Church Called Tov - Power Problems

All right, so if we haven't met my name is Greg Hampton and I'm one of the pastors here and I would

Love to meet you if we haven't met yet. I'll buy you coffee

At your your place first. I see ohs is open again round of applause for Theos. So glad that they are

Back, you know, I won't bring up that it was gonna happen months ago and it's just finally here, but you know

Okay, I did bring it up didn't I?

All right, so we are going through a series called a church called

Tov

Forming a goodness culture that resists abuses of power and promotes healing if anyone would like to read it

I have an extra copy

You're welcome to come and grab it at the end of the service if you think that you'll actually go through it

You're welcome to bring it back when you're done or just keep it and pass it along to someone else

But this is what we're gonna be talking about for the next couple of weeks and to jump into that today

41 years ago in December of

1982 right have you seen those memes where I'm old enough where people go, you know when someone says

Oh, yeah, 20 years ago you think 1993

But that wasn't 20 years. That was 30 years ago. So 41 years ago if vehicle called the quiet

achiever

Became the first practical long-distance solar powered

car

two guys named Larry and Hans

drove it

2500 miles across the entire continent of Australia using only solar

power

The car they drove looked like this

Got that Clara looks like this

I believe any guesses what their average speed was

Twelve what thirty twelve any other guesses or

14 miles per hour. Yeah, it took them 20 days to

get across

the continent

I remember being a kid in reading about cars like this

But I don't know which one it was but there was a car that had gone all the way across the United States of America

And I was convinced that by the time that I was a full-fledged adult that all of our cars would be electric and or

solar power because even if you were a full-fledged adult

You're not gonna be able to get gas powered because even in the early 80s

There was a sense that if we can develop ways to travel that don't depend on oil. Why wouldn't we right?

Why not give it a shot? So I pulled up the data and

Clary you ready?

Here we go. This graph shows the growth in sales since 1982 of

gas-powered trucks and SUVs

The exact opposite of what I thought would happen in my lifetime has happened

Trucks get 30% fewer miles per gallon

They cost 20 to 30 percent more to purchase

but last year alone almost 80 percent of

All light vehicles or vehicles that you're in, you know, your average person buys 80% were trucks or SUVs

Why?

Some of us need a truck it's true. Let's be honest. Most of us just need a friend that has a truck, right?

So why and Clary you can take that down now if you want

So why when we have the technology and have the technology to move forward with things like solar and electric

For 40 plus years. Why have we gone the other?

Direction there's actually a lot of legitimate answers. It isn't really just one thing new technologies are

Expensive and when you develop those new technologies

You have to get people to buy them in bulk so that you can drive down the price of that new technology the fossil fuels

Lobby isn't a huge fan of alternatives

Then truck sales happen to go up when the price of oil goes down

It's like this sense that we think. Oh, okay gas is cheap now

So that that that makes it better but the big reason is that

Battery storage technology has lagged behind our electric vehicle technology. It's not hard to make the electric vehicle

It's hard to store the energy in a way that actually makes sense for an everyday person

You just can't recharge the car as quickly as you can refill a tank

You can't

And this might just be my opinion

But I put it on the list of why trucks rule the roost why literally they sell three

Trucks and SUVs for every one regular car three to one

It's because of power

Trucks are strong trucks are big and

They make us feel

strong and big and powerful I may never tow a

Seven ton trailer, but if I wanted to I could if I have a truck I

May never loads 24 hundred pounds of gas

100 pounds of gravel in the bed of my f-150

But I could if I wanted to if I had a truck I

May never line that bed with plastic and fill it up with water and turn it into a traveling hot tub

But I could if I wanted to if I had a truck

The president of an automotive research firm had this to say about why people buy vehicles with off-road capabilities

Quote the thought process is this if I want to be proud of myself

And if part of the way I imagine that is through the ideas of freedom

Being able to go anywhere do anything and I happen to be someone who is tied to a job or family where I have so much

responsibility that I can't actualize that

By purchasing this vehicle and having that capability that fills that emotional deficit or gap that I'm having

It says I still am that person even if I'm not doing those things

Truck has the power to do a lot of things even make you feel more powerful like you can do anything

Go anywhere and it can project to others

What you want them to think that you are capable of even if you never do it

Now what happens when a pastor

when church leaders that are meant to be good

Look at their congregation and see the quiet achiever

Running on the power of the Sun

Going 14 miles per hour, but what they really want is a Cadillac Escalade

Or a Range Rover with the towing package

They want to project to the outside world that I am a great leader look what I built look what I'm capable of

What will that person do to feel what they want to feel and project what they want to project

I

Remember about ten and a half years ago when Cindy and I were in the church planners training events

One of the people got up and said you all every one of you in here has a picture in your mind of who you

Who your pastor is for? But you will have to pastor whoever walks through your doors

Sometimes people and pastors aren't all that pleased with who walked through their doors

And so they do whatever they can to change the makeup of who they are

Maybe not just who but how many? But we aren't meant to hold these positions as pastors to fulfill our dreams

We're not meant to turn a minivan into a dream car if it's a minivan and we're not meant to turn the quiet achiever

Into a suburban we're meant to be told we're meant to be good in position to fulfill God's purposes

So let's open up our Bibles and see what Jesus has to say about trucks not actually but about this all right

We're gonna go to two places. We're gonna be Matthew 20 and

1st Peter 5 if you don't have a Bible we have paper Bibles physical Bibles in the lobby that you can grab on your way home

They're blue. They're on the bookshelf if you don't have that or want one of those you can download a Bible from any of the digital app stores

Matthew is the first book in what is broadly called the New Testament

I often call it the second testament because it came second

It's the first one at the very beginning that and then 1st Peter is toward the end of that testament goes Hebrews James

First Peter 2nd Peter 1st 2nd 3rd John so if you find that neighborhood you know that you're in the right spot

And we have a tradition of giving the scriptures are a full attention when we read them during the message

In a service and one of the ways we do that is by standing together as we are able or

If you prefer to sit I'll just give your attention to the scriptures all right if you'd like to stand with me I'll read first from Matthew

20 starting in verse 25

But Jesus called them together and said you know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people

And officials flaunt their authority over those under them but among you it will be two

People and officials flaunt their authority over those under them but among you it will be different

Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave

Even the son of man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many

And later in first Peter 5

1 Peter 5:2

Verse 2 says this care for the flock that God has entrusted to you watch over it willingly not grudgingly

Not for what you will get out of it but because you are eager to serve God don't lord it over the people assigned to your care

But lead them by your own good example let us pray

God of every tribe every tongue every color every nation we thank you for the scriptures that they have persisted

Throughout the millennium I pray that today whatever you have for us to learn from them that it would stick

That it would become a part of the framework of our faith that our faith would become stronger as we become more like your son Jesus

Amen. Amen. Thanks all I can have a seat

First thing I want to point out here is that Jesus knew that power can be poisonous

Jesus knew that power can be poisonous most of us probably aren't surprised by that most of us probably agree with that

But we still tend to think that just a little power can make a smart person even smarter

Or that a little power could take a decent leader with good ideas and make them great

Think about it we've probably all done this if you ever met or seen someone and had the thought if that person would just run for office

If that person would just run for office if that person were just on the school board if that person was just our police officer

If that person were the mayor, senator, fill in the blank but here's the truth

Once that person becomes any of those things the chances of them being that person anymore dissipates

Because power can be poisonous and this isn't like my opinion about trucks okay there's actually research behind this

Research actually shows that and I quote subjects given power acted as if they had suffered traumatic brain injuries

Becoming more impulsive less risk aware and crucially less adept at seeing things from other people's points of view

The research suggests that quote once we have power we lose some of the capacities we needed to gain that power in the first place

That person you thought was a good person would make a great fill in the blank probably was probably would have been

Power does funny things to us power does weird things to us it has the potential to change us and Jesus knew this

Jesus taught his disciples not to wield and lord their power over others because he knew that eventually the disciples would be placed in positions of power

That they would get elevated they'd go from being like the guys on the street arguing about which one of them was the best to actually being the one that was in charge

They ran the risk of being like a monster truck running over the quiet achiever if they weren't careful about what power was doing to them

That's why Jesus said among you it will be different will should be I want it to be I'm telling you to let it be different

Whoever wants to be a leader among you must actually be a servant Jesus said for I did not even come to be served but to serve

Peter was there with them and so later he writes a letter to a smattering of early churches around the region for them to read for their leaders to be reminded

And he says what he learned from Jesus watch over the congregation willingly not grudgingly not for what you will get out of it because you are eager to serve God

When we don't follow these words of Jesus that Peter reminds people of there are warning signs Scott and Laura in this book wrote that one of the first problems is vesting too much power in an individual person that has no real accountability

That sounds obvious but why why is that the beginning of the problems because that person's approval can become like gold to the people that they lead particularly people that they lead that also wants to share in that power

They might create a culture where people learn that if they just affirm and praise the pastor they gain status they get promoted they get positioned higher in the congregation

I think that it's actually a gift from Jesus that I don't like compliments it's not that I'm insecure I have plenty of security ask Jen she knows how full of myself I can be

But when I get compliments it's really I it's not that I don't believe them it's that there's something in me that immediately goes don't let that go to your head

Oh it's not it's not don't it's not don't believe that it's don't let them think that you want what they're saying too much because if they learn that you live for this then you will create a culture that lives and dies on whether they like you

And not just for me but for the people in the congregation that whether someone likes me or not will actually affect what kind of experience they have in this congregation and that is not healthy

The opposite is also true Scott and Laura right people that disapprove get degraded they get demoted maybe talks down about behind closed doors but also in their actual roles in the congregation you used to be director of this well now you're not

You used to lead this team well now you don't you used to serve twice a month well now it's once a quarter how dare you question the leader that's not healthy

And then when the people that are in that are working to move their way up see what happens to people that disagree their fear of not being able to move up and being demoted only grows and only reinforces a circle of yes around the leader that can just hand out

Approval disapproval promotions demotions

And then depending on the level of disagreement, you might not just get demoted. You might get removed. You might get fired. You might get asked to quietly resign and be told that you can never tell anybody why

This is these are real things guys real things that happen churches have employees sign NDAs that say they cannot talk about what really happened

So what do we do this church the house what do we do to avoid that kind of culture really that's what all of the next following weeks are going to be about are going to be about the elements of a healthy of a toll good culture but actually want to spend a few minutes here probably more than a few minutes I'm honest talking about our structure here at the house

We are considered what is called a staff led church model. It means that as the lead pastor I lead a lead team people that have leadership over separate teams and so that's Alex Campbell, he leads the student ministry. It's Andy Boswell. He's the treasurer. It's Chris Britain. He's one of the teaching pastors currently on sabbaticals.

So you don't don't don't ask him questions about his next sermon. Jen Swift associate pastor Kelsey Campbell social media director Chris Olson does facility care Robin Mesterly the treehouse kids director and Scott McConnell who is our first impressions director.

We meet as a team on a monthly basis. We talk about what's coming up. We ask for updates however one is doing and we try to together plan for things that are happening in the church and then depending on each of those individual persons availability.

I meet with most of them individually on a monthly basis to encourage them and to see how I can equip them for the ministry that they are doing in the church in a staff led model small decisions are localized to team leaders.

Robin and treehouse Alex in the shed if they want to do an event with their leaders or shed if Alex was like hey I'm going to invite all the students to come to the building this Friday night for movie night.

He does not need my permission. He doesn't even have to run it by the team. He leads that ministry. He can decide to do things like that for their ministries but if they needed an additional budget for that that wasn't already budgeted yeah then they would run that up the flagpole.

They'd ask me and I'd go okay I can say yes to this much but I can only say yes to this much because I have a limit. I am not supposed to. I say supposed to right because that is how rules work.

I could say I'm not allowed to be really I'm not supposed to. I'm not supposed to spend more than 250 unbudgeted dollars without asking the treasurers for approval.

And so if they need 100 bucks I can go yeah absolutely just get us the receipts. We will take care of that.

Actually just this past week I made a new budget request.

I asked if we could start having donuts once a month.

And because a number of people have asked for that so it's not my idea.

And I asked hey can we start paying Robin something as the treehouse director can we start paying her something on a monthly basis. Now here's the deal.

That is a hard sell when you missed budget by 1100 dollars last month.

But I wanted to be on their radar.

And I said hey let's think about this. Is this something that we could do. Can we take the chance. Can we just risk it and do it.

And here's the absolute honest truth. There was a moment in the conversation in that text thread where I could tell that someone in the conversation was deferring to me.

And I could have if I wanted to pushed it.

I could have been the monster truck that went over the quiet achiever and just said we're going to do it.

And I could have even made it sound holy. Well we're just going to do this on faith guys.

I really think that the Lord always provides. God always has what we need. Our bank accounts never been zero.

The Lord will give us what we need so that we can do this good thing.

But we have treasurers for a reason.

And while the truth is that they wanted to make the change we all agreed that it wasn't the most wise financial decision.

So the answer was let's wait and see. Let's see how this month goes. See if that turns around.

And then we have elders. Eric Rowell is one of our elders and Jen Swift is what would be called a staff elder.

She's an elder of the church but she's also on the staff. My wife Cindy is an elder and I am an elder.

And if you're thinking oh that doesn't sound like that elder board has a whole lot of power to tell Greg what to do because they're all friends.

It would be important for you to know that our elder board is not a governing board.

Our elder board is a spiritual board. Spiritual meaning that if someone is sick if someone needs encouragement if someone needs counseling.

We call the elders together in order to pray for those people because in a staff led model we have we try to build consensus as much as possible.

But we lean on the accountabilities that we have built in for those and we expect the elders to be people of prayer.

But I also want to say that the elders are people that you can trust.

That if someone in our congregation is mistreating you and this is the truth if I am mistreating you.

Eric and Jen in particular you know you may not want to go to my wife.

But if I'm doing something that is sinning against you then you should feel completely free that Eric and Jen are not going to take my side immediately.

If you go and tell them that I've done something wrong and I encourage you to do that because that's the way that it should be.

Then in addition to our local team in addition to our elders we have what's called overseers.

Overseers are like elders that are part of other churches. They are pastors of other churches.

They care about me. They care about the health of our congregation.

And in particular they are meant to pray for me and give me advice when needed.

Because in the event that I were to be accused of something and let's say that you went and talked to one of the elders.

And we weren't able to work things out here locally.

Our bylaws say that then the overseers are supposed to be called and the overseers have the authority to fire, discipline, suspend or replace me as pastor.

I am not without accountability.

That does not mean that people always know what that accountability is.

Right? Some of you are hearing this for the first time.

Part of the reason some of you are hearing this for the first time is because since COVID we have not gotten back into the practice of having a new members class.

Where we would normally share all of those things.

And so I was talking to Scott McConnell recently and we've talked about how with our new emphasis on first impressions we need to start doing in a about the house thing again.

Where you would hear all of these things and be able to ask questions about what that means.

Now just so you know, I don't want to belabor the point.

But in case you need to know, the two overseers are Michael Ummenauer who I have known for 31 years.

He was my youth pastor.

He has known me since I was just a little lad.

And he was a youth pastor at Frusciano Presbyterian where I went to church.

He currently pastors a church in California just outside of Sacramento.

And the other overseer is Ross Parsley.

I've known him for 17 years.

He was the worship pastor at New Life Church when Cindy and I first moved to Colorado.

And both of them, both of them have seen everything that can happen in a church happen.

So they are more than qualified to help sort out anything that might happen.

Now I could, if I wanted to, make it sound like the system that we have is working perfectly.

I could just end it there and be like, so that's what you get guys and it's awesome.

It's absolutely perfect.

But a system is only as good, system is only as good as you work it.

And you can only work it as well as you communicate it.

And the reality is that we've not done a good job of communicating that.

We can use COVID as an excuse.

The truth is that when COVID hit, I kept individually meeting with leaders.

But it's only been a month since we started having our team leaders all together again for a monthly gathering.

And the truth is that our elders have not gotten together to pray together as often as we probably should.

And the truth is that having overseers that live on the other side of the country makes it easy for one of us to forget that we had a phone call coming up.

Because we don't see each other on a regular basis.

A system is only as good as you work it and it can only work as well as you communicate it.

So coming up on 10 years as a church, I want to make sure that we have a system and a structure that shapes a good culture.

That is safe. That is healthy.

That is not the kind of culture that would allow me to hide in a golden tower far away from any real accountability.

That is one of the reasons that tomorrow night when we have our monthly leadership team meeting, this is going to be one of the things that we talk about as a team.

How do we make sure we communicate this? How do we make sure that Greg actually talks to his overseers?

That we get the elders together on a regular basis?

How do we make sure that people know how to reach out to someone safe if something happens?

Because we can stand up here and say we're healthy, we're healthy, we're healthy, we're healthy as much as we want.

But unless we actually have things in place for people to make healthy decisions, then we're just lying.

I don't want to do that.

So tomorrow night we're going to be discussing that as a team.

What I know about myself is this.

I know, I believe that I am called and that I am meant to care for this congregation.

That God has entrusted this to me for this time in my life to watch over it willingly, not grudgingly, not for what I will get out of it, but because I am eager to serve the Lord.

And I am not immune to the effects of power.

I do not want to turn into a monster truck driving over the quiet achiever when the quiet achiever may have only been going 14 miles per hour, but it did so in a way that was only powered by the sun.

That is beautiful.

So I'm grateful for the role that I have here. I'm grateful that I get to be your pastor.

Let's all continue to pray for each other, for the future of who we are together, so that we can be good.

Amen. Amen.