Spear-throwing Narcissism

I was reminded today just how dangerous it is to become self-absorbed, especially as a leader. When a leader becomes self-absorbed and narcissistic he begins to see everything that happens through the lens of egotism and that is an extremely volatile world view.

It is God that places us in positions of leadership. Romans 13:1 states  that everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. If that's true, then any position we have is God-given and He determines how long we will keep it. It is not ours to defend! David understood this, Saul did not. When Saul felt that his position was threatened, he reacted by throwing spears! David on the other hand, when he saw a threat to his throne, reminded himself that the throne wasn't his, it belongs to God! 

We have to choose: Will I be a Saul or a David? We've got to quit throwing spears at those we think may be trying to take our throne! Let God decide how long you will hold the position of authority you've been given. I know there are times when it looks like people are plotting against us and we think that political maneuvering might result in us being unseated. Do we really believe people have that kind of power? Do we really think God is helpless against the plans of man? Give me a break! If that were my view of God I wouldn't even bother with Him! God is bigger than people, politics or positions. So I've decided to let God be God. It is His prerogative to give positions and take them away. I want to humbly lead when He chooses and humbly get out of the way when He's done with me. Anything less is just narcissistic spear-throwing! 

The Death of An Era

Dana Key - Founding partner of DeGarmo & Key (One of the pioneer rock duos of early Contemporary Christian Music) died today at age fifty-six. For me this is more than just the loss of a fellow Christ-follower or artist, this is the death of an era: An era of my faith when everything about it was brand new - Including the music! I became a Christ-follower when I was twenty years old - The year was 1982. I felt that it was important to leave everything about my former life behind including the music I had always listened to. I burned it all in a big heap. The problem was that, at that time, there wasn't a lot of Christian music available that was the style of music I enjoyed. Those CCM artists that did exist became very close companions. They weren't just singers and songwriters, they were teachers. Their lyrics helped shape my doctrine. DeGarmo and Key was one of those bands that God used to help shape what I believe today.

Now I don't want to give you the wrong idea, not everything these guys did met with my artistic approval. It was the eighties and they were trying to compete with bands who were creating what we now know as eighties music. It was horrible! And sometimes D&K's offerings fit that same description. However, it was all we had and we were glad to have it! Thank God they also gave us some really good music and their CDs stayed in our CD players, our boom-boxes and our walkmans! I only saw DeGarmo & Key in concert once, but it was quite a show!

They gave the world one of the first Christian music videos - A song called Six, Six, Six that MTV refused to play because it was too graphic (what a laugh!). Dana was the cool front man of the group. He had true swagga! He and Eddie DeGarmo wrote the band's music, and I'm sure no one was surprised by his songwriting abilities as he was a direct descendant of Francis Scott Key who wrote the Star Spangled Banner.

Christian music has drastically changed since those early days. There's so much variety and so many options now. More and more Christian artists are crossing over to the main stream and MP3's have made the purchase of albums a thing of the past for many of us. So the death of Dana Key, in my opinion marks the passing of a way of life, a way of artistry and ministry that God used in those days when I was just starting out as a follower of Christ. God has new ways of doing things now and that's okay because, in the words of the old Billy Preston song that DeGarmo and Key covered on their 1983 album Mission of Mercy, that's the way God planned it.

Here's one of my favorite D&K songs. We used to sing it as a worship song. The words of the chorus say, "I don't want to be a casual Christian." I'm so glad Dana wasn't a casual Christian. I'm so glad he let God use him in a very special way in a past era. It was my era, and I'll miss you Dana! 

The Graduate

Well, the time has arrived. This Friday night at Crossroads Church, my baby girl will graduate High School. She will be honored in a ceremony with eight of her friends from The Faith Fellowship Home School Network. We are so proud of her. She is graduating with honors: She has qualified for a full TOPS scholarship to any Louisiana University. Donna has done an incredible job home schooling Robin and Chase and I'm very proud of her as well. 

Robin will be attending Master's Commission here at Crossroads in the fall and plans to get her degree in Biblical Counseling through The West Coast Bible Institute. She has a desire to be involved in ministry to troubled girls and hopes to intern with Nancy Alcorn of Mercy Ministries. Nancy has invited her to spend some time with her this summer at her Nashville location and Robin is so excited about it. 

We are so very proud of Robin and the young woman she has become. She's never given us a minutes trouble and she has such a genuine passion for God. We could not have asked for a better daughter and we're so thankful for her! 

A Direct Line to God

God came through big time for us today! We've been stressed out all week because Sunday is the final day of a 45-day window that our bid on our worship center is good for. We had planned on signing the contract this week and then our lender let us know that we had another test that has to be done in association with our apartment complex that we're using as part of our collateral. This test could take another few weeks to complete. We immediately began to scramble to put together a legal addendum to the contract that would protect us if for some reason the financing fell through, so we could go ahead and sign the contract and not lose the bid price we have received.

This morning the president of the construction company we've selected called our architect to say, "Tell the pastor we have no problem extending our bid long enough for them to get their test done." He said, "We've done business with several churches in the past and they always get their money approved so we're not worried about it."

Our architects we're ecstatic! They called to say, "Obviously yall have a direct line to God!" (It appears this kind of thing is very uncommon.) So thanks everyone for praying! This is yet another way God has proven that we are fulfilling His will in expanding our facilities here at Crossroads Church!