Hillcrest College Blog

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Aaron Clayton

// What is “missional?”

by on December 30, 2010

If you run in certain circles these days you hear lots of words thrown around as to what the church should be. One of those words in “missional.” It used to be mission-minded, but now people use missional a lot more. But what does that even mean? A good question to ask when so much is being made over whether we are missional or not.

Ed Stetzer recently posted a couple of videos on his blog with some discussion about what missional actually means. We’ve linked one of them here, and it’s a really good, short start at getting to a useable definition of “missional.” Learning to live in a way that this video describes will be vital if we hope to continue to impact people with the gospel of grace.

Check it out. Let us know what you think.



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Aaron Clayton

// Who are you making perfect in Christ?

by on November 2, 2010

Last week at tenthirty we talked about Paul’s intense labor to present everyone perfect in Christ. Paul’s heart primarily in this passage was for maturity in Christ followers.

So much of our emphasis in church life can get wrapped up in programming, busyness, or even in sharing the gospel. Those things are not necessarily bad in themselves, but our purpose is not to be busy, to have lots of good programs, or even to share the gospel with as many people as possible. Our purpose is to glorify the Lord by making disciples, leading people to faith and maturity in Jesus (Eph. 1, Matt. 28:19-20, 2 Cor. 5:18-21, Rom. 10:14-15, and many, many other passages).

So our purpose is not simply evangelism or to get people saved from hell and into heaven. Our purpose is the glory of God through making disciples, which includes evangelism and salvation, but definitely does not find its end there. And this is where Paul makes his statement at the end of Colossians 1: “to present everyone mature (or perfect or complete) in Christ.” His labor for the church was to be able to present them as faith-filled, mature followers of Jesus.

So who are you investing your life in for the purpose of making them mature in Jesus? What communities are you living in and giving yourself openly and whole-heartedly to? How are you about this purpose of discipleship for the glory of God?



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Aaron Clayton

// Where were all the leaders?

by on August 10, 2010

Last weekend, August 6-8, most of our college leadership went away for the weekend. If you were at tenthirty that Sunday you saw Rick and Angela, and that was it. So where was everyone else?

We set aside this weekend a while back to get away as leaders and rethink and evaluate how we are doing ministry in the Hillcrest College Ministry. We were talking and reminiscing while we were gone and realized that we have been at this thing somewhere around 10 years. Leaders have come and gone and many, many students have come and graduated and moved on. In all the ministry and life, it’s good to set aside time to evaluate and make sure we are still on the right path.

This was a great weekend. We spent most of our time talking about big picture things, not calendars and planning. We talked about Home Groups and serving opportunities, and you will be hearing about some new and exciting changes to those areas real soon.

But the biggest thing we did this weekend was to re-clarify for ourselves an answer to this question: What is a win for us?

As we do ministry among college students and young adults, what would we consider, through prayer and listening to God through his Word, to be a win for us? We looked at the end goal of what a student should look like if the ministry has been effective in really impacting their life. Then we started talking steps.

We talked about what it would take to get students to that end goal, and we all realize that somewhere along the way things will come up, good things that people like, and we will have to say “no” to them, not because they are bad, but because they do not move us closer to the goal.

After a quote we pulled from an Andy Stanley book, we began using a baseball metaphor. To sum up the book’s comments, Stanley basically said that the goal of baseball is to get around the bases and across home plate. That’s how you win. To simply hit the ball is a good thing in itself, but it alone does not get you to your goal of home plate. Yet this is how many churches think. Many churches are not focused on, or even aware of the steps to get their people across home plate. They are just simply trying to hit the ball. It doesn’t even really matter where it goes. They just want to get hits.

As we thought, prayed, studied, and talked this weekend, we thought this way: what are the steps that will get our people to home plate? What we came up with as our metaphorical bases were three things: tenthirty, Home Groups, and serving in the body. Those are the three major places to plug into within our ministry as you move around the “bases.”

You’ll hear more about all this real soon, but for now, ask yourself this question: what am I doing to get across home plate? Am I moving in the right direction, working toward the goal? Or am I just trying to hit the ball?

Thoughts?



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Aaron Clayton

// 10 Reasons Why Leaders Flame Out

by on July 27, 2010

Perry Noble recently wrote a bloggedon 10 reasons why he thinks leaders flame out in ministry. You can find the post here. I thought it was pretty insightful, and I have noticed myself struggling with some of these things at times. What follows are his 10 reasons with a comment or two from me. I encourage anyone to read the list, as it will help leaders be aware of possible traps and help those who follow them better support and encourage them.

As always comments and thoughts are welcome.

Aaron

#1 – They feel like have something to prove…and so instead of becoming obsessed with God’s greatness they become obsessed with their own.

This is a constant battle for many leaders. The nature of a leader sort of makes them ripe for pride and self-importance while seeing themselves in light of the grace and mercy of the gospel of Jesus is the only way to true effectiveness. I definitely find myself confessing this.

#2 – They have a hard time accepting Gods grace…thus throwing themselves into an achievement based mentality.  They think the more they accomplish the more God loves them – despite what is written in Ephesians 2:8-9.

It’s easy in leadership for everything to become about what you can achieve, especially in relation to other leaders. Again, we are looking to boost our own importance rather than seeing ourselves in light of the gospel.

#3 – They feel like rest is sin…despite the LONGEST command in the 10 commandments being the one on rest!  (Leaders…Isaiah 30:15…READ IT NOW!!!)

This I do not struggle with as much. My tendency is to be a lazy bum or to get distracted easily. Both still can become problems.

#4 – They do not trust the leaders around them…thus they feel like they need to do it all.  (We were not called to do life and ministry alone!)

Huge problem in ministry. “If I want it done right, I have to do it.” This phrase can also turn into a desire not just to have it done right, but to have it done exactly like I want it. so doing it yourself becomes the only option. Gathering capable leaders around you can be a very freeing thing if you learn to trust them. It actually works better that way, but it’s so hard to let go that many leaders never figure this out.

#5 – They are unwilling to ask for help…thinking that doing so is a sign of weakness, when in actuality it is a sign of strength!

And in leading, we feel like the worst thing that can happen is to look weak. But seriously, we all need help, sometimes serious help. So when you notice I need help, please tell me.

#6 – They fear man way more than they fear God…thus becoming obsessed with “their” expectations rather than HIS!  (SEE Proverbs 29:25).

Two huge areas here: struggling to keep up with others and trying to impress. Both are not good and come from an unhealthy fear of man. Learning to serve the Lord faithfully is so much more important, but is often a notch of two down the list than keeping up with the Jones’ in ministry.

#7 – An unwillingness to repent of sin…instead of doing so they become obsessed with pointing out the sins of others!

I don’t have anything to say here! (Thus proving the point.)

#8 – They do not allow their identity to be established in Christ but rather in how many people they having attending/giving to their church/ministry.

Self-importance. Fear of men. Desire to impress. All sin–all struggles.

#9 – They refuse to care for their own family and begin to recite the ridiculously stupid phrase, “I take care of the church and God will take care of my family.”  Dude…the church is HIS bride, not yours!!!

This is a huge issue that is getting more attention recently. Any young leader must learn to put things in the right perspective and keep priorities in the right order. Even with good intentions it’s easy to get out of balance, but we have to remind ourselves constantly that our first shepherding and leading responsibility is in our own house. God will take care of his church when we are faithful and take care of the business he has given us–namely our wives and kids.

#10 – They get consumed with fighting the wrong battles.  Christian leaders fight over the most ridiculous things…and doing so ALWAYS drains the life out of them!  We should fight for what Jesus fought for–period–and leave the rest alone.



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Aaron Clayton

// Thoughts on Ephesians 5

by on March 23, 2010

We have been walking through Ephesians for about the last 15-20 weeks. These last two weeks have had us in Ephesians Chapter 5, looking at what Paul, and ultimately Jesus, have to say about marriage. This is a significant passage because marriage is such a big part of our world and our society. These 12 verses are not the cure all for marriage problems, but they lay out a blueprint that we should aim to follow, and when we chase that goal our marriages will begin to take their cue and their direction from it and will become strong and healthy.

The catch: the goal stated in this passage is not a healthy marriage. It’s not being a good husband or wife or even sacrificial, agape kind of love. The stated goal of this passage is to reflect and magnify the relationship Jesus has with his bride, the church.

The passage gives us very practical and deep thoughts on how to be godly husbands and wives because the way we do those roles are directly stated as illustrations of who Jesus is, how he leads and loves his people, how they respond to and respect him, and how powerful and affective the gospel is.

That being true, it’s important for us to realize, like we said on Sunday, Jesus is not the means to any goal. He is not a means to a good marriage or to any other thing. Jesus, himself, IS the goal. He is the pursuit. Paul said it in Philippians 3:10. Knowing, loving, following, serving, being known by Jesus…that is the goal. Just Jesus, not what that brings or who it may make us. All of those are huge, joyous results of it that God, in his wisdom, made a necessary and inseperable part of the journey. But the things we receive, they are not the goal.

What does this have to do with single people? Most single people want to be married. Most single people have crushes, want to be pursued, want to pursue, like to be kissed, like to give or receive flowers, and on and on and on. So as we pursue these things and trust Christ and his process, we realize, when we begin to understand God’s heart and his word, that there is no way to do any relationship successfully and purposefully apart from having your heart, mind, and life absolutely devastated by the gospel of Jesus.

That is the goal.



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Aaron Clayton

// do we really understand persecution?

by on February 23, 2010

I got an email from a friend with a link to some video footage of Christians being beaten in India. I am going to link to it, but I want to be very clear: it is very graphic and is actual, unedited footage of real people being beaten, some of them to death.

This is not something to watch lightly, and please do not click the link without first preparing your mind for what you are about to watch. Please do not click on it out of curiosity or because of our fascination with the dramatic or horrific. I had to think about whether to actually post the link or not, and I decided to because seeing the footage gives a new meaning and understanding to what persecution really is.

Persecution is not something to be excited about or interested in. It is not glamorous or cool. Though we would probably not describe it verbally in those terms I think we often think of it that way. There is something sort of hero-ish in our thinking about those who are persecuted so we view it through jaded lenses, but it is nothing to take lightly.

Persecution is sad, heart-breaking, devastating, brutal, and necessary. Thinking about these things should make us stop, even if only for a few seconds. It should not make us want to talk more. It should silence us, and it should at times move us to tears.

Philippians 1:29 is a verse that comes to mind. It has been given to believers not only to believe in Jesus, but also to suffer for him. Whether we are willing and how we do it are the unknowns in it, not whether it should or will happen.

As I think about this it makes me ask myself questions about how and where I spend money, how and where I spend time, and what I ultimately care about. As the church, where are we spending our money, what are we spending it on? How are we using our time, our influence, our lives? Are we really investing in the kingdom? Or are we investing in our kingdoms or our ideas of what we think THE Kingdom is? What kinds of things are we doing in worship? What or who are we really worshipping? Are we really worshipping?

These are all things that this makes me think of. What does the fact that Christians are not just being killed, but are being abused and purposefully injured to scare others form it do to me? What implication if any does that have for my life, for our church, for our ministry? All things to think about.

Here’s the video. Comments are welcome.

http://ow.ly/1at2A



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