More Than Clones

I'm not Andy Stanley.

That's probably obvious. I'm taller, younger, and weigh a lot more.

I'm not Craig Groeshel.

I don't have those muscles.

Nor am I like any other leader. I'm not as refined as some. I can't speak as well as others. My vision casting skills pale in comparison to the greats.

And that's okay.

Okay, I may be a lot like Rob Bell in writing these one sentence paragraphs, but please don't tell anyone that I'm like Rob Bell.

Here's the thing. We fly out to conferences. We go to workshops. We hear incredible messages. We get inspired. But then we make the mistake. The big mistake. We try to become like the one who has inspired us. We try to become clones of the popular national speaker.

This year at Exponential in Orlando, I heard one of the most fascinating stories from Choco de Jesus. You have to hear it yourself some day. He shares how he ran and biked 180 miles to raise money to buy a farm that would provide a safe place for recovering prostitutes. It was a story of hope, of disappointment, and of great inspiration. God touched me greatly in hearing it.

The great thing about Choco's story is that I wasn't inspired to duplicate him. Who would want to run or bike 180 miles? That's just crazy. And it made me realize how I strive to emulate these "rockstars" of the Christian faith.

But I only emulate the easier things.

I take on this trick or that program. I think this strategy or method will transform my church. But it doesn't.

And it's all wrong.

We can look at Andy Stanley's or Craig Groeshel's models of being the church in their communities and be amazed. We want those kingdom results. We want to impact our communities for God like that. So we come home, digest our notes, and try to duplicate their church in our communities. But I am really convinced that North Point and Lifechurch are the way they are, not because of the systems they have, rather, it is because of their giftedness and all the other great people they have surrounded themselves with.

Then we see someone like Hugh Halter doing something different in Denver. Ooh, I want that different church too. Community. Life. Bring it on! And so we jump tracks and try to emulate that church too. Yet have you heard Hugh Halter speak? Adullam can't be duplicated because Hugh Halter can't be duplicated.

We unwittingly play the role of the mad doctor Frankenstein and create the Frankenstein Church. A church that is a patchwork of all these other exciting churches who are relevant in their communities and local context. Yet they are often out of place in ours making our churches about as productive as Frankenstein's monster.

There is this fine line between being inspired and trying to duplicate. We are each individually and wonderfully made. God is working on us to become the pastors and leaders that He planned for and called us to be. Yet we will not get there trying to duplicate others.

We will only realize our true ministry potential when we mix the practical training with a genuine commitment to grow in Jesus. He is the one we are to try and duplicate. He is the one who knows what the church should look like lived out in our local contexts. He has the power to make it happen.

How would Jesus reach my community? What would Jesus do with the resources He has provided me with? Who would Jesus love and how would He love them?

Whether or not this is what we get from the Stanleys, Groeshels, or others, this is really what they have wrestled with and figured out. Likewise, this is what we need to wrestle with and figure out. Our communities need the church Jesus is calling us to shape.

How can I lead in my location like Jesus would? How can you lead in yours?

Shaping Our Souls: On Contagious Christianity, Parenting, Smut Novels, and the Importance of the Church

Who are we going to strive to be like?

This is a question we should all ask. Whether we consciously ask it or not, the life we experience is shaped by our answer to this question.

Oh, we could be arrogant and say that we are just going to be ourselves. But it is foolish to think that we are even capable of such of an act. (See Tony Campolo's You Are An Onion for an example).

I recently went to a church conference and sat through some workshops on preaching. One of the things that the experts noted, particularly Andy Stanley, was that when they listen to a younger preacher, they can tell who the preacher listens to regularly because he will often follow the same rhythms and preaching style of that preacher. A young preacher subconsioucly mimics the preacher he listens to.

You can see the same thing with a young athlete. Same poses and mannerisms are adopted.

We do the same in life. We mimic that which we surround ourselves with.

We become what we see around us unless we consciously understand that what we see around us isn't what we should be like and deliberately fight to be something better.

This is why prayer, church involvement, and Bible study is so important. They are ancient practices that still work today. Through them, we surround ourselves with the things that we should be.


It is inevitable that we will change. Culture is pulling at us. Friends are pulling at us. Family. Neighbors. Traditions. Everything is trying to shape us. Not every change will make us better, yet change is necessary for life to become better. Motivational speaker Jim Rohn says, "Life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change." He is right in pointing out that life will only get better through change, yet we also know that life can get worse through change.

Back to opening question. Who are we going to strive to be like? What are we going to change into?

We have to make a deliberate decision and a concerted effort to change into Jesus if we claim to be His followers.

Or we can just let society morph us into what it wants. Because it gladly will.

Jesus or society?

This is one reason why good parenting among Christians is so important. There are many forces in our society attempting to change our children. We, parents, are given the responsibility to help keep our children steered in the right direction. Just like us, our children will stumble and make mistakes; we just have to be there to help guide them back toward Jesus. So many things are tugging at their souls to control them, and they haven't quite learned the defense mechanisms against the sinful pleasures and apathy of this world. To be honest, we, adults, still struggle with defending our souls against the alluring things of this world. Again, this is why church involvement, prayer, and Bible study are so important. We are called to maturity in Christ.

A kid will see a weak faith in their parents and discard the faith altogether. Faking the faith doesn't work for kids. If we want our children to be strong in the Lord, then we need to be strong in the Lord. This includes loving the unlovable. This includes being part of a church. This includes spending time talking about the things of God in our houses. Kids, as they age into and through their teen years, aren't going to fake anything. So if we're faking Christianity, it's not going to stick with them.

This doesn't just apply to parents raising their kids. What we focus on, allowing it to change us, is contagious. Our focus will influence our children, our neighbors, and our co-workers. Who we are inevitably influences those around us. Humans are naturally contagious. The focus that we give lip service to isn't inevitably contagious; it's the focus that we actually center our lives around that those around us will catch.


Someone in a group of people will start liking smut novels, and they will pass them around. Trying to influence others to enjoy the things they enjoy.

Someone in a group will start serving others, and they will then try to get those around them to join in. Sadly, it's easier to get people to like smut novels than it is to get people to join in on serving others.

Someone in a group will start doing a drug, and they will try to convince their friends to join in. This is the way addictions are spread.

Someone will find a new favorite author, television show, or movie and try to get others to enjoy it with them. Yet they find a Savior and want to keep it a secret.

When someone really falls in love with Jesus -- not just faking it -- they will try to get those around them to join in. Unfortunately, following Jesus is often a charade rather than the lifechanging, soul inspiring journey that it should be, and people are more often willing to convince others of a drug they enjoy rather than the love of Jesus they claim yet fail to know.

So let's recognize that we're going to change. The question is whether we are going to deliberately change into who God wants us to be or whether we are going to just let circumstances and our surrounding culture to morph us into what they wants us to be.


Are we committed to Jesus and church? Modern society likes to separate those commitments, but the Apostle Paul didn't separate them. We also would be well served not to. Jesus gave gifts to the church because we were made to live in community with each other. Our brothers and sisters in Jesus will help us change into Him if we are humble enough to allow that. Being part of the body of believers -- more than just attending a worship gathering -- is how those who are committed to Jesus help others change into Jesus.


Paul says that Jesus should be who we strive to be like and that he has equipped people in the church to help us do just that.

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13 (NLT)

Being part of the body of Jesus is essential to being in Jesus. It's essential if we want to strive to be like him. Let us stop trying to follow Jesus without regularly gathering with other believers. Let us continue or begin to be intentional about studying, praying, worshiping, and serving together. We were made to be a body, with one head, growing together.

Make A Difference - Andy Stanley, Mark Driscoll, and President Obama

President Obama was inaugurated last week, and some Christians took to Twitter to once again remind the world that Christians can be arrogant jerks.

For example, Mark Driscoll, at 8:17 AM on January 21, 2013, tweeted, "Praying for our president, who today will place his hands on a Bible he does not believe to take an oath to a God he likely does not know."

While Andy Stanley, one of my favorite preachers, shows why he deserves that title. Stanley had the privilege to preach a sermon at St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington D.C. This was inauguration Sunday and President Obama and his staff were in the congregation.

Stanley decided to preach from the story of Jesus washing the disciples' feet. When Jesus came to earth, He was God in the flesh. The most powerful person in any room. And He washed feet. He spent time with the undesirables. He came to serve rather than be served.

Stanley said to the congregation filled with Obama, his cabinet, and other churchgoers, "So what do you do when it dawns on you that you're the most powerful person in the room? You're the most powerful person, in this case, in the world?" Then he shared with them what Jesus did. Jesus "laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him" (John 13:4-5 ESV). Jesus, God in the flesh, humbled Himself, went around the room, and washed his followers' feet. The followers had just been arguing about which one of them would be the greatest. And Jesus showed them what the Greatest should do. Serve. Not be served.

Now that's some powerful stuff. Some real powerful stuff when spoken to the powers that be in this world. Stanley ended his sermon with these words, " Mr. President, you have a very big room. It's as big as the nation. It's as big as our world. And my prayer for you is that you continue to leverage this stewardship of power for the sake of our nation and the world."

Back to my initial thought. What approach do you think had a chance to influence the President? Driscoll who attacked him on Twitter? Or Andy Stanley who proclaimed the tough teachings of the Gospel with him? The sad thing about the whole situation is that Christianity gets another self-inflicted and deserved black eye. But we're not all that way. Look at Andy Stanley. Who I propose was actually acting like Jesus would in the situation.

You may be thinking that a pastor shouldn't associate with a person like Obama. And if that is your view, then you don't understand the Jesus that pastors are professing. Jesus wasn't scared of associating with those who held opposing views. He didn't hole himself up in a monastery and expect believers to come to Him. Him was out among the people, teaching and preaching a way of life that would change lives if adopted. A way of life that we would all be better off to follow today.

So when we're faced with the option to quickly lash out against someone on Facebook or on Twitter, we should think again. It won't do any good. It will actually make us look foolish and hurt whatever cause we are fighting for. Instead we should spend time investing in the person who has wronged us. We should forgive them. Now, it won't always change them. That's not why we do it. Investment in another doesn't mean magic. Everyone is given the ability to choose. But investment in another is always the better option when contrasted with tearing them down. We invest in them because we have the example of a leader who humbled Himself and washed His followers feet.

This isn't to say that there isn't a time to confront someone about a destructive problem in their life. But the place for that confrontation is not in the public arena. It's in private, within the context of an already existing relationship. We must always keep in mind a teaching that Stanley professes, " Make a difference. Don't be satisfied with making a point."

Jesus taught, "Go and sin no more." But He was with a sinner after He had earned her love when He taught that. May we do the same.