to do quality work. He understands his success will be measured by the quantity and quality of cabinets he produces. He knows that the chisels and planes are merely the means–making cabinets is the end.

The church can be likened to the shop of a master cabinet maker. Of course, God Himself is the Master Cabinet Maker, but He has appointed pastors as His assistants. He entrusts pastors with people, facilities, programs, and ministries. But which are the tools and which are the cabinets? Either programs (programs, facilities, and ministries) are the tools and people are the cabinets; or people are the tools and programs are the cabinets. 

I’m not asking for the "correct" answer, but "your" answer. What do you measure? And what do you celebrate? Do you celebrate program success or changed lives? It is no small difference.

Patsy and I have invested 25 years in our church–a quarter century! We have nothing but great memories. Recently I told our pastor, "I am what this church is all about. I am the product. My wife is the product. My children are the product. My changed life and the change lives of thousands of others–that is something worth celebrating! Through this church we became disciples of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." 

I suspect that every church starts with a passion to make cabinets–to put people on an assembly line and craft them into disciples. The programs, facilities, and ministries the church selects seem like the appropriate tools to cut, chisel, and scrape people into the likeness of Jesus.

But as any businessman will tell you, once you build up several business units with overheads, they take on a life of their own. Often, feeding and maintaining "the beast" takes priority. Vision gets foggy; resources get stretched thin; there are not enough leaders; people feel overworked; plans go awry; quality drops off; miscommunication runs rampant; morale suffers; the organization doesn’t execute like it used to; internal resistance builds. The ends and the means get confused. Ultimately, production and sales both suffer. Unless the business gets back to its reason for existing, the downward spiral will continue. 

Once the programs, facilities, and ministries of the church take on a life of their own, they will not naturally be content to remain "means" but, like in a business, will vie to become the "ends." For example, suppose your church starts a Crisis Pregnancy Center and a Shelter for Abused Women. Unguarded, the tendency will be for those ministries to become "the reason we exist," rather than the means for building up our people into disciples.

Frankly, the cabinet maker has it easy. The cabinets can’t pitch in and help, so the cabinet maker would never dream of taking a cabinet off the line before it is finished. But people can pitch in and help, and because there is so much work to do, it is tempting to take a person off the assembly line before they are ready. 

It takes courage to keep the main thing the main thing. It is a vision issue. Will we make "cabinets," with programs as our "tools?" Or will we run programs, and use people as the tools to keep them running?

Reflection and Discussion Questions: 

• To an outsider, what would be the focal point of your "shop"?
• Are you clear about your mission? 
• Are you equally clear about the tools you will need to do quality work?
• Do you understand that your success will be based upon the quantity and quality of disciples you produce? 
• What do you measure?
• What do you celebrate?
• Do you have any programs that have taken on a life of their own (where the means have become the end)? 
• If I randomly asked several of your people, "What is your church producing?" would they understand that it’s about making disciples and changed lives? 
• If applicable, what would it take for you to get back to your mission?

Yours for changed lives, 

Patrick Morley, Ph.D.

Man in the Mirror

As a part of our "10 for 10,000" program, we are making LifeBuilders Chartering complementary for all men’s ministries that meet the following requirements:

1. Are a men’s ministry of an active Church of God.
2. Provide the names of the pastor, team leader, and four (4) team members.

If you’re not sure whether you’re already chartered or not, don’t worry.  Just do it!

Just click on the "Charter Your Chapter" button in the right column to complete our online form.  We will send you information as soon as possible.  This also applies to our Spanish churches and chapters as well.

If you want more information on the LifeBuilders "10 for 10,000" program, including the discipleship program, click here to download the Men’s Ministries Organizational Guidelines.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Lucille Walker shows us how we can be Praying Them In — Intercessory Evangelism.

I race a vintage Porsche and have used racing as a platform to build relationships with men and share my faith. One day a man who never misses a chance to race asked me quite seriously, "When does my passion for racing become an idol?" Good question.

All idolatry is rooted in unbelief. This unbelief can take many forms, but at its root is the powerful lie, "Jesus Christ alone is not enough to make me happy. I need something else." An idol is something we worship. The issue is looking to anything except Jesus Christ for identity, meaning, and ultimate purpose. An idol is anything that becomes the object of inordinate affection. An idol is anything of which we say, "I must have this to be happy." 

John Calvin said that men are "idol factories." Perhaps nothing interferes with a man’s faith more than the root problem of making idols–it’s the "next step" after believing a lie. The average American Christian male has made an idol of something that competes with his full surrender to the Lordship of Christ. Men can make idols of almost anything, but common examples today include:

• Money
• Titles and positions (and especially if their work doesn’t generate large revenues)
• Homes (i.e., attaching personal worth and identity to a dwelling)
• Country club memberships (i.e., being part of the "right" crowd)
• Ministry titles (e.g., elder, deacon)
• Relationships (e.g., idolizing a wife)
• Affiliations with important people
• Cars, boats, planes, motorcycles
• Their bodies (i.e., physical appearance)
• Superior intelligence
• Their own righteousness
• The praise of men

As you can readily see, all these affections are horizontal and worldly. All such friendship with the world is spiritual adultery (James 4:4).

Idols make promises they cannot keep, which is why you can be on a winning streak and still feel empty.
 
Discipling Men Applications: 

• Most men don’t really understand the definition of an idol. Periodically define "idols" and give appropriate examples.
• Remind your men that we are "idol factories."
• Challenge your men to consider how they can make even their own spirituality into an idol–like a church position or exceptionally righteous behavior.

Yours for changed lives,

Patrick Morley, Ph.D.

Man in the Mirror

This week’s podcast — Church Planting — A Priority for Growth — is presented by two people:

• Dr. Harvey Turner, Executive Director, Church of God Multicultural Ministries
• Rev. David Blair, Youth Ministries Coordinator, Church of God Youth and Christian Education Department

There are two languages in the world: truth and lies.

The first language–the native tongue–of every man is the language of lies. When the Father of lies was our father, "lies" was the only language we knew.

Before I became a Christian I would often lie even if the truth could have served me better. It was my native tongue–a language that flowed freely from my lower nature.

When we receive Christ we become bilingual. We learn a second language–the language of truth. But what happens to anyone who doesn’t regularly practice speaking their second language? They revert to their native tongue.

If we do not abide in Christ day-by-day, if we do not regularly practice our second language, we will revert to our native tongue. You know this is true because you know self-deceived Christians who regularly lie to you–and not about little things.

How do men fall back into their native language? Every morning you and I go into a world where all day long we are tempted to exchange the truth of God for a lie (Romans 1:25).

All men either live by the truth or a good lie.

No man, Christian or otherwise, will choose to live by an obvious lie. Which counterfeit dollar bill is most likely to make it into circulation? It’s the one that looks like the real thing. In the same way, the only lies that make it into circulation are ones that appear to be true. A good lie is probably only one or two degrees off course. Otherwise it would be rejected. The prosperity gospel comes to mind.

What does a good lie look like? A good lie can take many forms. For example, good lies about happiness might tell men that to be happy they need to…

• Make this much money
• Get that promotion
• Drive a certain car
• Have an hour a day for myself
• Achieve a certain desire or goal
• Lust after that woman
• Have my wife act differently
• Have my children behave better
• Have investments do well
• Be able to eat what I want
• Have a ministry that gives me strokes

Do men really "need" these things to be happy? Each of these statements boil down to this core lie: "Jesus is not enough to make me happy. I need something more." Blared from a thousand cell towers, TV antennas, newspapers, and even friends–the Liar wants men to believe that God isn’t capable of giving men true joy and contentment.

As a discipler of men, it’s good to remember that for every truth you tell your men, they are hearing hundreds of lies–many of them good lies–throughout the week.

Yours for changed lives,

Pat Morley, Ph.D.

Man in the Mirror

Learn about Drama & Special Event Evangelism from Dr. Mark Swank, Urban Ministries Coordinator, Church of God Department of Youth and Christian Education, who can use a baby blue Pinto to win the lost.

Ironically, I’ve been told that many youth programs have shifted from the highly relational "Young Life style, let’s have fun while we’re doing this" model to a teaching model in which a speaker tells the students what they need to know.

The modern model is instructional. The postmodern model is relational. One man refers to this as the difference between a Hebraic and a Greek model.

What’s the difference? The modern mindset is, "Give me the right information and I’ll put it to good use." The postmodern mindset is, "Let’s build an authentic relationship and have a meaningful conversation."

What are the implications for our ministry of making disciples? Some men we meet just feel like they need the right information–they’re soil ready for the seed. Others feel like they need someone to talk to. It’s a big difference.

You will reach more men if you ask this question before deciding how to interact with a new man: "Is this man looking for me to give him the answers (the intellectual approach), or is he looking for someone to talk to (the instructional approach)?"

In either case, please don’t talk at me, talk with me.

Yours for changed lives,

Pat Morley, Ph.D.
Man in the Mirror

In our "10 for 10,000" program, we emphasize the relational approach.  Click here for more information.

This week’s podcast, by Mrs. Dorothy Sibley, is entitled Women in Ministry.

Patsy and I just spent the Labor Day weekend at the Grand Canyon. It was the first time for me.

When we pulled into the parking lot at Mather Point we couldn’t see the canyon yet. Instead, I thought I was on an errand to Wal-Mart! Cars and people were stacked everywhere. So I dropped Patsy off and hunted down a parking space.

What we didn’t know—and what none of the other first timers knew—was that we were only a few feet away from a parallel universe. We left Wal-Mart and walked through 50 feet of woods. We were transported into a words-escape-me, awe-inspiring, never-seen-anything-like-that, gasp-producing world. People were stunned, quiet, even reverent. What a difference 50 feet can make!

Those 50 feet remind me how life with God is so different from the daily hustle and bustle that most people experience. To the lost, life must feel like being stuck in a big parking lot. Being found must seem so distant, when it is really a parallel universe just a few steps away.

Long before anyone was stirring on our last morning, I sat by the rim and gazed at the stars and the shadowy forms cast by moonlight. Like millions before me, I was struck by the vastness and sheer size of the canyon.

God, why did you create the Grand Canyon? Do you need or want an audience to appreciate it? Or was it for your own pleasure? You created the Grand Canyon for your own glory. Thank you that I have been able to see it and share in your glory.

He wanted me to know, "You’re small, but important."
 
For the glory of Christ and no other reason,

Pat Morley, Ph.D.
Man in the Mirror