Steve Murrell's Blog, page 34

Rethinking Christmas Gifts

In this video, I retell the infamous story of “The Christmas Eve Disaster.” Though these events happened over thirty years ago, I remember them like it was yesterday. As embarrassing (and frustrating) as it was at the time, I am so thankful that little William’s meltdown in 1989 forced Deborah and I to think seriously about how to fight selfishness and instill generosity in our children from a young age

There is No Leadership Shortage

When I talk with pastors around the world, one of the most common challenges that pastors bring up is their leadership shortages. Sometimes I give them a suggestion if someone comes to mind, but more often than not I challenge them to take a second look at the leaders in their own church context to see who God has already put on their team.

If we train ourselves to see our own people differently and commit to developing the gifts and potential that God has put inside of them, I believe that, in time, we will not have a leadership shortage but rather an abundance of leaders for our local needs and to send on mission.

A Wretch Like Me

In this video, I look at what Paul says in Romans 7 & 8 about the “wretched” human condition and God’s solution to our predicament. I also look at the life of one historical figure who was once a self-professed “wretch” and by God’s grace became an adopted son of God by the Spirit.

Leadership Lessons from 605 BC

As we think about crisis leadership in 2020, I want to look back to the year 605 BC when the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem and took as captives the best young men of the city, including Daniel.

How did Daniel respond to this massive disruption in his life? How did he lead his fellow Jewish captives in the midst of an unthinkable crisis? There are three things that Daniel did that we can learn from today.

Build the Team
Expect the Fire
Keep the Faith

A Post-Election Post: Kings and Kingdoms Will All Pass Away

 

While my wife was watching the USA election results last night, I was on a Zoom call with an Every Nation leader who serves as our national director in a restricted nation, where the military and police regularly harass Christians, arrest pastors, and close churches.

 

Everything our pastors do in that nation is strictly underground and illegal, but they continue to joyfully honor God and make disciples, despite the danger. As a result of exercising what many around the world consider basic religious liberties, some of our pastors in that nation have been recipients of what they jokingly call “overnight accommodations in government facilities courtesy of the police.” Most of us would call it jail or prison.

Here’s part of my conversation with my friend that I’ll call “Pastor X.”

 

Pastor X: “We are praying for America while you elect your new president.”

Me: “Thanks for praying. We definitely need your prayers! How does voting happen in your nation.”

Pastor X: “Hmmm. What is voting? We have never experienced that here.”

 

We both laughed at my friend’s tongue-in-cheek remark, then talked about the expansion of the gospel in his city and region through church planting and campus ministry. Many Every Nation churches in his country have actually grown during the COVID-19 lockdown and quarantine.

 

Because they have been shut down so many times by the police over the past fifteen years, they have learned to do ministry without large public worship gatherings. Because of the uncertainty and danger of public worship services, they do evangelism in the marketplace, rather than inviting people to a weekly church service. And while they do underground worship services whenever they can, they also do discipleship, worship, fellowship, and leadership in small groups all the time.

 

As always, when I got off the call with my friend, I was encouraged and inspired. Then I watched the news reports of the USA election results and I was instantly the opposite of encouraged and inspired.

 

When I woke up this morning, America was still counting votes and still uncertain who would be her next president. And the gospel continued to advance in nations that never have elections.

 

My conversation with my friend last night helped clear my mind about the USA election, no matter the result. With my newly cleared mind, I jotted down a few thoughts that might help Christian leaders navigate our current political situation in America.

 

1. GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE. No matter who ends up being America’s next president, I am grateful that I get to do life and ministry with amazing people from all over the world — people who give me a global perspective that makes me a better person and a better leader. A global perspective also helps me think more clearly about local and national politics. My friend, “Pastor X,” lives in a nation that persecutes Christians, restricts free speech, and offers him no opportunity to vote his leaders out of office, yet his family is thriving and his church is growing. The political parties that proclaim messianic promises every four years to save America do not exist in his nation, yet God’s kingdom continues to advance, and God’s promises continue to be fulfilled despite the persecution. That tells me that even if your candidate or party of choice did not win in the 2020 election, God’s kingdom will be just fine.

 

2. AMERICAN PRIVILEGE. No matter who ends up being America’s next president, millions of Americans got to vote. Too many of us take the privilege to vote for granted. Billions of people in history never had that privilege, and billions living right now will never experience that privilege. So, no matter if your candidate won or lost, at least you got to experience the American privilege of voting. My presidential candidate definitely did not win, as my conscience would not allow me to vote for either of the top two. I voted for one of the other three candidates on the bottom of the Tennessee ballot. My guy was a distant last, but at least I got to vote, and that’s a privilege many only dream about.

 

3. DIVINE PROVIDENCE. No matter who ends up being America’s next president, God is still God and Jesus is still building His Church. Winning candidates and political parties come and go, but the Church endures. Presidents, senators, and governors are but vapors, mist, and minor footnotes in history, but Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords for all eternity. My eternal and temporal hope is in King Jesus, not in a presidential candidate. My ultimate loyalty and allegiance is to the Kingdom of God, not to an American political party. Because I believe in human responsibility, I voted like a Wesleyan, and because I believe in divine sovereignty, I slept like a Calvinist. No matter who ends up in the White House, I believe that “the Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.” (Psalm 103:19) That means the Church will probably outlive a bad political leader or two.

 

It looks like the 2020 United States presidential election will drag on for the next few days, maybe the next few weeks. It will probably get more and more contentious. Accusations will fly, tempers will explode, and numbers will be exaggerated. Hopefully, violence will not happen and lives will not be lost.

 

No matter how Americans respond in the next few days, God will continue to offer the free gift of salvation, not through a victorious president, but through his sacrificial Son. He will continue to offer his perfect peace, whether or not we receive it. And he will continue to rule and reign in our nation, whether or not we acknowledge it.

 

Hopefully, our spiritual leaders will continue to lead, our preachers will continue to preach, and our pastors will continue to care for God’s people. The nation needs the Church now more than ever.

As I am bombarded by election news, there’s an old song I can’t get out of my mind.





“Jesus, Jesus, Jesus; there’s just something about that name.

Master, Savior, Jesus, like the fragrance after the rain;

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, let all Heaven and earth proclaim
Kings and kingdoms will all pass away,

But there’s something about that name.”

 

Why don’t you pause a few minutes and think about those last two lines?

“Kings and kingdoms will all pass away,

But there’s something about that name.”

Thoughts on Electoral Politics

Considering that the Bible has little to say about electoral politics (they didn’t have elections back then), let’s take a cue from John Wesley who gave this advice to people in his church on the eve of a contentious election:

Vote for whom you think is most worthy.
Speak no evil of the candidate you voted against.
Do not sharpen your soul against people who voted differently than you.

I Must Decrease

In this video, we consider the counter-cultural first-century leadership wisdom of John the Baptist, whose message to his followers was this: “He [Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease.”

In order to become a leader like John, we have to grapple with three essential questions that were asked of John the Baptist.

Who are you?
What do you say about yourself?
Why do you do what you do?

In John 3, we find John’s answers to these crucial questions, and we find the key to true biblical leadership.

Spiritual Leaders: Prophets or Priests?

How should the church engage in the political arena? In this video, my son William, dean of academics for Every Nation Seminary, offers a helpful framework for thinking about this very question.

Lead with Certainty during Uncertain Times

It’s so easy and so common, especially during times of uncertainty and rapid change, for any number of important and urgent issues to push us and nudge us slightly off mission. If we are not careful, we can wake up one day and realize that we have drifted way off mission.

Speaking Truth to Power

In this moment of increased civic unrest and social activism across the globe, one of the key phrases you hear circulating in culture is the idea of “speaking truth to power.” It is so often invoked by Christian leaders these days that one would be forgiven for assuming that they were quoting scripture.

While the phrase is not found in scripture (it actually originates with an African American Civil Rights leader in the 1940s), the concept and practice can be found in scripture. In the Bible, we find numerous examples of this practice—Moses, Nathan, Elijah, John the Baptist, etc.—examples that can provide us with a template for how to engage culture in a productive and God-honoring way.