dashboard indicators

I attended our annual district conference this past Monday where elections took place and awards were handed out to pastors and churches who were meeting the “dashboard indicators” for successful ministry as defined by our leadership. They are as follows…

• A 10% or more gain in morning worship attendance
• Reported conversions
• 100% payment of USF/EIF District Assessment
• Submitted reports on time

We did not win an award this year, but here are some “dashboard indicators” of the health of our church:

• We have experienced miraculous answers to prayers in the last month. Last Wednesday a man in our church asked prayer for his mom who had a hole in her eye and needed surgery. The next day after we prayed for her, the doctor examined her and said it looked as if the surgery had already been done!
• This same man had his health insurance canceled and he needs weekly injections that cost thousands of dollars. Myself and one of our leaders laid hands on him right there in the parking lot and prayed for God’s intervention. The next day this man excitedly called me and told me the insurance agency called him out of the blue (after months of haggling) and told him that his insurance was being reinstated!
• A man from our church had is appendix burst. Noralee and I went and visited him two days later and he was very sick. He was very weak and throwing up from an infection. Noralee and I prayed for him and we were told that forty five minutes later he was walking around the hospital talking to everybody, smiling, and eating solid food!
• Our first small group that we started back in January is humming!! We are further along in six months here than I was in two years with my group I led in New York, in terms of openness, hunger, and connecting. You can literally see the people’s growth right in front of your eyes.
• We have fed nearly 150 families through our monthly Samaritan’s Cupboard ministry. The Gospel is being shared and people’s needs are being met.

As frustrating as this ministry position can be, Noralee and I feel that God is using us for the furtherance of His kingdom. I know that some of these things will show up on the districts dashboard indicators next year, but the point is that not everything can be measured by attendance. I do want to say that I think it is a good thing for the district to recognize the above “indicators”. I have one of those trophies sitting here in my office. However,  when I do stand on stage next year to recieve an award I want to remember that only the Lord can say “well done”.

Telling the Truth

Noralee made me a birthday cake today and she asked Micah how many candles we should put on it. He replied, “Seven”. I asked him “Why only seven?”, and he replied, “Because we don’t want to melt the cake!”

Wade’s World After Forty

In honor of my 40th birthday today, July 9th, My father in law wrote me the following poem…

Wade’s World After Forty

For forty years, Wade, You’ve been on earth.

Guess you’ve been here since you’re birth.

Try not to think about your age;

Think of it rather as another page

of “Wade’s World After forty”.

 

So forget those things which are behind (it will be easier to do with your aging mind),

And look forward to the years ahead.

Don’t let this prospect fill you with dread

of “Wade’s World After Forty”.

 

As your hair turns gray and falls out a bit,

Don’t worry, in time you’ll get over it.

And try not to feel sad when this come true…

Your back will go out more than you

“In Wade’s World After Forty”.

 

When your bowels rebel to the point of refusal,

Don’t panic, just take some Metamucil.

Toss in some fiber and a little prune juice,

It will give you relief and help you stay loose

“In Wade’s World After Forty”.

 

When you read the paper you may have to squint,

And think to yourself, “Why do they use such fine print?”

And if your hair over time disappears,

it only moved to your nose and ears.

In “Wade’s World After Forty”.

 

You will still tell jokes and do quite fine,

until you forget that important “punch line”.

And peole may laugh just to be polite,

but it will keep you up half the night.

In “Wade’s World After Forty”.

 

And speaking of night, you will be up much more,

but don’t forget to shut the bathroom door.

You’ll tell stories of those “good old days”,

of how you walked to school uphill both ways.

In “Wade’s World After Forty”.

 

Time will pass by just like a dream;

Brain freeze happens before eating ice cream.

Four words you’ll repeat many times in a day,

as you ask others, “What did you say?”

In “Wade’s World After Forty”.

 

You can’t find your teeth and wonder what’s up,

then finally remember they’re sitting in a cup.

Your eyesight will change and that’s no joke,

your lenses are like bottoms of a glass of coke.

In “Wade’s World’s After Forty”.

 

And if you’re preaching and wake up alone,

The sermon you slept through was your own.

But that’s O.K. because by the next day,

you won’t remember it anyway.

In “Wade’s World After Forty”.

 

The topics you will talk about with your friends,

include Metamucil, pills and “Depends”.

You might fall asleep on the “John”

or forget which side the paper is on.

In “Wade’s World After Forty”.

 

When you play golf you could be confused,

whether it was your club or your cane you used.

Finishing the game is no longer a breeze;

too many balls hit among the trees.

In “Wade’s World After Forty”.

 

The First thing you will do when going to a park

is to search the grounds for “Wade’s Ark”.

Grandkids playing to their heart content;

and you ask yourself where your energy went.

In “Wade’s World After Forty”.

 

And you will wonder whom you married after all,

when your wife looks like your mother - in -  law.

Old people don’t look so old as they once did,

when you were young and just a kid.

Before “Wade’s World After Forty”.

 

Now Wade we don’t want it to all sound bad,

There’s plenty of good life yet to be had.

Keep your eyes on the Lord and let Him lead,

and life after forty will be blessed indeed,

as you move into “Wade’s World After Forty”.

 

By Rev. Ted Brennan

more vacation randomness

• I did play golf the other day and teamed up on the front nine with a threesome. Good guys. It was cool to be around some fellow New Yorkers again. A familiar accent, same sense of humor, similiar pace of play.  I played the back nine by myself which was fine. The weather was perfect! 85 degrees with zero humidity, clear blue sky with the mountains surrounding the course and low hanging clouds made the day just about perfect. The course was in great shape. I can’t believe how green everything is up here! I also broke 100 for the first time in years! It was good to be home.
• Noralee and I got to have a date together Wednesday night with Grandma watching Micah. We did two of our favorite things. We went to The Olive Garden and then spent the rest of the evening at Barnes & Nobles sitting next to each other in two comfy chairs and reading books. It may not sound exciting but it was relaxing! We drove around town and looked at some of our old hanging out places. Good time.
•  Yesterday we took Micah fishing up to my old favorite fishing hole. He caught a fish on his first cast!! We wound up catching around 25 fish all together; crappie, bluegills, pickerel, perch, and sunfish. No bass, but we weren’t really fishing for them. I will include some pictures later.
• Last night we got to go out to dinner with our old friends Mike & Lois. It was great to see them as we missed them on our last trip home two years ago. We sat and ate and talked for two hours. We’ve always enjoyed sitting and laughing with them.
• Last night we went to the local big grocery store chain. We were once again amazed at how fast people check you out up here. I’m sorry southerners, You are just waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay tooooooooooooooooooooooooo slow.
• The weather has actaully felt cool to us. It has been in the 70’s to low 80’s. We actually had the heat on in the car on the way home last night!
• Today is the fourth of July and we will be doing the traditional family and picnic thing. Vacation is almost over, just when I am starting to get relaxed. Oh well, enjoy it while it lasts!

vacation randomness

Well, I am in New York on vacation (if you want to call visiting your in-laws a vacation). Just kidding! I’m still a little bitter about not going to Myrtle this year, but I’ll get over it. I love my extended family but these weeks are so jam packed you can hardly call them relaxing, trying to fit in a visit with all of your friends and family. Well, anyway, here are a few of my thoughts from vacation so far and random stuff…

• It seems as though my last post on “things you should never say while a student at swu” is a hit. I would love to hear what other ”taboos” you guys might think of …
• We served 20 families at Samaritan’s Cupboard this past Saturday night. One elderly black man missed his ride home, so I gave him a lift. On the way he said to me, “I’ve never been to your church before. Most white churches won’t let black folks come.” I replied, “Well, I don’t think there will be separate sections in heaven.” He said, “I don’t think so either.” I am sorry folks, I don’t care what the “culture” is down here, racisim is a sin, PERIOD!!!!!!! You are going to have to answer to God for your sin one day! GET OVER IT!!
• Our Sunday Night small group is clicking and it is exciting. Noralee and I opened up and bared our souls a little bit at the last meeting and that opened up the floodgates. People began sharing their scars, both literally and spiritually. I had no idea what was going on behind the scenes in the lives of some of our people. That kind of thing never would have happened in a traditional Sunday night worship service. I’m sorry, it just wouldn’t have.
• We stopped at a Denny’s for lunch on the way down here. Upon getting in the car to leave Noralee was talking to her mom on her cell phone. All of the sudden she exclaimed, “Wade! Have you seen my cell phone?!” (This is the same girl who made the President’s List!)
• Today we took Micah and our nephew Max to go see Wall-E. I have only fallen asleep at two movies in my life, this one and Chariots of Fire.
• I am going to go and play golf tomorrow. I have not been able to secure a playing partner, but I will go on my own. I always look at these occasions as evangelism opportunities as you often wind up teaming up with another loner.
• Well, I’m off to bed after reading some of Simple Church.

 

ten things you should never say while a student at swu

10. “The budget for the music department is way too high”.

9. “Do we have time for a smoke before class?”

8. “Is there real wine in the communion cups?”

7. “My main source was wikipedia.”

6. “Do you take points off for grammar?”

5. “I don’t believe in women preachers.”

4. “”Did you hear that great sermon last night from Charles Stanley on eternal security?”

3. “None” (When answering Dr. Fipps about how much homework you did last night.)

2. “Blue blazers are so out of style.”

1. “Hey Fipps!”

funny stuff i’ve heard lately

Here are some funny things I’ve heard this week…

From my son Micah:

“Micah’s are always right.”

“Mommy, are those pajamas?” (Noralee was wearing some sleepwear I bought her.)

Lunchtime Last Saturday…

Micah: “Mommy, do you want to eat at the kitchen table or in the living room?”

Noralee: “The kitchen table”.

Micah: “That’s what I thought. We need to talk.”

From a Fellow FedEx Driver:

Upon pulling up to a house a young mother with child in tow asked my friend, “What happened to the brown trucks you guys use to drive?”

From Starsky & Hutch:

“If I made any arrests, then they’d know I’m a cop.” Hutch working under cover

was Jesus eternally secure?

Luke 4:16 states, “He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom.”

I was thinking that many people who went to an altar and “got saved” are “eternally secure” and therefore, they don’t have to go to church weekly…

Well, if there was ever anybody who was”eternally secure” it was Jesus, yet His habit was to go to “church” weekly. I mean there was absolutely no chance of God going to an eternity in hell, yet his custom was to go to public worship on the Sabbath.

Am I off track here?

responding to kjv only

A member of my church recently handed me a DVD message of a local pastor who was critiquing the NIV Bible. He called it a “perverted” version of the Bible. (I guess that makes me a pervert for teaching out of it.) He made a lot of baseless charges and it spurned in me a desire to see the truth win out in my community. I put together this little “newsletter” that I have distributed around town and also used it as a presentation on a Wednesday night service. I will do some follow up letters as well. Check it out and tell me what you think…

Verbal Overflow Print Edition

how does a church define “success” part 2

Back in February I posted an article titled “how does a church define success”. I pointed out that you can’t always measure minstry success by numbers. As I was preparing my message this week on Luke 4: 14-30 I came across a most interesting perspective from The Life Application Bible Commentary. Before I give the quote, let me set the stage…

• Jesus is 30 years old when he is introduced by John the Baptist as “the lamb who takes away the sin of the world”.
• He is baptized by John and then is led into the desert by the Spirit to be tempted by the Devil.
• He performs his first miracle by turning water into wine when the wine at a wedding runs out…( Wait a minute…Jesus makes more wine after the people have drank all the wine they had? Hmmmmmmm…Not very “Wesleyan”.)
• He cleanses the temple (not making a lot friends) (John 2:12-25).
• He preaches in synagogues and performs some miracles.
• He returns to his hometown of Nazareth and basically tells all of his neighbors “Forget you, I’m going to the Gentiles.” His first sermon back in his hometown and what does Jesus choose to do? Tick everybody off!! They get so angry they try to kill him!!!

Now for the quote…

“How many responses did you have?” People often ask this or questions like it after someone has preached an evangelistic sermon or given an invitation to receive Christ at an outreach event. What they usually mean is, how many people received Christ as Savior? But notice here in Luke 4:28-30 that people can respond to Jesus and to the gospel message in a number of ways, some positive, some not. The people of Nazareth were filled with rage when they heard Jesus’ message. If someone had asked Jesus, How many responses did you have?”  he would have said, “They all responded!” Be careful about equating “salvation decisions” with minsitry success. By that standard, Jesus would have often been considered an abject failure. But by the standards of faithfulness, honesty, integrity, love for the lost, he was the greatest success the world has ever seen. How are you evaluating your own and others effectiveness in ministry?

I am even more convinced that as ministers of the Gospel our main responsibility is to preach the “truth with love”.

And how do we know when we are effective at doing this?

Some people will repent and be saved, and others will be ticked off!

As a matter of fact, if we are not ticking people off, we are probably failing as ministers. Our responsibility is not to make everyone happy.

What do you think?