Article

My words and actions tried to veil the desires of my heart: that God would make my ministry dreams come true.

The Bible tells us we are to set our minds on the things above, not on things on earth (Colossians 3:2). That doesn’t mean that we ignore the realities of life in our world. But it means that we develop a mindset that puts the pain of this life in an eternal perspective. It means we learn to look at the struggles of this life, as painful and as real as they might be for us as “light and momentary afflictions” that are producing in us “an eternal weight of glory.”

There are a a lot of things to avoid when planting a church. Usually you don't see them except in hindsight. Here are five such things.

You often hear about trying to maintain balance between home and work or leisure and family. That balance is usually measured by time invested. I have come to believe that trying to maintain balance in this way is actually counterproductive. You really can’t compensate by making up time for relational neglect or a lack of priorities. A friend and I were talking about challenges of balance recently and he said if you put your head in the oven and your feet in the freezer your average temperature might be okay, but the damage at the extremes will be substantial. Running hot and cold in a marriage is not healthy or sustainable. So, what should replace this balancing act? I would like to suggest we give up balance and go for healthy rhythms.

The strength, unity, and integrity of an elder plurality infuses the church with vitality and sustainability.