The other day I was reading Isaiah 10:15.  It says…

“But can the ax boast greater power than the person who uses it?  Is the saw greater than the person who saws?  Can a rod strike unless a hand moves it?  Can a wooden cane walk by itself?” NLT

One of the dangerous things a leader or church can do, is take credit for what God is doing.  In this passage God was raising up the Assyrians to be an instrument to punish the Israelites because of their disobedience. But the Assyrians started taking credit for what God was doing.  When the crops were good, the farmer took credit for them.  When the war was won, the General took the credit for it.  When the nation prospered they gave credit to the military and politcal systems.  However, God dealt with their pride (Isa. 10:5-19).

It is obvious that God has His hand upon Crosspoint Church.  It is obvious that Jesus is being exalted because God is drawing people to Himself.  Depending on how you define success for a church, some would consider us successful. I mean, we have seen 280 people saved in our short 20 months of existence. We have grown from two families to almost 700 people in attendance last weekend (Baptism Sunday).  For Eastern Kentucky, we are a mega church.  However, though we have seen tremendous growth, we have not even started to impact this region yet.  There are still thousands of college students untapped.  There are literally thousands of people in this region with no hope.  So yeah, we praise God for what has happened but I truly believe the best is still yet to come!

You are probably thinking, wow, you guys are successful.  PLEASE HEAR ME, we do not take credit for what God is doing.  Yes, we believe!  Yes, we strive for excellence!  Yes, we have faith!  Yes, we work hard!  But we are just an instrument in the hands of our Master.  We are nothing without Him.  We are the ax, the saw, the rod, and the wooden cane.  We are useless without Him using us.

WARNING: Be very careful how you handle the success God gives you!  Enjoy His blessings in your family, your business, your career, your finances, or your ministry but keep in mind that you are just an instrument in the hands of the Master!  Every instrument or tool is replaceable!

I always wondered why I couldn’t take naps on Sunday afternoons or even fall asleep easy on Sunday nights. I mean, I just preached my heart out twice on Sunday morning.  Surely I am tired?  Also, I always wondered why Mondays were so tough.  Why is it so hard to concentrate or run meetings or stay 100% focused?  Now I know!  One of my best friends in the ministry, Clayton King, shared with me earlier this year how preaching hard on Sundays affects our bodies.  In fact, he is so concerned for those who serve in a church (volunteer or paid) that he wrote this post last week.  However, this week he explains what he shared with me earlier this year.

Here’s his post for this week:

“I pray this post is both a blessing and a warning to you, pastor.  It’s Monday again, and for many pastors and ministers, today will be challenging.  It seems my earlier post on the dangers associated with Mondays struck a chord, judging by the amount of comments made.  I spent some time over the past 7 days reading more on what happens inside the body of a pastor.  I had a long conversation with a good friend who is a psychologist in CA.  And I found out about a prominent pastor who just suffered from a massive heart attack at a relatively young age not long after recovering from a total nervous breakdown.  All of that to say…I pray this post is a blessing and a warning to you.

The human body produces certain chemicals that help it function in times of stress called endorphins and adrenaline.  They help you get ready for work, get the kids out the door, and get energized for staff meetings or sermon delivery.  There are several problems associated with these naturally occurring chemicals.

1. The body becomes addicted to them over time.  They are natural pain killers.  They also act as energy supplements.  Your body craves them once it has become accustomed to having them.  Pastors require more of them because we live in situations constantly that no one else can experience that require adrenaline; staff meetings, fund-raising, counseling, spiritual warfare, hospital visits, 40 minute sermons in front of 50 - 5,000 people, and the shepherding of precious souls in our congregations.  We live on a stage.  We don’t even know it, but our adrenaline levels are through the roof most of the time.  When they do come down, we feel depressed and discouraged and we need more.  Some guys just preach again, others run or work out, and a few do crazy things to get it, like have affairs, embezzle money, or look at porn.

2. Their levels naturally drop in your mid 30’s.  Sorry pastor, there is nothing you can do about it.  It’s science.  By your mid 30’s, the adrenaline gland (which sits right above the kidneys, thus the name “ad-renal” or “above the kidney”) begins producing less and less of the good stuff that makes you feel awesome.  So if you are like me and you feel great when you preach and right after you finish, you wonder what in the world is going on when you come down.  Your body cannot sustain the levels of adrenaline that you have become used to.  Add to that those of us who used to play competitive sports, ride bikes, rock climb, sky dive or lift hard or run hard, and you have the potential for severe depression and discouragement from your early 30’s to your early 40’s.  But the adrenaline depletion is totally normal and cannot be reversed.  Most guys just don’t have a clue what’s happening.  They think the sky is falling and have no plan to cope or adjust.

3. Adrenaline (and endorphins) can poison the body.  Like any good thing, too much is a bad thing.  These chemicals linger in the body long after secreted and have to be processed and metabolized, leaving residual effects.  Some guys don’t process them well or at all.  Rick Warren at Saddleback has shared publicly about his struggles with this and how at times he couldn’t even get out of the bed at all on Mondays.  Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill in Seattle has also shared about his overdose on adrenaline and how his adrenal glands nearly burst after they swelled to 3 times their normal size just from the stress of planting a church.  Adrenaline becomes toxic when we don’t give the body proper time to metabolize the chemicals after they are released; i.e. we don’t rest after a big day and get right back to the work that creates more adrenaline while the body is still trying to clean out and process what’s still in it.

4. Insomnia often accompanies adrenaline overload and depletion.  If you have ever had trouble falling asleep or waking up in the middle of the night with your heart pounding out of your chest, it could be that your body, even while asleep, is craving adrenaline.  Even in your sleep, the adrenal glands will secrete the chemicals that wake you up and give you energy simply because they are over-active and automatically kick into gear when the levels drop (like when you should be sleeping).  They body has been trained to keep the good stuff flowing, and will have to be trained to get by with less of it as we age.  And we all know how grumpy, irritable, and irrational we get when sleep-deprived.

5. The body can’t tell good stress from bad stress.  That’s right, there is no difference chemically.  It’s all stress.  And even though you feel energized after God uses you to deliver a message where people are saved but you feel drained after a lengthy and contentious staff meeting, the organs of the body simply respond to the chemistry associated with elevated stress levels.  It’s how you respond and react that makes or breaks you (time alone resting, reading, or being with your family verses another triple espresso or a Red Bull on the ride home).

According to my friend with a PH.d. in this stuff, the tips of the neuro-receptors in the brain actually get dull over time from being used so much, which explains the loss of short term memory during seasons of high stress and adrenaline overload.  So forgetfulness, sleeplessness, and irritability can all be connected in part to the chemistry taking place inside your body.

But you are not doomed.  You are a pastor, which should mean you understand basic problem solving.  Once you can get a handle on the situation, you can devise a plan to preempt the coming storm.  My next post will offer a handful of tips and ideas of ways to sustain your physical and emotional health as a pastor so that you can stay in ministry for a lifetime instead of a season.” - Clayton King

Read this earlier post so you will know what I am talking about.

Twelve days ago our church set out on a journey to fast and pray for 21 days.  We all wanted to be on the same page as we began a new series called Awakening. (Click HERE if you would like to fast with us.)  Our goal was to align our hearts up with God, get right before HIM, and beg HIM to awaken this region.  We prayed a ridiculous prayer to see 100 people saved during the 3 weeks series called Awakening.  Last Sunday, in one Sunday, our first Sunday, we saw over 100 people give their lives to Christ!  It was utterly amazing!   By far the greatest day I have ever witnessed since I have been in ministry.  The crazy thing is we still have two more weeks left.  Two more weeks for you to get people to Crosspoint so they too can hear the life changing message of the Gospel. We still have hundreds of names we are praying for during this series.  So lets bump up our initial request from 100 to 200!  If this past Sunday doesn’t motivate you to bring someone to church this weekend then nothing will.

Along with the fast, we asked everyone to read one chapter a day from the book of John.  This morning I was reading John 12 and something stood out to me.  In John 12:9-11 we see some crazy things happening.  Here are my three observations:

1. In verse nine it said people were flocking to see Jesus.  Lost people, saved people, religious people, and skeptical people all flocked to Jesus.  How come we don’t see this happening today in most of our churches? Do we see lost people flocking to Jesus in our church?  Why or why?  This is something that all churches and church leaders should ask themselves?

2. In verse ten the lead priest, the religious guru wanted to kill Lazarus along with Jesus. (Read John 11 to completely understand the context.)  Can you believe this?  A miracle just happened.  Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead and instead of rejoicing they wanted to kill him.  We see this today as well.  When people start hearing what God is doing in other churches, they begin to ponder why God is not blessing their church and then begin to pick up stones.  And instead of rejoicing they start pointing fingers or making excuses or questioning your motives.  How do I know this?  Because I was once immature during my early ministry years and that is exactly what I use to do.  And so years ago I started to doing something that radically changed my heart and attitude.  I begin to rejoice with those who shared how God was moving in their life and in their church.  I begin to pray that God will continue to bless them.  Folks, we are not in this for our church but for the CHURCH.  And when you get to the point when you can rejoice instead of complain or compare, God begins to peel back the layer of pride and insecurity in your heart that will free you up to be a sharp tool in HIS hand.

3. The third thing and the main thing I wanted to point out is found in verse eleven.  It was because of Lazarus that many people believed in Jesus.  Did you catch that?  Because of Lazarus.  How many people believe in Jesus because of you? Ouch!  Though we haven’t physically been raised from the dead, we have spiritually been raised from the dead. Though Jesus physically doesn’t walk with us, HE now lives in us.  So if Jesus raised you spiritually from the dead and lives within you, then how many people are coming to believe in HIM because of you?  Dang…that will preach!

OK, that is my morning observation.  With that said, get people to church this weekend and let them have a chance to hear about JESUS!  Come early but don’t come alone, we are expecting another large attendance!