Phone Boy

Recently, I was reading in ROLLING STONE (I bet that is a line you don't normally hear from preachers) about a teenager named Matt Weigman. He was blind, overweight, and an outcast at school. He was also a genius.

Weigman possessed superior hearing skills. Using them, he could "memorize any phone number by the sound of the buttons, decipher the inner workings of a phone system by the frequencies and clicks on a call," and impersonate any voice. He began to "hack into cell phones, order phone lines disconnected and even tap home phones."

He became addicted to telephone party lines-- a service that allows multiple callers to talk to each other over the phone-- a sort of telephone version of an Internet chat room. Now with this power he had acquired, Weigman begin to terrorize strangers. He would call women and demand they give him phone sex. When they would not comply, he would call local authorities and, disguising his voice, telephone number, and his identity, he would send an armed SWAT team to her home.

In time, Weigman evolved into a telephone terrorist, although it could have been worse. Accumulating experience, he networked his way into accessing AT&T's and Verizon's complete network systems. Had he decided, he could have shut down an entire area of the country. And then, the FBI found him.

One day, Weigman arrived home to find his mother speaking with Special Agent Allyn Lynd. The FBI had been tracking his crimes. However, they were not looking for him. He was a minor. The FBI wanted to convict adults guilty of telephone crimes.

Basically, the FBI told Weigman this: cooperate with us, and we'll forget about all of your past -- but stay clean.

Weigman was free. In spite of his blackmail, extortion, bullying, and depravity, his past was wiped clean. He had a new start.

But he could not hang on. Weigman returned to his life of telephone crimes. The FBI returned after Weigman turned 18. This time he was convicted. He was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison.

Why did he do it? After all he was guilty of, after all was forgotten, why did he risk it all? According to ROLLING STONE, it was for a very spiritual reason. "Weigman didn't like being cut off from the only community he had."

Human beings are creatures who crave community. We have to have it. And if we get it, we risk all to keep it. Obviously, Weigman allowed his fallenness to overtake him; he expressed his desire for community in perverted form.

In a couple of weeks, I am going to begin looking with my congregation at a group of people who were blessed initially with a healthy community. However, they surrendered healthy community for unhealthy community. They allowed their fallenness to overtake them. They were the Christians to whom Paul wrote First Corinthians.

Human nature does not change.

Life with Special Speakers

I mentioned last week that Dr. Chris Smith is doing a marriage enrichment seminar for us this weekend. Whenever we have a guest speaker, people ask me if it makes for a relaxing week. The truth is, it is a trade-off.

While I may not have to prepare for a Sunday morning sermon and Bible class, stress is still involved. I want to make sure things go well for the speaker. No preacher wants to see a guest look bad.

All of this means paying attention to more details. I become aware of things I normally do not think about. Consequently, in some ways it is a more stressful weekend having a resource speaker visit. Still, typically everything comes together and I fully anticipate this weekend being one of our best weekends.


Finding men to serve as elders is a tense process....
I think I can best describe this tension in a triangle:



At one point of the triangle, you have the high need for elders. At another point, you have the high calling that elders have in terms of life and example. The third point lies in tension between the other two. There you have the humanity of an elder. No elder is perfect; all elders are fallen and redeemed.

Some churches emphasize the high calling of the elder; some even do so to extremes. Typically, these churches have few elders. Some have none.

Other churches focus on the need. Consequently, the bar is set low. In extreme churches, young single men in their twenties are selected as elders. In other churches, women are included in the eldership.

Always between these two extremes lies the reality of the humanity of the elder candidates.

In some contexts, the tension is experienced through the felt need for elders. When I was in Argentina, I felt the urge for our churches to have shepherds. Having a small group of American men in their 30s lead a church was not healthy. I believe this tension is what Paul felt for the churches he planted in the book of Acts.

Traditionally, churches in the States do not feel this tension. Members, instead, feel tension when it comes to selecting men who fulfill the qualities they perceive represent the high calling of elders.

Because of the huge quantity of Christians located in the churches of the American south, I believe southern churches typically do not sense a high need for additional elders. Shiloh Road is typical in this regard. We have five elders (one has just moved to another area in Texas) to serve approximately 600 members.

In my opinion, this mentality has contributed to the lack of growth most churches experience. To grow, churches need leaders. Some churches attempt to fill the void with huge staffs that do the work of elders. Other churches ride the backs of the effective elders, but they have one elder for every one hundred people. Ultimately, those elders will burn out.

A church of 500 people will never be what it was meant to be with only five elders. A church of 1000 people will never be what it was meant to be with only 10 elders. A church of 2000 people will never be what it was meant to be with only 20 elders. I don't know what the elder to member ratio should be, I do not know the ideal, but I have seen one elder for every 20 people modeled twice. Let's start there.

That means that a church of 500 people should have at least 25 elders. A church of 1000 people should have at least 50 elders. A church of 2000 people should have at least 100 elders.

So what is holding churches back? As I previously mentioned, in some cases it is the emphasis placed on the high calling of elders. Delving deeper, I believe we have become so accustomed to an eldership serving as a congregation's Supreme Court, we cannot conceive of a church having a large number of elders. Let's be honest, typically in local churches, if decisions made by "lower courts" are not favorable, members will appeal to a higher court. If necessary, a decision will have to be rendered by the Supreme Court -- the eldership. Then the decision is binding.

Another cultural twist has hindered our churches. This view is rooted in the idea that each elder is like a widget -- interchangeable. All the elders must do the same things. The fact is not all elders are gifted overseers. What if the gifted overseers dealt with the primary workload of administration, organization, and, yes, routine decision-making? This would require a great deal of trust and the maintenance off strong relationships. Let's face it; this is foreign to most eldership's and congregations.

We tolerate inadequate oversight and pastoral care, yet we cannot tolerate the anxiety that would come from having large elderships lead the flock, as expressed through pastoral care of those so called, and the administrative care of those so gifted.

I am an optimist. I am convicted that those congregations that can break through the glass ceiling of cultural convention will be sowing the seeds of a great harvest. We should never let habit tyrannize the fulfillment of church leadership.

Five things I think I think (a tip of the hat to Peter King for this idea)

1. Just finished BORN STANDING UP by Steve Martin. Actually, it is the second time I listened to it. This autobiography covers Martin's life up until the early 1980s when he quit standup comedy. Although it appears that Steve Martin adlibbed his comedy act, such was not the case. Steve Martin spent years honing his craft. He paid a high price for his success. Although he is truly a talented man-- he is, a Grammy winning musician, an established actor, a marvelous writer, and, of course, a ground breaking comedian. Martin is also a very, very hard worker. His success is no accident.

2. Got to admit I want to play THE BEATLES: ROCK BAND.

3. I wonder if Jay Leno's new show will make it?

4. Good luck to Taylor Potts this football season. Taylor is the quarterback for the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Taylor is yet another example of my brush with sports history. For some weird reason, I have been acquainted with the parents of several of the finest quarterbacks in recent college football history. These have included Colt McCoy and Graham Harrell. As for Taylor Potts, I went to church with his parents back in the late 1980s in Abilene. If you wish for your son to become a major college quarterback, make sure you meet me.

5. I am sad to see the leaves fall off the trees in September.