Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man. —John 2:24-25

How much of the pain and heartache in your life, in your ministry, is the result of expecting people to do what only God can do? As Oswald Chambers noted, “If our trust is placed in human beings, we will end up despairing of everyone.”

You can watch the full message here.

Conversation #3—Wayne Cordeiro & James MacDonald | Mark Driscoll moderating

With the high calling of being a leader in ministry comes the risk of thinking that all things require you. When you do, one of the first fruits that begins to decrease will be your joy. Pastor Wayne Cordeiro shares some good insight from his experience of running on empty.

Watch the trailer or order The Elephant Room on DVD.

This weekend I preached from John 2:13-22, on Christ’s response to the consumer mindset that had taken over the temple. And nothing is more of an axe to the tree of vertical church—of God church, of glory church—than “consumer church.”

There are a lot of points of application on how consumerism has a foothold in the church today that ought to make us righteously angry. Here are two of them: critical non-participants and one-strike-and-you’re-out Christians.

Watch the full message here.

Today I commend to you this guest post from Dr. R.C. Sproul Jr., Teaching Fellow at Ligonier Ministries. I hope you find it helpful and encouraging.

It takes two to tango, and that doesn’t even include the band. Our choices, our behaviors, are rarely as discreet as we think they are. Not only do our decisions bleed into our other decisions, they touch on other people’s lives, more often than not. No man is an island; neither is any man a peninsula.

First, consider gossip. If gossip is spoken in the woods and no one hears, does it still make a mess? Guarding our tongues is important. But we need to guard our ears as well. Without an audience, gossip dies on the vine. It isn’t gossip when I know something you don’t. It isn’t gossip when you find out what I knew first. It’s only gossip when I get to be the one telling you. Ego and pride drive the tongue and open the ear.

The same is true of controversy. In the prototypical schoolyard fight, there is typically the victim, the bully, and the cowards. While we rightly cheer for the victim and hiss at the bully, the cowards, too, deserve our opprobrium. They haven’t even the willingness to risk what the bully has, and worse still, they provide the audience he craves.

The Internet has not helped. Cyber-bullies hide behind proxy servers and false names. Victims slowly learn that fighting back only encourages them. And there is no vice principal patrolling the hallways and breaking things up. Then there are the cowards. They create the page views, and some even input their own comments, usually anonymously, yelling, “Fight, fight,” while they sit three rows back. They create the audience that is the real raison d’être of the controversy (more…)

This year at Harvest we’re walking verse-by-verse through the book of John. Last weekend’s teaching was on Christ’s first public miracle, at the wedding in Cana. And while God does not promise prosperity or healing in every circumstance (2 Corinthians 12:7), He does continue to work miracles today.

All in favor of miracles? Absolutely. Miracles flow from what we have, and they flow through active faith.

You can watch the full message here.

Wow. After 2.5 days of pouring into and worshiping with over 2000 pastors and leaders from around the world, we closed out Harvest University 2012. Today, I’m thanking God for the outpouring of His Spirit at this conference that ministered to so many. And I’m even more fired up for His glory, as they return to the fields to which God has called them and seek to apply what they’ve learned.

In the closing message, I decided to focus on the practical—with a “5-4-3-2-1″ message. First 5 things, then 4 things, then 3…and so on.

Here is an excerpt of the first portion, 5 Things Your Pastor Wants You to Know but Can’t Tell You.

The full message also includes:

• 4 Things Good Elders Say Frequently
• 3 Things a Church Needs from Its Pastors
• 2 Good Ways to Process This Conference
• The Single Most Important Thing in Your Church

You can watch that here.

Yesterday kicked off Harvest University, our annual church planting conference. We gathered with a packed house of 2000 pastors and ministry leaders from Harvest Bible Chapels around the world and churches outside our fellowship. Honored to serve with these pastors and leaders for the sake of the Gospel.

Watch this video about Harvest Bible Fellowship, our church planting arm, and how the Lord Jesus is building His church in our day.

Harvest Bible Chapel is now on 7 campuses—and each is a story of reluctant expansion, given our greater passion to plant autonomous churches. When dying congregations have come for help or facilities have been given to us, we have infrequently multiplied locations for our own church. Yet we have continued to plant churches in much greater numbers, both locally and around the world, through the leaders we are privileged to train and send out.

While the Scripture commands us in 1 Peter 5:2 to shepherd the flock of God, Ephesians 4 instructs that the pastor-teacher is to equip the saints for the works of ministry, rather than hoarding those responsibilities personally. Those who are effective in that duty frequently see their congregation grow beyond the number that one pastor could shepherd anyway.

In the multi-site model, the primary preacher has entrusted the direct discipling and care of the majority to other pastors and volunteers. But that same thing happens in a church with more than 200, regardless of how many services or locations they gather in. To argue that a church cannot be shepherded biblically unless all the sheep appear to see you preach live, simply denies that reality.

The fact is that most pastors in churches over 200 do not directly shepherd the majority of their people anyway. Pastors are commanded biblically to give ministry away to those they have trained, not to hoard ministry for themselves or seek to contain and control the impact of the gospel in their community through misplaced notions of the division of labor. Multi-site is not for everyone, as a certain death to self is needed to give the ministry away so completely. The ego-centric, “I am the shepherd, all must be under my gaze and control,” (more…)

Conversation #5—T.D. Jakes & Jack Graham | Mark Driscoll moderating

There are contexts and cultures about which we are clueless. Cities not so geographically distant from suburban congregations, experience radically different needs and challenges in their churches. And any congregation is prone to becoming so comfortable that we don’t recognize when our preferences become our prejudices.

Watch the trailer or order The Elephant Room on DVD.

Conversation #8—Speed Round Q&A
Dividends are paid by every generation of church leaders to allow for the next generation of leaders to lead. The calling of a church leader does not come without cost. In this conversation we share our concerns for today’s young pastors.

Watch the trailer or order The Elephant Room on DVD.