MIM Ezine, December 68, 2009

-- Book Review, "Momentum For Life: Biblical Practices for Sustaining Physical Health, Personal Integrity, and Strategic Focus," by Mike Slaughter, reviewed by Tom Hanover.

I have long been a proponent of small groups, having seen firsthand how they cultivate a homey climate where people are more relaxed and, therefore, more genuine and open to hearing biblical truths and sharing life, warts and all. Such depths of connectedness don’t usually happen in a regular worship service. For one thing, typical worship services are not set up in such a way as to encourage interaction among those who attend. Most worship service paradigms require that people sit and listen. Any learning tends to be passive. I don’t know about you, but I personally don’t do well when I have to sit through lecture formats. I need to participate with an intellectual give and take in order for a lesson to become a part of me.

Over the past year or so I have periodically mentioned Java Journey, the coffee shop ministry my husband and I as well as a small group of believers have been working to launch. Though the building stage is still underway and we have not officially opened our doors, we are still meeting in “community gatherings.”

This past Sunday I was wiping off sheet rock dust from the chairs in the storefront in preparation for our Sunday morning gatherings. The walls are not yet painted, and the floors that are littered with debris are not yet stained, but people don’t seem to mind the informality of it all. It’s a come-as-you-are setting and though we are not yet advertising these gatherings, people still catch wind of what’s going on and show up.

Being the non-conformists that we are, we try to stay away from a set format so that we don’t start to harbor any sacred cows or become set in a pattern of ritual. (Can any church really avoid this?) Some weeks we sing along to Christian worship songs via YouTube projected onto a video screen. Some weeks we merely dive into teaching without singing. One week we focused on prayer and praise without a lesson. There are no printed bulletins, no ushers, and no worship team rehearsals. Frankly, it’s been pretty freeing to let go of so many obligations and expectations.

People are encouraged to ask questions, and share insight. I find myself almost dreading the day when we formally announce these gatherings, because I know our numbers will increase, and with it will come the discomfort of getting too big.

When numbers exceed more than 12 or so, the intimacy of small groups is lost. People tend to be less comfortable sharing and they share less. The larger the group, the more the quieter people tend to close up. One of our goals at Java Journey is to launch spin off groups if our gatherings get too large. We don’t believe that bigger is necessarily better. Nor do we conform to the idea that if we grow too large that we need to find a bigger space.

Jesus seemed to be a strong advocate of small groups. If we look at his example, we see that he taught his disciples in small gatherings. Every school teacher has felt strained in overcrowded classrooms. It’s hard to mentor an abundance of students when a teacher’s time must be divided among so many. Even the early church started out in small gatherings in homes, and the implications were that they were a close group of believers who shared what they had, and supported each other, prayed for each other and cared for one another. They were like family.

I am not sure where we got the idea that bigger is better nor why, when I tell people we are launching a ministry, the first question they ask is, “How many people are attending?” Why do high attendance numbers signify success? Bigger is usually much more complicated, extremely costly, less intimate, more polished, more perfection oriented, and, in some cases, even more plastic. Is big really what we should be striving for or should our goal be the cultivation of smaller, more intimate communities that develop in a more natural way? I’ve participated in many different types of churches that were a variety of sizes, but none can match the experience of a healthy small group. They are more real, more supportive, more interactive, and more conducive to Biblical learning than circumstances that merely provide for passive learning and casual acquaintances. There is a new trend that is steering away from the mega church mentality. More and more church leaders are beginning to see the value of “small.” Let’s hear it for small-minded people.

Teena Stewart is married to an ordained minister and is a published author, ministry consultant and coach. Her most recent book is Successful Small Groups from Concept to Practice. For more info see http://www.serendipitini.com or http://www.ministryinmotion.net/teena_stewart.html. You can learn more about her coffee shop ministry at http://www.javajourney.org. You are welcome to email her with questions or comments at smartwords@embarqmail.

I couldn’t find one of my old bottles of prescription pills the other day so I asked my wife if she knew what happened to them. She told me that she had thrown them away. When I asked her why on earth she would do such a thing she told me she had gotten rid of them because the expiration date had passed.

That’s right. Just because the expiration date had passed. Have you ever heard of such a ridiculous thing in your whole life?

I tried explaining to her that there is nothing magical about the expiration date on a medicine bottle. It’s just a date. If the expiration date on the bottle is July 26, the pills don’t magically transform into cyanide on July 27, do they?

No, I believe a medicine bottle expiration date is just like a speed limit sign — they have to put it there but nobody expects you to actually pay attention to it.

That’s the way it’s always been in my family. I remember my mom was injured back in 1982 and the doctor prescribed some pain medication for her. She wound up not using all the medication so she left the rest of the pills to me in her will. In my family, it’s not just a medicine bottle. It’s a family heirloom.

And one day, God willing, I hope to pass on all my old medicine bottles to my kids. It’s the right thing to do.

But why on earth would anyone throw away good medicine? It’s like money in the bank. One might suggest that, if I’m hurt, I should go to the doctor, get a new prescription, and then go get another bottle of pills from the pharmacy. I think that’s a great idea and I’ll do just that, but in the meantime, I’ll be in less pain because I’ll be taking mom’s 1982 pain pills.

Yes, there is a slight chance that taking old medicine can result in a sudden and horrific death. But I ask you, what is more scary: Rolling around on the floor in unimaginable pain or taking an old pain pill and accidentally dying?

Well, the obvious answer would be both rolling around on the floor in unimaginable pain and then dying from taking an old pain pill. But you have to remember, there are worse fates. You could roll around on the floor in pain, and then accidentally die while listening to a Britney Spears song. Now that would be tragic.

But let me put it another way. Let’s say you’ve accidentally fallen out of a 100-foot tree. You weren’t killed because you were only 7 feet off the ground at the time but you have managed to injure yourself in a truly Guinness Book of World Records fashion. Now you’re lying on your back staring up at the tree, hating nature in general and that tree in particular.

It’s at this precise moment that you think of Mom’s 1982 pain pills and long for them with a passion worthy of a 1980s power-ballad.

And trust me, when you’re out in the yard, screaming for your family-heirloom pain medication, that is not the time you are going to want to hear your spouse telling you those pills were thrown out because the expiration date had passed.

My point is, when you hurt, you want something — anything — to make it stop, and the quicker, the better. I’ve known people to try to make their emotional pain go away with a pill, bottle, or pipe. I’ve known others who have tried religion, spirituality, or discipline.

But the truth is only God can heal the soul. Only God has the knowledge and power to examine, diagnose, and treat our heart of hearts. Only he has the ability to look into our beings past our denials, rationales, explanations and excuses, and place his finger on our most vulnerable areas, bringing life where only pain had existed before.

I think this might have been part of what Jesus was referring to when he said that he was “the way and the truth and the life.” (John 14:6). There is no life outside the origin of all life. There is no healing but from the master healer.

So, whatever became of our household medicine dispute, you ask? Well, let me just say my wife caved and I won the argument. That is to say that I hid all my pills in a shoebox in the closet.

Momentum For Life: Biblical Practices for Sustaining Physical Health, Personal Integrity, and Strategic Focus by Michael Slaughter, (Abingdon, 2005 & 2008) 135 pages, ISBN-13:978-0-687-65009-5

Michael Slaughter is the lead pastor and chief visionary for the Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church outside of Tipp City in western Ohio. Not only has Slaughter led the transformation of a small country church to mega church status, he has sustained a high level of leadership for the church, the region, and the world for over 30 years.

In this book he reveals some of the secrets to his high level of consistent effectiveness. He organizes his teachable points on the acronym of DRIVE.

Slaughter shares a variety of personal experiences to illustrate his convictions on each of these points. He is open and vulnerable in disclosing some personal experiences of both his failures and accomplishments.

As some would characterize Slaughter, he is not a writer but a communicator who can take significant concepts and relay them in easy to understand principles. Consequently, the book is a quick and entertaining read.

At the same time the reader will want to have a highlighter handy for noting those points that can become life changing. In addition, Slaughter includes a number of resources such as the Transformation Journal and more than can be found on the Ginghamsburg web site. The book also contains reflection questions at the end of each chapter for the reader to digest.

This is not a “how-to” book on growing your church from 95 to 5,000. More importantly, it is the written coaching of a leader for effective leadership wherever one serves.

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DBMIM December 16, 2009