Steve Redden's Blog

Just Lucky!!

2010-10-25T22:26:00.000-07:00

In his latest book, Jim Collins makes the point that great enterprises experience failure because they allow their success to create the feeling of invincibility - that they can do almost anything because of their superior product, service, experience, marketing etc.

He contrasted this kind of arrogance with the humility of great companies who stayed great. Toward the end of the chapter he noted that great companies who remained great had almost a paranoid sense that one of the key factors in their enduring success might be just plain luck. So they never drift into complacency or arrogance.

For years now I have longed for those who have experienced a great deal of success in their churches or ministries to have the courage to stand up at a conference and tell people how they did it. Give them all the principles and strategies to apply in their own ministries but then simply note that the reason for their success may have been because God just simply chose them (call it sovereignty or luck depending on your theological orientation) --allowed them to be the first ones to discover and implement strategies that worked (oftentimes it's the first ones in that grab the lions share of the positive results - other people who do the same things later don't often have the same success); sent them great people at just the right time (some leaders leave conferences trying to implement these great things they learn with only limited success and it's often because they just don't have the team around them to execute these amazing ideas - and no matter what the great leadership gurus tell us, it's not always that the key leader doesn't have the ability to attract them - sometimes we just get lucky/blessed/chosen)

So enough of the rambling - having worked at both a very large healthy church and a very small healthy church, I've seen that success (healthy growth, finances, staff etc) is way more about God's sovereignty than it is about my brilliant strategic plans, ministries and amazing sermons I preach. Thank God!!

And this doesn't excuse for one microsecond being lazy and apathetic.

So for now, we work hard, keep learning from everyone, pray like crazy and just hope (and pray) that God chooses to bless us - not because of how great we are but because of how great he is. And how he uses extremely unlikely people to bless so that at the end of the day, people will say, "THAT could only be done by God!!"

Prayer VIGIL 2.0

2010-06-18T18:28:00.000-07:00

After you have completed the Prayer Vigil, post your thoughts, feelings, reactions etc.

Religion and Spirituality

2009-07-08T10:36:00.000-07:00

Isaiah 58 - Tell my people of their sins.... And they will be incredulous

They act so pious - they SEEM delighted to learn about me - ACT like a righteous nation - pretending they want to be near me.

We have fasted...why aren't you impressed. We've been hard on ourselves and you don't even notice.

You fast and do all the religious stuff but then go about your every day life doing all kinds of things that are wrong. This is what religion does: Do all the right religious things trying to get God to notice and come through for us. Then go on about our day and disregard God in how we treat people, how we spend money etc.

God warns them and us not to imagine we can do all our spiritual practices separate from our every day lives. Don't imagine that it's all well and good to go to church, small group, fast, pray etc. Get up from doing these activities and just go do what we want now that we've done all our religious things.

And don't turn dealing with the poor and oppressed as another religious duty. People do this now and miss the whole point Isaiah is making. They go out and do their justice and compassion ministry and think "O good, I've done my duty. Now I can do what I want" with little or no thought to living a God honoring, God glorifying kind of life.

Bad things happen to good people...

2009-07-07T08:22:00.000-07:00

It's the age old inescapable question that haunts every strata of society: Why do bad things happen to good people?

Keller has a lot on this in Reason for God. Others have written brilliantly. One of the best responses to this question came from a conference book: The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World. Not sure who said it but the speaker/writer countered back with something like this: I'll answer that if you can answer for me why the God of the Universe didn't kill everyone in our city today for the sin of our actions and our hearts just today. Forget about last week or our cumulative record of sin and idolatry against God.

Interesting thoughts...

However, came across the writings of Isaiah this morning and he wonders why good godly people die before their time - and no one can figure out why. His answer: "No one seems to understand that God is protecting them from the evil to come. For those who follow godly paths will rest in peace when they die."

Maybe it's part of God's sovereign providential care for his people to kill some of us early so that we avoid future catastrophe - and maybe because God knows that it would be better for a particular individual to die now, while a shred of godliness remains, than to drift away completely.

Hmmm!!

Something is Stirring...

2008-07-25T15:15:00.000-07:00

Something is stirring

Reading the book of Luke over and over again, preparing to go through it for our Sunday gatherings starting at the end of 2008. I’m reading it out loud as I walk. Stuff jumps out.

Sometimes it makes sense.

Sometimes it doesn’t.

Sometimes Jesus lays back.

Sometimes he picks a fight.

When you read it out loud, you can’t escape or gloss over it just to get through it. You get surprised all the time. It forces you to climb inside the story.

Like Luke 5.15-16 Jesus is gaining popularity - word is out about this amazing prophet talking about a kingdom. Then Jesus does what we don’t expect him to do and Luke points it out vividly for us: “But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.”

And I’m thinking it may be time to withdraw – for me personally and for our church. Not away in isolation but in greater connection and relationship to God to seek him and to discover more fully his kingdom.

Also reading This Beautiful Mess by McKinley. Confirming some of the thoughts and direction I’ve been pondering.

Stay tuned

America repent? First things first!

2008-06-21T21:53:00.000-07:00

See many YouTube videos, MySpace pages, blogs about the evil in our country and how as a country we need to come back to God. We point to the recent court decision in California on homosexual marriage, the numbers of abortions, the porn industry etc....

But it's so easy for the people of God to call out to the nation to repent, to stand up and point fingers of God's judgment agains sin. And of course if we stand out there calling the nation to repent, then we don't need to look in the mirror and hear the call of God on our lives to repent.

And I'm becoming more convinced that before America comes back to God, America's churches need to come back to God. Not on behalf of America and her sin, but to take a good hard look at ourselves and repent over and over again for our complacency, for our addiction, for our immorality, for our divorces, for our greed and materialism.

I wonder if Jesus is calling out to his church like he did in Laodicea. He's standing outside adnd wants to come back in. It's his church and He wants it back. And this is not just about the liberal and dead churches. So many of us evangelicals with all of our programs, and staff and middle class culture and values... So easy as the conservative slice of the Christian pie to point fingers and call all the liberals and legalists to repent. And miss the fact like the Laodicean church, we think we're rich strong well fed when maybe we're miserable poor blind and naked.

He wants us all to turn to him in repentance. It's interesting that Jesus and John's first messages to their generation when they broke on the scene was, "Repent, the kingdom of God is at hand!" Maybe it's time to start again

Salsa Dancing

2008-06-05T14:10:00.000-07:00

I’m a recovering Baptist. We didn’t dance at all growing up so my feet and my brain are disconnected. They stopped communicating a long time ago!

I’m a terrible dancer.

No matter. I love my wife Denise and she loves to dance, so last Friday night we signed up for salsa dancing lessons.

It all started well. Simple steps: Quick Quick Slow Pause and do it again. Then we had to turn and move our hands and keep in sync with our dance partner.

Somewhere around the 40 minute mark, I hit overload. I was overwhelmed with everything we had learned and we weren’t even to anything cool yet. “I’m never going to get this.” I just gave up and privately swore I would never do this again.

So I sat out for a bit and somewhere in the flashing lights and salsa music blaring out of a speaker, God revealed something so vividly to me.

For the first time in a long time – maybe ever- I knew exactly what it must feel like to be someone beginning to learn the first steps of following Jesus. Overwhelmed, frustrated, wondering if they will EVER get it, if they’ll ever be good enough. And some just figure that there has to be a better way to spend Sunday mornings.

I vowed to always remember what this feels like. And I wanted to pull a few people aside and apologize for how I and others may have overwhelmed them in the early stages of their spiritual journey with Jesus.

It’s so easy once you know the steps that you assume this should be easy for everyone. But we forget we live in a world full of sinners. And in a weird way, their lives and their heart have stopped communicating a long time ago.

So I get up to try again and I have a whole new respect for the courage so many people show who come to church for the first time or who come back after being gone for a while.

American Idol, NBA playoffs and Self (made) righteousness

2008-05-23T07:57:00.000-07:00

Watching American Idol finals...NBA playoffs...all the political primaries... and then this verse Luke 16.15 "What this world honors is detestable in the sight of God." And i was feeling so justified in condemning the values of the world we live in. Felt very good to do that - very satisfied and smug...

Until I read the first part of the verse: "You like to appear righteous in public, but God knows your hearts." And then i didn't feel so smug. I felt a healthy sense of shame for my self righteous attitude and for the sin of self-made righteousness that can be so prevalant in my life and in our culture. People doing all kinds of good things to make themselves righteous, especially when compared to others less righteous. I'm tempted to list out people like this, names so many would recognize, except that then I fall right into that self righteous attitude and the action of making myself righteous before God by what I do.

And in the midst of all this, I came across a great song by a guy named Keith Green - a pioneer in Christian music in the 70s and 80s. He used his gifts to speak prophetically to believers in Jesus. The song is Grace By Which I Stand. The song preaches the message that nothing lasts except the grace of God by which we stand in Jesus.

And once again, I'm brought back to the cross and the amazing truth of God's unfathomable grace. And that I don't have a chance with God except for the grace he extends to me in Jesus. His grace covers everything. His grace saves me from myself - and my self (made) righteousness- unless I hold onto it. Then God's grace is diminished and without any effect in my life.

And that's why Jesus says that what the world values is detestable in the sight of God. Because when i value my self-made righteousness, I disrespect and diminish the grace of God in Jesus. I want to live with Biblical passion and focus in my life: "As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified and the world's interest in me has also died."

NO TV

2007-10-24T21:25:00.000-07:00

So what do you do when the satellite goes offline and you don't have TV??!!??

No World Series tonight - No Office, Survivor, Dancing With The Stars (my wife Denise loves the show) - no football at all this week.

Gives you more time to think...

The fires have devastated so many lives and disrupted life as we know it. We were in between the worst of the fires. All we got was a little smoke and some nervous afternoons looking out at the hills wondering if the wind would shift.

How do you pray at a time like this? "What do your pray?" is maybe the bigger question. I prayed for rain - for the wind to stop. I prayed that people would pay attention and not exhibit stupidity and false bravado. and then tonight while i was walking the dogs i silently wondered to God how he might be honored and glorified in the midst of all the chaos and destruction. And I prayed in particular for the people who follow Jesus (Christians) who are and will be involved in helping people. For the firefighters that God would keep them safe, that the ones who have to make difficult decisions about deployment of men and women and equipment. I prayed for the Christian insurance agents, for the Red Cross workers and all the volunteers who are serving. I thought about and prayed for the people in our local, state and federal government who have to make difficult decisions about how and where the limited money will be allocated.

And then i thought of the families who lost homes in these fires. Of course i pray for quick action and for their comfort and safety. But my biggest prayers have been that they would respond in such a God honoring way - that the people of these cities would maybe see a compelling difference in how people who say they follow Jesus (the one who lived and died and rose again, who we say reigns as King and Lord over the universe) actually respond to tragedy and loss like this.

And then i pray that the winds stay down, that the rain will fall and that the rebuilding will begin quickly.

And my satellite TV still isn't on yet. It will probably come on just about the time i've weaned myself off of it - just in time to get addicted again!!

Another One Bites the Dust(?)

2006-11-03T16:50:00.000-08:00

Ted Haggard, an important evangelical leader in our country has been accused of drug use and homosexual activity. Click here to read more of the story: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20061103-0639-haggard-sexallegations.html

Perhaps you’re disconnected enough from the Christian religious-political scene that this won’t even mean that much to you. You’re one of the lucky ones.

We don’t know all the details yet. Keep that in mind.

But it probably doesn’t matter, because it seems there’s enough smoke to make most of us think that there’s got to be a fire there somewhere. This isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last. I’m to the point now that I don’t think I could be shocked (surprised, yes but not shocked) by any revelation of any high profile Christian leader who has screwed up in a major way.

It got me to thinking though, that in this case at least, the leaders are taking swift, decisive and measured action to deal with it. It’s exactly how Paul tells Timothy and us to deal with spiritual leaders who sin in 1 Timothy 5.19-20 “Do not listen to complaints against an elder unless there are two or three witnesses to accuse him. Anyone (read elders and spiritual leaders) who sins should be rebuked in front of the whole church so that others will have a proper fear of God”

When it comes to spiritual leaders who screw up, we’re not to sweep it under the rug and keep it quiet. And yet that’s often what happens for all kinds of reasons. The one most often used is “to protect the flock”. We don’t want to hurt people or the church (usually that means we don’t want people who give money to the church to leave). And yet in our efforts to protect the church, we allow spiritual cancer and a virus in that often has devastating consequences for the long term health and future of the church.

I’ve told our leaders at Inland Valley Church that if they ever get involved in high handed sin we will not sweep it under the rug but will make sure everyone in our church knows who was involved and appropriate (not graphic) details will be shared.

What’s amazing is that when you deal with it like this, people often have a greater respect for the leadership. While the church always suffers during these episodes, sin is dealt with and the church can move on.

Ever just felt Blahh?

2006-11-02T10:03:00.000-08:00

What does it feel like when you just don't feel anything?
Is there something I'm doing that's wrong?
Is it stress?
Am I over caffienated, under caffienated?
Do I watch too much TV - LOST Survivor, Dancing With the Stars (my wife tries to make me watch it with her)... 24 and American Idol haven't even started yet!!

One of the things I pray for during these kinds of seasons is for clarity and discernment - I ask God to show me if there's something there I should be paying attention to. And then I try to just sit and listen - sometimes I write in my journal to process impressions God may be giving me.

And the journey continues...

VAMPIRE CHRISTIANS

2006-10-11T17:13:00.001-07:00

Sometimes people think they can be Vampire Christians - want a little of Jesus blood to get them eternal life. But really not that interested in having his character or doing what he says no matter what. "Thank you for what you did for me, but now I need to get on with my life - I'll see you in heaven!"

From Divine Omission

Dallas Willard

Jesus - the biggest joke or the biggest deal ever

2006-10-03T08:16:00.000-07:00

Reading in Simply Christian by NT Wright
Talking about Jesus
The death of Jesus of Nazareth as the king of the Jews, the bearer of Israel's destiny, the fulfillment of God's promises to his people of old, is either the most stupid, senseless waste and misunderstanding the world has ever seen or it is the fulcrum around which world history turns.
Christianity is based on the belief that it was and is the latter.

Click here to find it on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Simply-Christian-Christianity-Makes-Sense/dp/0060507152/sr=1-1/qid=1159888309/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-3197992-0905734?ie=UTF8&s=books

God trickles through... again!

2006-09-23T21:58:00.000-07:00

Someone in our church emailed this to me this week. I've edited some of the details in order to honor their request for anonymity. It's a great story about someone taking the challenge to get in the boat when it came to their finances. I love it because they didn't get a whole boat load of "fish" at the end. They got enough to take care of things for this pay period. But I'm giving away too much.

I just wanted to share something kind of cool that happened recently. When we met four months ago or so to discuss the church’s finances and tithing, you had us fill out a little questionnaire to make us really look at where we were in our giving. At the time, I thought, “well yeah, I give ten percent of my earnings, and I even try to give extra for special ministries that come up if I can.” That evening you issued us a challenge to honestly try to tithe that ten percent for at least three months and see where it took us. Normally I would write checks based off what my estimate of what our monthly income was and, if it was very tight, I would only tithe off of my income and not include my husband's. I always felt weird about doing that because our finances are mixed together and when we truly do live by the concept of “what’s mine is yours” I felt that it was wrong to separate them (in my mind) in order to tithe. So I took you up on your challenge and I really had to re-evaluate how honest I was in my initial response. Every paycheck I have made it a point to make sure I was really giving a full tenth from our combined income. I’m not about to tell you that we won the lottery or money fell out of the sky. But I do want to just point out one of the small ways that God shows me that He is always taking care of us and that He is faithful to His children.

Since I’ve left my part-time job to be home with the kids and pursue a home business, finances have been (to put it lightly) tight. Yesterday afternoon, after receiving my husband's check, I pulled out the portion to set aside for tithing, $110. I finished paying the bills and, as often is the case, that left us with a zero balance. I was thinking, “Okay Lord, you know we need groceries...but I trust you...” It is always so tempting to think of how else that ten percent can be spent! Later that evening, I got a call from someone who needed my services from my home business. I told her what the fee was and she said, “Okay, so that would make my total $110. Do you take checks?” I was so humbled by my frustration earlier that day. I stopped at the grocery store on my way home from her house.

I know this isn’t a big story with a grand ending but it was enough to remind me who’s in charge. It’s also another lesson to me about waiting for God’s timing and not my own. So often I wonder why I struggle financially when I feel like I’m doing “the right” things. But I really feel like God just shows me that the more I submit to Him and the more I humble myself, the more He will trickle out the blessings. And so, I will continue to take your challenge and wait for the next “trickle”.

Jesus - a terrorist threat? hmm...

2006-09-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

Very excited about the rest of the year - our teaching series will be in the gospels mainly Mark. So how do you get to heaven anyway? This rich guy asks Jesus about that one day. Jesus answer is both abrupt, provocative, and pretty rude. That's what I love about Jesus. When you strip away all the facelifts and makeoverswe've given him over the centuries and just get after how the Bible presents him, you get a disturbing, amazing, stress you out person. It struck me the other day that they don't hunt down, arrest, trump up charges and execute religious figures because they're a little unique or provocative. You only arrest and kill people who are a threat to you and to your way of life. I'm not saying Jesus is a terrorist but you have to wonder if that's exactly how the leadership perceived him - someone who was popular with the people and who had galvanized enough support to be a serious threat.
Makes me wonder if i really get what it means to follow him...

Getting Started

2006-09-22T13:21:00.000-07:00

Reading a great little book called Simply Christian. It articulates the basic simple truth of what it means to be a Christian - and it does it in a profoundly simple manner. I hate books that everyone says are deep and insightful only because really really reeeeeealy smart people understand them.