Matt Smay

I was recently downloading a new update to a program on my computer (won’t mention the culprit), but after about 5 minutes of downloading the following message appeared,
 

Installing – This may take a while…

Have you ever wondered why anything worth doing seems to come with that message? I’ve been reflecting lately on the past few years of ministry and I’m struck by the consistent theme – most of the best stuff has taken a long time to develop. Whether a book, a new training, a new community, or ministry strategy – it often takes years to accomplish something new and innovative. This is not just an idea or concept relegated to the ministry world. I’ve had two girls, and in the midst of each of my wife’s pregnancies, I remember the hurdles – pregnancy test, first heart beats, ultrasound (it’s a girl!), and the long awaited delivery.

You know the deal, whether it’s starting a relationship, finding the perfect job, landing a big opportunity, or starting a new church…it all takes time – usually too much time in my book!

As I look at this year, I’ve been wrestling with a theme. I think it’s going to be centered on ‘love’. Strange theme for a guy like me. Afterall, I like to hunt – with a bow, I never cry, love to rough-it when I camp, I’m the big brother type, the kind of guy that rarely, if ever, shows emotion…But since I take this yearly theme pretty serious, I’ve spent a few months listening to God, keeping attentive to the unique coincidences, and the obvious connections in the day-to-day. Even though I’d rather focus on some attribute like courage, love is the theme I’ve been dealt.

Unfortunately for me, when my mind wanders for even a second, I jump to that familiar scripture, ‘Love is patient…” hope you know the rest because this is as far as I’ve gotten. Seems to me that everything that matters most in my life has been developed over time and has taken a great deal of patience. For me, it has always involved a thorough process of learning and adapting, which has also included some failure and the occasional big success.  Part of my job is to train church planters and coach existing church leaders, and I’m sure the ones reaching their goals would all agree that sticking with it was the hardest struggle. Just a little fair warning, I think starting a missional community or moving an existing church to be more incarnational is one of the hardest things to do, but it’s also one of the most rewarding. I’ve noticed that it’s the front-end investment of time and energy that discourages most in the long journey of  change. For what it’s worth,  I laughed out loud, as  I read, “This may take a while…”

The past two weeks have been busy – we kicked off a new MCAP cohort and have been traveling a bunch, which for me included stops in San Francisco, Orange County, and Phoenix. It seems I don’t go more than a day without having an incredible conversation or exchanging an email with a leader that is applying missional/incarnational principles in an existing church or church plant, but is looking to connect with others that are doing the same.

Since the book describes our journey in Denver, it has created a natural opportunity to be an encouragement to leaders that have been on a parallel course and are resonating with our story. One of the most common questions that continues to come up is, “Have you heard of anyone else that is doing…?” Which is followed by a description of their unique ministry context and the challenges they face. Fortunately, I’m meeting more and more leaders with stories of success that I’m able to pass along. These stories include mega churches in Southern California and Arizona that are moving people into mission and community, church plants from coast-to-coast that are making it past the first two years and seeing incarnational communities form around their mission, and church leaders that are making significant changes in order to move their congregation out of an attractional paradigm. So, if you’re one of those leaders that feels “out there, all alone, or under renovation,” whether it’s in the board room or on the streets in a new city, I can honestly say there are more of us out there than you may realize.

By The Way – The common threads I’m finding among those that are experiencing success are a determination and commitment to the vision, coupled with a plan for developing leaders while creating a structure that provides some sustainability.

Have you ever had someone ask you one of those awkward and ill-timed questions? At our neighborhood Christmas party, which has become a tradition with our five nearest neighbors, I was put me in one of those situations. The host couple this year is a solid Christian couple, about my parents age, and they’ve known about Adullam since shortly after we moved into the neighborhood – a little over five years now.

So, shortly after coming in the door, my neighbor tossed out a question to me from across the room, “How’s the Church going?” A fair and innocent question, but one that is difficult to find words for in a room full of people that are dear friends and who have varying degrees of connection with church (in a general sense). I think most of my neighbors rarely even think of me as a pastor, but rather the handy man, dad, fellow mountain biker, a Broncos and Rockies fan, consistently around and available for a conversation, and the guy who keeps his lawn green and shovels his driveway when it snows. Early in ministry, I might have jumped at this opportunity to “unload the truck” and share all the things we’ve had going on at Adullam. But I’m finding that very few people outside of the church have any interest in how church is going. In fact the term is an insiders term and has very little meaning for people. It’s sort of like being asked about a book club, sports club, gym, or other private membership group from someone that doesn’t belong.

I bring this up because I spent some time wondering about my initial reaction, and came to the conclusion that I think it’s OK to feel a little awkward when someone asks without consideration about our most intimate friends. If we reach one of our goals and church really becomes a people we belong with, then it makes sense that we describe our church like we would our family…we’ve come a long ways and there’s a lot of great people in Adullam – it’d be fun to introduce you to them sometime!

Have you ever had a caffeine withdrawal headache? Well, this week I was sick with a nasty stomach bug that made the thought of food and most drink repugnant for several days – including my daily staple of coffee and americano’s. (In order to understand the context of this post, I should fess up that I currently average about a pot of coffee per day.) So, after two days of being sick, I wasn’t sure which was worse, the body aches or the massive caffeine withdrawal headaches.

It’s now been four days off coffee (caffeine) and I’m realizing how integrated it has become in my daily routine. So, here’s the dilemma – I really love coffee, but I’m stuck with the realization that caffeine may be playing too big a role in my daily life, and worse yet, I’m wondering how I Corinthians 6:12 might apply,

“Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”—but I will not be mastered by anything.”

Hadn’t really thought of this verse in regards to caffeine, and I’m not sure where I’ll land. Perhaps I just need to make a fast of caffeine to break the hold, or cut back to a few cups a day. Either way, I dislike the feeling of being mastered by anything and it’s definitely not beneficial at this level…

By The Way – if you ever need to do some quick Bible research online (like I did tonight) www.bible.org is pretty helpful, especially the Bible and site search in the top right.