Like most runners, I will periodically clasp my hands on the grips to check my heart rate to make sure I’m in the right zone for the best results.

One recent morning, I got a frightful surprise. My heart rate was 200!

Uh…Houston we have a problem.

Knowing that my heart rate usually hits in the 120s at that point of the run, something was up and, depending on the “what,” I could be in big trouble. Though 34-year-old males don’t typically have heart attacks, it can happen.

“Surely that can’t be right…” I thought.

I took my hands off and I put them back on a check it again.

Thankfully, it wasn’t.

In fact, it was quite wrong.

Upon a second reading, my heart rate was actually only 127 but the machine is giving me a false reading.

Sometimes the same thing can happen in leadership. We get a false reading.

For example, we catch wind of a few grumblers and assume that the entire ship is about sink. We look at only at a single metric and immediately assume the sky is falling. The kind of panic this often produces can lead to all kinds of preventable problems.

Consider these three solutions to help avoid the panic and the problems that often accompany it.

1. Decide what you want to measure and how you want to measure it.

How do you determine “success” for your church or your ministry division? How do you know if you are meeting your goals? Many leaders lead simply based on how they “feel” things are going instead of how they actually are. I call this “perceived but not actual reality” and it can be very dangerous. Determining and following some clear metrics can prevent this from happening.

2. Establish some trustworthy feedback loops.

Every leader thinks he has adequate feedback channels, but the fact is few do. Many leaders have unwittingly created a culture where all of their followers are unwilling or unable to speak to anyone about how things are really going. Again, this causes the leader to “feel” his way along instead of dealing with actual data from the front lines. Who in your life loves you and your ministry enough to tell you the whole truth? Your elders? Your staff? Your wife? We need these people if we want “actual reality” information.

3. Pray for wisdom.

One of my favorite verses in Scripture is James 1:5. It says “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him.” Leaders need data and feedback, but far more than that they need wisdom. Wisdom is required to know what to do with the data and feedback we receive and how to fix the problems they illuminate. When is the last time you honestly prayed for wisdom? Do it now. You and everyone you lead will be glad you did.

Good leadership requires accurate information and the wisdom to know what to do with it.

Is your information accurate?

Again, I apologize for the formatting that refuses to cooperate. *Note to self and all bloggers: Copying and pasting from Pages is a no-no for WordPress. ; )

Illustrations:

1. Does it serve the text?

2. Is it appropriate for this audience?

3. Is it helpful/necessary or distracting?

4. If preaching weekly: Am I varying my illustrations?

a. Make sure they aren’t always about your kids.

b. Keep a record of what you use and when.

5. Personal illustrations may be preferable for younger audiences.

a. Make sure you aren’t the hero or look like a super saint.

b. Make sure they aren’t always about your kids.

c. Keep a record of what you use and when.

6. Learn to tell good stories.

a. Arc it out like a movie.

b. You need enough but not too much detail.

c. Funny is (almost) always good.

d. Keep it moving.

e. Practice them.

f. Listen to good storytellers.

g. The most important part of the story is the first thing you say after it ends. It tells

people what they need to do with it.

7. Images (and even props) are good for visual learners and variety.

a. Keeps things interesting.

b. Breaks up the exposition.

c. Only do this if it works for you / comes naturally.

If you are just joining us, these are notes from my teaching guide for a recent class I taught in my local church on the subject of preaching.

Again, forgive the weird formatting, WordPress hates this series of posts apparently.

Introductions

1. What is its purpose?

1. To “introduce” your material.
2. To grab people’s attention so they will listen.

1. They can take different forms.
2. They don’t have to necessarily be a funny story. Could be picture (s). Props.
3. Variety is good. Be authentic, not kitchy.
4. Housekeeping. Thank you’d.
5. You don’t have to have one at all.

a. Matt Chandler doesn’t usually have a formal intro.

b. Mark Driscoll doesn’t typically have one.

Conclusions

1. What is its purpose?

1. To “conclude” what you had to say.

2. It should depend upon the sermon material.

a. Appropriate variety is good.

i. Sometimes I restate my points.

ii. Sometimes I take it up a notch.

iii. Sometimes I end with a question or two.

1. People shouldn’t automatically go “ok, he’s going to…”

1. You should “feel it out” in the moment.

1. Sometimes there is a more palpable sense of the spirit than others.
2. Be sensitive to that and operate in the moment. You’re not just giving a lecture. You have hopefully just experienced a “divine moment.”

I know it exists because I just had to use it for the broken iPad 2 I had to replace.

In my particular case, I was able to purchase a NEW iPad 2 was able for $249 as a courtesy from Apple. It didn’t come with a charger or a box, but it IS new (not a refurb) and that’s a pretty sweet deal if you ask me.

They also have a similar plan for iPhones, iPod Touch etc.

So, the next time you (or your kids) break your Idevice, take it to your Apple store or give Apple a call and see what they can do before you buy a new one.

Could save you some coin.

In this installment, I  offer several “guiding principles” for biblical exposition that I hope you find helpful.

Again, sorry for the wonky formatting, WordPress still won’t play ball on the numbering.

Guiding principles:

1. Your hearers need enough information to understand the Text, but not so much that they get lost in your presentation of it.

1. The ultimate goal of the sermon is not INFORMATION but TRANSFORMATION.

1. You should seek to “feed the sheep.”
1. You are not going to please everybody in this department. Your handful of “more theologically minded” folks should want be left wanting more. Your “more surface minded” folks should feel stretched.

1. Beware of simply mimicking your favorite expositor’s style.

1. It could be exactly right for his context and exactly wrong for yours.

1. Do YOUR work in the text first.

1. We will cover this more fully in the Preparation section.

1. BE CAREFUL with your commentaries.

1. Many solid commentaries are sorely outdated and have lots of unusable material.
2. It can be a study-time “black hole.”
3. Don’t just stitch them together. It is frustrating and border on plagarism.
4. Commentators are sinners too.
1. They don’t agree. They read their own agendas into the text.
2. Read enough, but not too many.

1. BE EVEN MORE CAREFUL with your language skills / studies.
1. Only talk about the original languages if it is necessary.
2. Be very careful saying actual Greek or Hebrew words.

1. Beware the ever-present dangers of pride and “unintentional gnosticism.”
1. Knowledge puffs up but love builds up (1 Cor. 8:1).
2. You don’t want your people to be afraid to read their Bibles at home.

Feel free to join the conversation below.

Every (honest) man on the planet struggles in this area. In this short excerpt from a recent sermon at Crossing Church in Louisville, KY, I try to give some help for the struggle.

My first shot at a few links I haven’t tweeted yet this week for your reading and development.

They helped me so I trust they will help you as well.

7 Motives in Our Work by Matt Perman. SOLID post on why we should work and work hard.

The Subtle Art of Sabotoging a Pastor by my friend Jared Wilson at Desiring God

36 Purposes of God in Suffering by Paul Tautges. FANTASTIC list you should immediately file away and plan to use in a sermon soon.

What Every Pastor Must Hear and Confess by Paul Tripp. Good for your soul. Read it.

7 Scripture Texts on Evangelism by Tim Challies. Can’t go wrong with Scripture.

So there you go. I’ll try to get you more as I go, but trust that anything I send you will be worth the time.

Blessings until next week.

This gospel basis and gospel interweaving of our sermons should be clear enough so that the imperative that flows from the message is, first and foremost, faith in the blood-bought reality that God is 100% for us in Christ (that is, faith in the justifying work of Christ), and then, secondly, the obedience that comes from this faith (that is, the fruit of the sanctifying work of the Spirit).” 

- John Piper “Pastor as Prophet,” ReTrain