August 19th, 2010 by Tim Moore

People often look to the top leader in any organization for vision.  As a lead pastor, that is one of my primary roles for the church I lead.  I am expected to receive vision from God and then cast it to the church.  But one thing I’m learning as I grow as a visionary is that I must IMPART vision and not simply CAST it.

Casting is a fishing term.  It’s when you throw a line out in the water with hopes that a fish will take the hook.  When I was a kid, my older brother used to take me fishing.  He loved it…I hated it.  It was incredible lifeless, especially when the fish weren’t biting (which was most of the time).  I think I’m too ADD for fishing.

The difference between casting and imparting is paramount.

Anyone can CAST a vision, but not anyone can IMPART one.  To impart is to take part of something in you and put it in someone else.   To do this the vision must be genuine and really IN you.

I went through a 6 month period of time when I was so desperate for God’s vision for our church that I fasted and prayed almost every day for it.  I lost about 25 pounds that year through much angst and internal termoil.  I was so desperate to see a clear vision from God or I was going to quit the ministry.  I remember praying, “God if something doesn’t change within a year…I’m done.”  Through that broken experience God ignited a red-hot vision INSIDE of me.  It wasn’t really any different from the vision we set out to accomplish, but rather it was now alive in me.

It can be so easy for a pastor to grab another person’s vision and try to cast it in his church.  I have seen that fail.  But if you own it, believe it, and truly receive it from God, then it will come out of you with fervor and zeal.  It won’t be a lifeless cast, but something communicated with passion and desperation.

People want an inspiring vision to follow.  People want to be part of something bigger than themselves.  Yet many are not inspired because they are given diagrams and 5 year plans on paper rather than receiving the vision through impartation.

If you want people to truly be passionate about your vision, impart it don’t just cast it.

August 18th, 2010 by Tim Moore

The idea of being a leader has a nice ring to it.  Many want the recognition and title, yet few realize the sacrifice.  Being a leader is not always as glamorous as it sounds.  Here’s how it plays out in church ministry for me or many of my leaders.

• When major decisions have to be made, we have to give up evenings to get together and it affects our time with our families.
• When people are having a crisis in their life, we have to adjust our schedules to make time for them.
• When hard things need to be said, we get to say it.
• When challenges are brought to the church, we have already faced them and responded.
• When we ask people to give to a vision opportunity, we feel the need to give on a greater level.
• When we try something and it fails, we must humbly admit it.
• When we see something lacking in God’s church, we carry a burden for it.
• When we stand before God we have to give an account not just for ourselves but also for those we lead.

You see, being a leader even in a church setting sounds great.  People joke about pastors only working 1 day a week.  As if the rest of the week they get to play golf or sit by the pool.  Many do not know the burden and sacrifice that comes with ministry.

You want to know the truth?  Being a leader is a sacrifice that few are willing to pay.  In fact, the Bible discourages people who want to lead for the wrong motives.

James 3:1 says, “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.”

It is often easy to criticize and pick apart people in leadership positions.  The next time you think negative thoughts about the people leading you, I would encourage you to pause for a moment and thank God that someone is willing to sacrifice a lot for you.  They may not always get it right, but they give up a lot trying.

To all of my leaders…I honor you for the sacrifice you have made for this church and for me.  Thanks for being willing to give up so others can grow up in Christ.

August 17th, 2010 by Tim Moore

This past weekend, we launched a new series called “LeaderSheep”.  Yes, it’s a play on words and obviously it’s about leadership.  I thought in the spirit of this new series, that I would take some time this week to share some leadership principles that may help those of you in leadership roles.  Whether you are a teacher, supervisor, CFO or a parent, we all can develop and grow more as an effective leader.

Today I just want to recap some of the things that I preached on this past weekend regarding LeaderSheep.

• Most sheep are followers.  But there is a breed of sheep known as Leader Sheep.  They have instinctive abilities to lead other sheep.
• I really did try to fill our church with real sheep.  Still waiting for someone to bring us a bunch of them!
• I believe all of us can be transformed from Ordinary Sheep into Leader Sheep.
• I shared this important thought:  Why is it that when it rains…sheep don’t shrink?
• Spoke from Romans 12:1-2 which says that our reasonable response to God’s mercy is to NOT conform to the patterns of this world.
• Some of the patterns I shared probably ruffled a few feathers.  (Like the ones about love and marriage)
• I don’t believe we should ever compare the most important human relationship (Marriage) God gave us to buying a stupid car.
• If you think you should “try it before you buy it” by having sex or living with your boyfriend or girlfriend before marriage you follow a pattern of this world.
• Yes, I spoke directly to students this week about keeping your pants on.
• We cannot transform ourselves…only God can do it.
• God WILL transform our minds when we are willing to get on the altar and be a living sacrifice for him.
• That means when we hear His Word and read it, we must RESPOND.
• Most Christians want to know what God’s will is for their lives.  You can only discover it when you surrender to Him and become a living sacrifice.

I truly believe that everyone that knows Christ has been transformed into a LeaderSheep.  God wants to conform you into the image of his Son rather than you conforming to the world around you.

August 12th, 2010 by Tim Moore

To build on what was said on yesterday’s post, I believe that one of the surest ways to silence your critics is not with words.  It’s not “telling them the truth” so they will believe you or even like you.  In fact, if you go there you will most likely end up in a war of words.  That is usually never a great reflection of Christ.

Instead, I believe one of the greatest ways to silence your critics is with fruit.  (No, I’m not talking about sending them a fruit basket!)  In other words, prove them wrong by the fruit of your life or ministry.

In Matthew 7, Jesus was talking in his Sermon on the Mount about false prophets, people in the church that look religious but really are lost.  Many of the false prophets work hard to slander and destroy that which God is doing.  You could say they will be very critical of those who are truly serving God.  Jesus said “by their fruit you will recognize them…every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit”. (See Matthew 7:15-20)

If what you are doing is truly inspired by God and done with the right motives, I believe God will bless it.  The fruit or results of your life and ministry will speak for you.

It might be hard to stay quiet and allow the fruit of your life to speak because you’ll naturally want to defend your name.  But in the end, results speak louder than words.

Bear good fruit and you will silence your critics.

August 11th, 2010 by Tim Moore

No one likes to have critics.  Their words often hurt us emotionally even if we don’t show it.  I have experienced my share of criticism for leading Crossroads.  But what I didn’t expect was the natural desire in me to silence my critics.  I have at times wanted so badly to blast someone back or blog about their remarks or in some what “make it right” by me.

The other day I was reading from 2 Samuel 16, when King David fled the city because he was afraid that his son Absalom was going to take over the throne.  As David and his guys were riding away a man from Saul’s family, Shimei, came out cursing David and his men and threw rocks at them. (2 Samuel 16:5-14)

David had the power to take this guy out.  In fact, one of David’s men asked if he could go cut of his head.  David told him not to do it.

I was blown away by David’s lack of reaction.  I think I might have let the soldier take his head off.  But David let Shimei curse and criticize and simply went on his way.

He ignored his critic, he didn’t make him shut up.

There is something about taking the high road that is painful to do.  Perhaps the greatest example of this is Jesus when he was falsely accused before being crucified.  He simply stayed quiet.

Maybe a lesson to be learned is that if we are going to remain focused on what God has called us to do we must not stoop to a critics level or we will lose altitude.

August 4th, 2010 by Tim Moore

I think sometimes it is easier for us to invest in a system rather than in people.  It’s less complicated to create a uniform system where everyone is recruited, given a handbook and told how to operate.  But we have seen the limitations of systems in the church.  Sometimes they help, but other times they can actually hinder.

The church is in the PEOPLE business.  We are called to reach PEOPLE with the Gospel.  We want to see PEOPLE get on the path to God.  So we’ve decided to invest in our people rather than any curriculum.

I believe that if we can equip and train leaders how to care for and lead a smaller group within the church, that our entire church will grow spiritually.  So we are taking many steps to find and invest in new leaders.

Here are some of the things we are doing for the leaders:

1. Walking them through an application process.  (This can be started on the web, but it will finish with the personal help of our ccGroup leaders)
2. Our ccGroup leaders are making themselves available to meet one-on-one with leaders if the situations calls for it.
3. Offer up regular training sessions for anyone who wants to lead a ccGroup to give them the tools to do it well.  I believe the first scheduled training is August 11th.  Contact Mike McCoy for details.
4. We want to regularly bring leaders together to share ideas and continue to provide them with tool for leadership.
5. We are doing a series coming up to raise the bar of leadership within our entire church.

Jesus took 12 young guys who had nothing to do with ministry and turned them into leaders who changed the world (okay 11 of them).  He invested the majority of his time into those guys.  We want to do the same thing.  We are investing in our leaders!

July 21st, 2010 by Tim Moore

Anyone who knows me well, knows I don’t like the word “Christian”. Especially when over 80% of our country at one point considered themselves Christians. I have an entire message series I’m going to preach on “How to NOT become a Christian”.

My problem is that our definition of Christianity doesn’t really fit well with what Jesus said. For most churched people in America, Christianity is a religion that defines where you attend church on Sunday. It is simply a label that when applied makes someone feel better about their chances of getting into heaven.

Jesus said… (I’m paraphrasing)

[Luke 9:23] If you want to follow me, pick up your cross daily. (Not many want to sacrifice their time or money to be used for God’s Kingdom)
[John 14:15] If you love me, you’ll do what I ask. (Most people ignore Jesus commands if they are hard to do)
[Luke 9:26] If you are embarrassed about me, I will be about you. (Many Christians never invite ANYONE to church)
[John 15:16] I have called you and appointed you to bear fruit. (Most are satisfied with simply attending church rather than being the church)

I’ll be honest…sometimes I wonder how many true Christ-followers there really are in the Church. As a pastor, it bothers me that I can’t make people or even convince them to TRULY give their lives to Jesus. Perhaps that’s because it can’t be faked. Either Christ has really done a new work in your life or it is all a show. And if it is…that won’t go well. [Matt 7:21]

I can promise you that I will always call for a higher level of commitment than what we have now. I want to stand before God at the end of my life and know that I did all I could to lead people to truly follow Jesus.

July 14th, 2010 by Tim Moore

I have found it is often hard to plan inspirational or creative moments. I have weekly creative meeting to do just this for our weekend experiences. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it seems you come away feeling you exhausted your time and efforts with little to show for it.

It’s odd, but sometimes the most inspiring and creative ideas come to me at the weirdest times. I could be mowing the grass or riding along in the car when a creative message idea pops into my brain. It stews around in my mind for a bit and I think, “This would be a great way to preach on…” or “This would be a great illustration to present this biblical concept.”

Unfortunately, what so many of us do, including myself, is we don’t capture the creative moment. We then get distracted by the next thought and a few hours later we struggle to remember what inspired us. I have forgotten so many thoughts or ways to communicate something perhaps God wanted me to express.

For the past few months, I have determined NOT to let those thoughts or creative sparks get away. I usually get out my phone and email myself my ideas or I write them down in a notebook I keep with me. I do what I can to capture the feeling and message I’m downloading.

Recently, I came across this post from Steven Furtick that really confirmed the need to capture these moments. What challenged me was the emphasis he put on the “responsibility” we have to God for what he inspires in us.

Do you have a plan to capture creative thoughts your Creator is giving you? It could be a business idea or something to share with your family. Keep some small notebooks around or use an electronic device to capture your creative moments.

July 8th, 2010 by Tim Moore

Where is the line between faith and responsibility drawn? Let me explain…

We should live our lives as Christ-followers filled with faith. Faith is when you ACT on something you believe will happen based on the evidence and character of God. When I went full time into ministry – it was a step of faith. I had never done it before and was leaving a great paying job with good benefits. When our church bought our 21+ acres and re-launched in Lithopolis – it was a huge step of faith. We invested every dime into this one step because we believed it was God’s plan. We have and will continue to take bold steps of faith as a church.

Sometimes those steps might look irresponsible to someone looking in from the outside. If they didn’t know the faith God put in my heart to do them, they would think those moves were crazy and maybe irresponsible.

With that being said, I didn’t do those things alone. There were others who through counsel and prayer also felt we should do those things. I think there is a level of irresponsibility we can have when it comes to “taking a step of faith” if we do not seek counsel from others.

Proverbs 11:14
Without wise leadership, a nation falls;
there is safety in having many advisers.

If you feel the urge to attempt something that requires faith…GREAT! That is probably a God size dream he is putting in you to chase. But, sometimes we have the urgency to act on the emotion of that feeling rather than the surety of the call.

Before you sell your house and leave your job, be responsible and invite godly men and women you trust into your life and plans. If it is really from God, they will stand with you and support you. If it is not, they may save you from making a horrible mistake!

More to come on this topic…

June 17th, 2010 by Tim Moore

I am the type of person that needs and wants to be inspired. I don’t like preaching a message if I don’t feel inspired by it. I want to be inspired and inspiring to others in all that I do. But sometimes, I don’t feel inspired.

This might be you right now. Maybe you have a lack of inspiration for your marriage, or your finances or your career. Perhaps you have a lack of inspiration for the ministry God has called you to lead. What do you do when you feel a lack of inspiration? You could do what most people do…quit!

This is why many pastors leave the ministry. They don’t feel inspired to be there anymore so they quit. This is also why so many people in the church quit leading an area of ministry, because they aren’t “feeling it” anymore. But what we must realize is that our “calling” is not always connected to our “level of inspiration”.

I have those moments of feeling totally uninspired. But I don’t think about quitting…I think “where can I borrow inspiration from?”

When I feel uninspired, I stop what I’m doing and take a walk and simply talk to God. At other times I will just read chapter after chapter in the Bible seeking inspiration. Another way I often get inspired is by listening to other preachers. Believe it or not, you can borrow inspiration from other sources. You’re never too good that you won’t need to be inspired.