Shane Ash

The art of Christ-like compromise….in relationships, ministry, leadership, and life.

Today I was reminded of a story my Grandpa told me a few weeks before I got married.

I remember one morning as we sat around the breakfast table in the kitchen of the farm house asking Grandpa, “So, do you have any advice for me before I get married?”

Grandpa paused for a while, stirring his half-cup of coffee and finally said, “You’re going to have to learn how to compromise.”

“What does that look like?” I asked.

Grandpa sipped his coffee and then said, “Well, one time Grandma wanted a new clothes line put up on the north side of the house. I wasn’t going to put it up on the north side because that is where I parked my truck. So I told her we were going to put the clothes line on the east side. She didn’t like that idea because she was afraid the wind would blow sand into the cloths. So, we comprised.”

I sat for awhile and when I finally figured out my directions I exclaimed, “Grandpa, the clothes line is on the north side. How is that a compromise?”

I am loving my Bible reading lately. I have been reading through the Gospel of Mark and taking my time to digest each moment. Yesterday I shared this story with our leadership team at the church.

In Mark 5:36 we find Jesus on a healing spree and people were asking for help at every step. One of those asking for the attention of Jesus was a man named Jairus. He was hoping for Jesus to come and heal his daughter. But before he could get the attention of Jesus, someone came and told him it was too late, his daughter had died.

I love what is recorded about Jesus’ response…”ignoring what they said”…he continued to press forward on his mission of hope.

Always in leadership there will be those who will criticize and doubt. And it is easy to get distracted and lose hope in the midst of the hope thieves. But Jesus gives us a great picture of continuing to press forward and ignoring what they said, encouraging others to believe.

I am still in school…everyday learning how to lead, how to be a better pastor, how to help people grow spiritually. I have many class rooms…reading, listening, watching others who are succeeding, and even the class of criticism and failure. All of these experiences teach me how to be better…how to grow.

Right now I am learning how to lead people into new places that involve the chance at failure. We are dreaming and discussing how to take some strategic risks that we hope will have huge spiritual impact…but like any change, it involves the risk of failure.

Today I watched a great video about the the lessons of failure. It is worth every one of the eleven minutes it takes to watch…so today, will you come to class with me? Let’s learn together. Click on the “bookie” link to watch this video.

Bookie from LifeChurch.tv on Vimeo.

Today I read a post from Craig Groeschel (pastor of LifeChurch.tv) that is very well said…and I have to share. 

The last couple of months we have been trying to lead and position nbc for God to use us to influence our community with the message of Christ. Our leadership team has been in prayerful dialogue about how to expand our influence and increase the spiritual depth of the people who are calling nbc their church community. Recently we have recognized the need to reshape how we assume people grow…and what we need to be as a church in order to better reach and grow people. I thought it was interesting to read Craig’s thoughts today that mirror a lot of the conversations we have been having within our teams.

Craig writes: “To reach the next generation for Christ, we must be three things: Conversational, Missional, and Generational.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Click here to read the rest of Craig’s post.

I have been challenging myself over the last few weeks to lead with more risk. It is always easier to ‘stay safe’ with what I know…to only lead into places I am already comfortable. But what if the Spirit-led life is more messy, risky, and chaotic than what we are used too…does God always lead us to the comfortable?

Today I read a great quote from a documentary about Ernest Shackleton’s journey to the South Pole in the early 1900′s. He was looking to build a team of men that would accompany him…so he placed an ad in a newspaper looking for the right men.

“Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.”

I am starting to believe the Spirit-led life must involve similar risk…and it makes sense. Risk involves us letting go of control and trusting in the unseen…trusting in the One leading.

The level of risk is equal to our measure of trust.

What risk is God calling you too?