3M’s – Message, Music, & Munchkins
I was recently asked to give the top 3 things that were my priorities in ministry. After thinking about it there are three things I’d die for – battles that I’m willing to fight for in church work and they go like this:
- Message – biblical and relevant
- Music – contemporary and passionate
- Munchkins – excellent children’s ministry, the best hour of their week
These priorities indicate a lot about my perspective on those things that are impossible for a church to ignore or overlook. I think these three things have the power to transform an unchurched/dechurched person from jaded or lost in the mix to someone that has an opportunity to explore the claims of Christ.
Isn’t that why we exist in the first place? Andy Stanley says, “The Church is a family expecting guests in their home.”
Guests deserve our best message, music, and care for their munchkins every Sunday. The way I like to frame it is that our facility and our friendliness needs to have the attitude that Jesus is walking in through our doors every week, because His guests certainly are.
So put on those winning smiles I see so many Sundays, get those hands out of your pocket, and welcome everyone with a simple thought in the back of your mind, “God loves you and so do I!”
-Pastor Clark
2:00 am and driving to a hospital
The pastor that helped me begin to follow Jesus Christ, baptized me, taught me to golf, preached at my ordination and wedding, and mentored me through my early years in ministry died recently from complications with a brain tumor.
Phil embodied to me the calling of a pastor and the desire to pursue God in all things. As I drove home at around 2:45 am this morning from the hospital it was Phil I remembered teaching me about the life of a pastor. He told me to never be surprised when in the middle of the night I’d be called upon to offer comfort, hope, and peace to a family in crisis.
I was reminded of Matthew 18:19-20 as our small group huddled in prayer in the ER, “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” NIV
Phil exemplified a simple life of prayer and care as a pastor. It was evident in his prayers and his leadership that he was not an angry man but rather a determined person seeking to walk in the presence of God as he did his best to shine the light of Christ into the dark times of our lives.
Perhaps the most telling thing Phil taught me was by an action where he didn’t say a word. When my grandfather died while I was a teenager at youth camp, Phil drove 6 hours roundtrip to stand in the back of the crowded room in a little Nazarene church. I didn’t see Phil to talk to him that day…his presence spoke volumes.
-Pastor Clark
Bowled over
Wendy, the boys, and I embarked on a new adventure this past Sunday as we were welcomed to our new church home in Edmond at Coffee Creek Baptist Church.
Something more and more rare in ministry, this church took great care of us as we transitioned to their ministry. We were welcomed with a luncheon and honored with an overflowing table of food and other staples for our new home. Stephen and Sam were remembered with fun toys which they immediately tore into.
We greatly appreciate the honor our new church family has given us and how they’ve made every step of the way thus far so extremely pain-free and easy even in the midst of the hustle and bustle of moving with toddlers!
I recall the text in 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13, “Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other.” TNIV
We definitely are blessed to have a church family that is living out this philosophy! Thanks for the great welcome Coffee Creek – we’re excited about what God is doing in our midst!
The Problem of Default
Default. It’s so incredibly boring.
Fire up your favorite desktop publisher, word processor, or presentation software. Select “default” for everything and see what you get. Rubbish.
That’s because default is easy, known, and standard. Of course it’s not always the best solution, but it’s certainly easier than having to think, be creative, and ask questions.
Dictionary.com says default means, “a course of action that a program or operating system will take, when the user or programmer specifies no overriding value or action.”
So basically when I choose default, I’m a robot, and automaton. I make no decision other than what the computer tells me is best. Why think? It’s done for me.
Default is boring, repetitive, and unhelpful in nearly every application because it doesn’t care what the end result is, it simply follows the path of least resistance.
The opposite of default?
“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:8 ESV
Asking the tough questions
An increasing trend among my fellow pastors on facebook is the collaboration during message preparation. Often I’m the one asking for help with a text or thoughts on an illustration.
This week a friend posted a need for info on the topic of the “uniqueness of Jesus” in the context of faith. I offered my humble and probably insufficient words but as others add to it one has several thoughtful beginning points.
I wonder how many messages could be improved by use of other ideas, research, and viewpoints if we all took time each week to ask the tough questions?
I’ll be honest many times my in-depth study is frustrating as the more I study the more questions I have. Sometimes Sunday creeps up and I’m still mid-struggle and up to my ears in research without a clear victor.
That’s why you’ll hear me offer options and sometimes say, “I don’t know” – because the simple fact is as I approach the interpretive task many times the questions are haunting.
However I don’t see the message as a mountain-top experience – it’s just another step on the journey, another opportunity for us to talk about what it looks like to try to describe the undescribable.
Sometimes in my life I’ve been afraid to ask the tough questions – it seemed easier to just bury my head in the sand and pretend they didn’t exist. I’m sure I could have done much more good by authentically trying to answer those questions – even when the answers might never come.
Clive Staples Lewis once wrote, “We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.”
Are you ready to ask the tough questions? What if doing so meant “loosing” some things that you’d “bound”?
About
Clark Frailey is a husband, father, and Lead Pastor of Coffee Creek Baptist Church in Edmond, Oklahoma.
clarkfrailey.com
