Fasting From Church Stuff
For years I tried to be like other ministers. I listened to messages, attended conferences, and devoured every Christian book I could.
Each time I learned from a new leader, I tried to become more like them.
God led me to do something very different. (I don’t recommend this for you. I’m just sharing the story of what God led me to do.)
For an extended season, I stopped attending conferences, reading ministry books, and listening to others’ sermons. Instead of becoming like others, my goal was to become who God wanted me to become.
It was very difficult to cut myself off from learning from other people. During this season, I felt like God wanted me to learn directly from Him.
I still love to study and learn from other leaders, but this journey of intensely seeking God freed me to be me.
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I remember my pastor, from when I was in college, spoke of when he was younger, say in his early 20s and away from family and friends for the first time in his life. He found himself devouring the word of God and leaning on his faith even more because he was in a place where he didn’t have anything in common with anyone. He said he spent almost every waking moment spending time with God. This only went on for a few months but it created an extremely strong biblical foundation and learned more about the word in that few months than perhaps any other time in his life. We were designed for and need christian community but a temporary retreat or sabbatical from outside influences, christian or otherwise can be very beneficial.
I’ve watched my dad do the same thing in different seasons. It’s not only productive in learning from Christ, but you also position yourself to hear God on where He is leading the ministry you are responsible for. (Instead of shaping your ministry like someone else’s.)
Thanks for these posts Craig. I was 22 when we started our church. I had only been exposed to one model of local church ministry my entire life. In those first few years, our church was really an extension of the leaders who had influenced me.
A few years ago I was talking with a pastor who had just accepted an assignment at an established church. He commented that as a church planter it must be nice not having to come in and change someone’s traditions. But my experience has been that as I’ve learned more about myself, I just end up changing my own:)
I like to learn from individuals and leaders outside of the “Ministry Circles” CEO’s, entrepreneurs, friends, community leaders, sound thinkers, politicians (the honest ones :-) )… I encourage my team to do the same; and a good question to always ask is “Who or What are you learning from?”
I try to be extremely open and sensitive to specifically what God is teaching me during these different growth seasons.
These posts are SO important for all Christ followers and leaders to hear. If God wanted everyone to be the same, he would have created millions of clones! But God loves diversity…look at every snowflake. Thanks Craig for reminding us to embrace our unique place in God’s amazing plan.
Craig, thanks for writing this. I sometimes feel like I can’t stop taking in all the resources available or else I may miss something. Lately, I’ve been encouraged to relax on this and make not missing God my priority.
I am a new Elder in my church, and I co-lead a service last Sunday with another Elder. Our vacationing Pastor prepared the sermon in advance, and we followed the sermon as it was prepared. When the time came for congregational prayer, it was God through me that led the prayer. The prayer wasn’t pre-written. I had no notes. I let Him lead me in the prayer time, and it was one of the most moving experiences I have ever felt. If God leads me to become a pastor (and I believe that He is doing just that), I pray that what He teaches me will be unique lessons that I can share with everyone in my life.
May God bless us all.
Craig, as a leader and just as a believer, one of the most hugely significant spiritual disciplines I have learned to practice is the discipline of solitude. In longer periods of solitude I come face to face with myself - the good and the bad. In solitude I come face to face with a holy and lovingly gracious God. I have come to rest in His love for me and to truly discover who I really. Someone in yesterday’s comments said “the more we know God the more we become ourselves” or something along those lines. That was my experience in solitude. Other voices faded and the ONE I should listen to remained.
Additionally, I was chasing God alone. Not success. Not my own desires. Just God. Hearing just His voice. It was powerful
I am now a much more honest person - with myself and with others. And I am much more comfortable being me. In hearing God’s voice I became less concerned about the opinions or success of others.
Sometimes we seek all other “Resources” and go to God last. (at least I did)
Thanks for this comment Craig. The past weekend, my wife and I took the decision to follow our calling from God. We’re preparing for january 2009, and this post was just in time. I will search “who” god wants me to be in order to fulfill that calling next year.
My Lord bless you all!
Chejoo, I’m not sure what calling you and your wife accepted from God, but I pray He blesses you as you step out on faith to follow His lead.
Right On! I think too many (including myself) fall into this subtle trap of gleaning so much information and resources from others that it takes the place of seeking God out for His vision and direction. I am indebted to conferences, books, sermons, etc… They can easily take away the desire to press in and seek God for yourself. We all need to be inspired by other peoples story and strategy…but this inspiration should drive us to our knees not just to another good conference. I thought this post was very ironic for me considering I came to this blog from reading your new book “IT”, that I got at Willow’s Leadership Conference last week. It is easy to be a glutton for new information and inspiration but nothing satisfies like getting in the trenches for yourself.
THanks, Craig. I think I (and many of us) get so excited & hyped about devouring new leadership content and reading what’s next and trying to keep up that I forget God.
God’s plan and ideas seem a lot more simple (and much more difficult) than the strategies and techniques I read about. Too much reading and following other people can lead me away from God’s plan into my own vain plans.
I want to agree…but…what if i can’t. What is trying to be who God made me to be…fails to produce any fruit. I planted a church being “me” and nothing really happened of any significance. This has led me down a path of asking a different question. What if “me” is just a silly idea for a servant / slave of Christ to ask. In many ways I struggle to give my “voice” and on the other hand “to be what THEY need.” I know there is some balance out there, but finding it is hard. At the core the “me” question involves personal rejection as a possibility and a lack of fruit as a reality [metric] we have to face. At the core of the “servant” question is simply being what other people need and hoping you don’t lose yourself in others. My struggle is I want to produce fruit and am afraid that “me” stands in the way. I don’t mind being swallowed up in the identity of a servant…it just leaves me with a question of the unique journey God has had me on for my own identity in him. I say all this because at the heart of this post is that deep question that all the pastors who read it ask themselves. “Am I useless, am I a failure….because I haven’t posted / reaped success like Craig has.” And while our minds know this isn’t the right question…our hearts are ravaged by it in a way that no words or explainations will make go away. If your young…trust me…this is coming. If your old…this must be resolved or cynicism will overshadow everything.
Tell it Craig! Fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector….
What do you remember being most challenging about fasting those influences?
I just read this quote from R. T. Kendal last night: “I have discerned by trial and error that the more conscious I am of God’s presence, the more I feel like being myself.”
Before Saul-as-we-knew-him became Paul-as-he-grew-them, he took time in the desert to clear his head and heart. I shudder to wonder what he may have done if he lived today.
Great, and timely point!
At first I thought the title was “Fasting From Church STAFF.” That got my attention. I had a Christian Counselor have me fast for 3 months from God’s word because I was getting too legalistic about my time with Him. Sure enough, God drew me back into a love realtionship with Him after only a short time.
Fasting often serves to refocus in my life.
Josh, Welcome to the conversation. Glad to have you.
David, I think we all battle some of those insecurities.
Jason, To answer your question, I was so dependent on others’ ideas, I simply wasn’t confident that God speaking to “me” was as good as God speaking to or through someone else.
Andy, Great quote.
I went through a time like this last year. I felt I was reling more on the wisdom of man than the wisdom of God. It was a revolutionary time for me.
Great post Craig, for me there are seasons where I have to cut myself off from the outside influences.
Probably a couple months out of every year I tune out, stop reading, back off of blogs, unplug from podcasts, and just get quiet.
There is so much great stuff out there, so many great leaders and new books, and great messages, and churches, and ideas that is can be overwhelming at times.
So I have to get quiet and stop taking in so I can process what God is really speaking to me and through me. When I fail to take these seasons I find myself simply repeating what others have said, not that that is bad, but I know God wants to speak through my unique voice to the souls He has entrusted me with.
In Thom Ranier’s book Surprising Insights from the Unchurched, he found that 90% of the unchurched chose a church based on the pastor/preaching. That number shocked me, but it was also very sobering.
I desperately need to use my God given voice. When I am trying to be someone else I lack authenticity, and the unchurched have a bunk detector that goes off loudly when they see someone inauthentic. I don’t want the unchurched or even the churched for that matter to miss out with God because I am trying to be like someone else.
That scares me and forces me to my knees and keeps me depending on God every time I get up front to speak. So I have to unplug ever now and again to keep myself in check. But that is just me :-)
You’re in good company Craig! Paul did the same thing…
12″I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
15But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased 16to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, 17nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.
18Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter[b] and stayed with him fifteen days.
Galatians 1:12, 15-18
Paul realized the importance of getting his knowledge of God straight from God. I love the idea of leaving everything and everyone behind to get alone with the Lord. And I bet He loves it when we do that too.
Thanks Craig, I needed this today. Working with pastors and donors everyday, I get exposed to everyone’s recommended reading list. I have an insatiable appetite for what is happening in and around the Christian Community so I can easily get caught up in the latest books and ideas; not all bad I know, but I needed to hear about this nudge that you received from God. Thanks for posting that today!
Blessings, Jim
Dang it Craig, stay off mah topic! (grin)
I have just returned from a month of abstaining from all the external influeces. It’s hard t odo that and most of my friends don’t understand why I would do that. God wanted me, to be with him so that I could be like him. Not like someone else, doing someone else’s thing. I’m back in the office with renewed vision for God’s Kingdom.
Good stuff! I thank that for me, I tend to want to learn as much wisdom from other leaders more than I want to learn techniques. The problem though, is that I’ve found myself stuck trying to repeatedly gain wisdom from that person….and instead of “Seek first the kingdom and its righteousness” I am seeking first to gain wisdom from a human!
God has been teaching me that I must look to Him. Seek Him first. Want wisdom? You gotta go to Him for it. Have a spiritual question? Seek Him first. Have a problem? Go to Him first. It’s all about seeking Him first……and then everything else will be given as well.
* I THINK that for me…
Pastor Craig, thanks for this post. In preparing myself to become a pastor, I subjected myself to keeping with all of the latest resources. When the time came, I wanted to be best preacher and the best pastor that I could be. Along with some recent events in my life and this post, God has humbled and revealed that there was too much control that I was placing in this call and there was very little spirit of yielding and surrendering to him. All in all, this post has confirmed to me that God isn’t so much interested in how ‘good’ of a pastor I am, whatever that may mean, but is interested in the quality and depth of my personal relationship with him. It’s the pruning of the my rough character and the sanctification of my heart that God desires. I don’t know how long this period of fasting from resources and delving into God’s word and prayer will last but I’ve resolved to do so even if it could possibly mean that God has plans other than being a pastor. Again, thank you for your post. I’m thankful to God that there are those like you who have been in trenches and sharing your hard-earned wisdom with the rest of us. Thank you again and God bless your ministry, pastor Craig.
“I don’t know how long this period of fasting from resources and delving into God’s word and prayer will last…”
Sorry, I meant to say fasting from resources and, instead, using that time to delving more into God’s word and prayer. My previous comment would have only undermined pastor Craig’s post.
Dang it Craig! Now who’s sermons am I going to preach? :) Great post. It goes right along with yesterday’s of being who God called you/me to be and not a shallow imitation of someone else.
I’m reading your new book - should I put it down? ;-)
pastoring from germany
Danny
Danny, that was worthy.(grin)
Just a practical question… How long was that particular season in your life?
Hey Craig, Very true for my life right now. I would just like to encourage you by saying that what you write on here has a real impact in my life (often prophetic). I live in Canberra, Australia and I tell heaps of people about your church and ministry! Last year I was telling one of my pastors that I wouldn’t be suprised to see you speaking at Hillsong conference soon and now your speaking there next year! Looking forward to you having major impact in Australia.
What a great idea. It reminds me of a message Perry Noble spoke at Whiteboard. He challenged the audience to stop downloading messages from other pastors and start downloading the revelation from God.
[...] want to do this! I read this post (Fasting From Church Stuff) by Craig Groeschel the other day. The basic premise of the thought is that we should periodically [...]
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