Caring for One Another

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It’s been a few weeks since my last post, and there are a few things that I’ve had stored up to share. I have planned on writing each of the last few weeks, but inevitably something came up that kept me away from the keyboard. Today, I’m finally able to get some things down. I hope these things will inform and encourage you.

Care for Our Pastors/Teachers

I want to highlight a particular area in the leadership of our church that doesn’t get talked about publicly very often. It’s the care for our pastors/teachers. By care, I mean genuine concern for the well-being and souls of the men who lead and teach us. Let me highlight some of these moments for you from the last several weeks.

In Sunday’s sermon, I mentioned a battle with discouragement that I’ve had lately. It’s been ongoing since about February. I had a tough time shaking it. I’m not easily discouraged, nor am I prone to being melancholy. But this season of my life was different. I couldn’t get a handle on it. I was in God’s word, having good open prayer times with the Lord, my marriage was wonderful, and my kids were thriving. Our church is growing, people are sharing the gospel, souls are being converted, and all signs are pointed up. Baseball was going well, and I enjoyed my time on the field. But I couldn’t shake the darkness. Finally, about 2 months ago, Jill asked me to talk with our elders about it. So, I shared with them what was happening in our April care group. The good thing, none of them noticed a drop in my spirit or my job performance. The better thing is…these couples cared for my soul by asking great questions, encouraging me, and praying with us. But what followed shows the care of these leaders: each of them, separately, in their own way, sent me messages. One, with a request to meet for lunch to listen to me. Another, with a word of encouragement and a reminder that they were praying for me. Another wondered if a medical physical or blood work would help to see if something medical might be happening. Another voiced support and a willingness to take extra work off my plate—another one with counsel on battling discouragement. And finally, another one pastored me with a word about patience and trusting the Lord. Each elder, in their way, served my soul well. They were more than elders; they were friends. The result has been that I’ve been able to see what the ‘rub’ was, and we have been able to start making some adjustments.

Another example of the care for our pastors/teachers happened last Sunday, June 4th. Some of you will remember that Stan Welch preached from Matthew 6. He did a great job. But what you don’t know is what went into that. Dave Quilla was scheduled to preach and kick off our Summer Psalms series. But when Dave and Pam returned from a trip he took in May, they came home to some serious challenges with Pam’s parents’ health. Dave was scheduled to leave for Amman, Jordan, on June 6th and had prepped for June 4th. But after Dave talked with a couple of our pastors about their family situation, we asked Dave if it would serve him not to preach on June 4th, and he acknowledged that it would. Enter Stan. When I texted Stan and told him the situation, he jumped at the chance to serve Dave and our church. Having Dave take that Sunday off from preaching allowed him and Pam to care for her parents and allowed Dave to be fully prepared for Jordan.

I highlight these to help you see that our leaders take ‘caring for souls’ seriously and do it very well. These men serve joyfully, graciously, and with Christ’s heart for his church. These two examples help you see that they are not ‘lords’ but servants (1 Peter 5), and they do this willingly. I’m very grateful for their care.

The Church is the People, Not the Building

That leads me to another example of their care. Over the past few months, we have heard from many in the church who have expressed concern about CLF losing our ‘identity’ as we grow. They’re not bothered by the growth; they thank God for it. But they’re concerned because of past experiences they have had in other churches and have asked several questions about what we believe the Lord is doing in our midst. They’re concerned that the genuine love and care they feel at CLF and for CLF might wane. They’re concerned that people could get lost in the shuffle as things get big. They’re concerned that pursuing a new building might take our eyes off our people. All valid concerns, and we’re grateful that people have shared these things with us.

Our leaders have voiced similar concerns, and we’ve also felt these concerns in the church. We have thought through these things and have asked the Lord to give us wisdom. And here are a few things we’ve noticed:

We’ve done little things that might’ve unintentionally given off the impression that a new building is more important than our people. One example of this is taking our budgetary operating reserves (undesignated money that is above and beyond what we need for our ministry budget) and putting that in the building fund rather than in training leaders to care for more people, events that might encourage our folks, or hiring pastors or staff to help.
The move to Jacoby has exposed some ‘organizational’ weaknesses in CLF. There are lots of things that are ‘undone’ or lots of ‘loose ends’ that need to be tied up. This lack of structure can leave people hanging without direction and thus feel uncared for. Good ‘trellis’ allows for more ‘vine’ growth. So, we need to shore up our trellis.
As the church has grown, it feels like ministries and ministry teams are ‘1000 islands’ (not the salad dressing). There’s a bit of a disconnect between our ministries and teams in community life and mission.

There are more examples of what we’ve seen, but let me tell you what we believe the Lord is stirring in us. First, we want this to be very clear: we believe that we do need a new building. But our number one priority is the people of CLF. And that it’s our joy to serve our people. Our elders believe that if we went to heaven and never built a building but cared for the people of CLF with Christ’s heart, we would have done our jobs. But, if we built a building and leave caring for our people behind, we will meet a strict judgment from the Lord. All of us want to care for the people of the church, and we want to do this with excellence and joy. Further, we believe this is not an ‘either/or’ proposition. Either the people or the building and vice-versa. But, we are convinced that care for souls is the priority. The Lord is the One who will provide for the need of the building as we care for souls properly. Second, in the coming weeks, you will hear about how we are restructuring some things on our staff. The sole purpose of this is to provide more excellent care and support to the trellis of the church so that greater vine growth can happen. We need ‘organizational ‘clarity to help the ‘organic’ life flourish even more. Finally, you will also hear about some movement about the building and property. We are at the backend of some long discussions that, Lord willing, we will have clarity about soon. But that does not preclude what I just mentioned. The talk of the building must be seen in the light of caring for souls.

You may ask, “What’s my role on Sunday mornings?” This is a wonderful blog post that I read that will encourage “The Ministry of the Pew”: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-ministry-of-the-pew

This Coming Sunday

This Sunday, June 18th, we will look at Psalm 56. Our service will be at 10:00 a.m. at Jacoby Auditorium on the campus of Umpqua Community College.

Church Locations in the Upcoming Weeks

June 18th: Jacoby Auditorium at 10:00 a.m.
June 25th: Jacoby Auditorium at 10:00 a.m.
July 2nd: Jacoby Auditorium at 10:00 a.m.
July 9th: Jacoby Auditorium at 10:00 a.m.
July 16th: Amphitheater at UCC or CLF. We’re still working on this one.
July 23rd: One Champion Field at 10:00 a.m.

From the Cheap Seats

They did it! Manchester City won the Treble: Premier League, FA Cup, and the long sought-after Champions League. What a season!
Oklahoma University softball team just won their 3rd straight National Championship. This season they won 53 games in a row. They were under intense pressure yet played the game with absolute joy and freedom. Watch this interview to hear them share why they can do that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVRGIfMEDIU. You won’t be disappointed.
This is the video I referenced Sunday about Karim Benzema of Real Madrid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW_Q2OB5VUI. Watch the joy he plays with. And ask yourself this question: shouldn’t this be how Christians live daily?
Fun but sad fact…if Dallas Baptist had beaten Oral Roberts in the Regional last week, they would’ve played in Eugene. DBU is my alma mater. But they didn’t…and now Oral Roberts is off to Omaha. Unreal.
The College World Baseball tournament and the College World Series are unreal. While they’re not the ‘one and done’ format of March Madness, there is some phenomenal baseball played and unbelievable games.