From High Brow Pirate to Hometown Pastor

For those of you who don’t know, in the 80’s and 90’s there was a Christian Pop singer named Steve Taylor.  He was a bit of a rebel then.  Youth Pastors did not like him and the kids loved him.  I was one of those underground fans.  This was the title of one of his songs from the album, "I Predict, 1990".  In the song he points out the folly of materialism and wealth as being the measure of your success.  Towards the end of the song the rich and powerful man talks about how his heirs are gathering around him like buzzards on the kill and he sees his greedy reflection in their eyes and regrets it.  He claims he would gladly watch it all burn just to have another sunrise. 

So now here we are in 2008 and as I start this church, I am asked a question by many pastors that have been through the planting process or helped other planters of various denominations and there is a question that is asked that I am never sure how to answer. "Patrick, what is the measure of your church’s success."  When I answer changed lives, they ask me how many.  Last night a friend named Alex asked the question and it followed the usual script.  When I answered the question about how many with, "It doesn’t matter." , his face lit up and he gave me an attaboy that felt good. Alex is a man of high standards and principle and it was one of the first times I have had someone not look at me like I grew a third eyeball in the center of my head.

So many people have focused on one thing and told me without this element the church would never succeed.  As I have reflected on those sentiments and seen what is important to them in their respective churches, it has finally occured to me that what we value and find important are different.  Yes, these are people with sincere faith, but they are sincerely putting the emphasis on the wrong things.  Sunday attendance, tithes and offerings, buildings, and so forth.

I remember when I was starting a business I went and asked a friend of mine named Todd for advice.  He told me (with cynicism as this was not his real position) that is you want to have a business succeed you need a great lawyer, a great accountant, and a mediocre idea.  Understand, Todd rarely has quality legal representation and accounting…but he always has ideas that are ahead of their time in all of his business ventures.   In many of the church planting models and church growth models we chase, the sentiment seems to be as follows.  If you want to have a successful church, you need a great worship band, a great kids program, and great preaching with a weakened understanding of the brilliant gospel that Jesus speaks.  The core idea is mediocre but the less important elements are put on the forefront.  

The measure of my success is one less starving child in the world, one less single mom who has to give a blow job to someone to get her car fixed, one less wife who lives in fear of the next beating, one less kid who feels the need to cut himself, one less person who stares into the mirror and instead of seeing beauty…sees someone who needs to jam a finger down the throat to purge the meal that nourishes the body, and one less person restricted from the community because of who they love.  The measure of my success is one more person who loves others without abandon, one more person who is no longer scared of the dark because they have found light, one more person who smiles to the stranger and loves the lonely, and one more person who looks at the real message of Jesus and says…yeah!  This is rich and beautiful and spiritual and frees me as opposed to chokes me in golden handcuffs.

It would be awesome if the preaching is good, the kids program is good and the music is good…but it is not the measure of our success.