Before I write anything else you must know that I have a tweeter account and posted this blog post on that tweeter account, so this is the pot calling the kettle black.

As the tweeter revolution keeps growing, I’m astonished to see how many people are willing to tell complete strangers that are following them about the tiniest details of their life.  Travel schedules, what they are eating, places they are staying, what they are wearing, who is with them, what their kids are doing, etc.  And pictures to go with these tweets.

It dawned on me as I was tweeting about my daughters birthday that of the 300 or so people that follow me on tweeter, how many of them do I really want to know that it is my daughters birthday.  In fact, how many of them should know what I’m doing at any given moment?

Is it just me or does the alarm bells ring in my mind when I think that most of us don’t care who knows what about your lives?  Does tweeter make all of us feel like a celebrity just a little bit, adoring fans (followers) who we don’t know following our every move?

Facebook is no different.  We update our status for the 1000 friends who we are connected to, but how many of them do we actual really know.  I get friend requests after I speak at an event, sometimes while I’m on stage my facebook account is getting hit with requests to link my life with theirs.

I’m convinced that our desire to tell the world our life is a way of making us feel like our life is important.  We will sacrifice privacy for what we preceive as fame.  Why not? We don’t see any negatives do we?

Well maybe there are negatives – did you know that there are websites out there that are monitoring your status and tweets to see when you are not home?  Easy to find most of our addresses.  Don’t believe me.  Click here.

I guess where my mind is heading is really to ask the question.  Why am I tweeting what I am tweeting? Or for you facebook junkies, why are you posting what you are posting?

The window is open and privacy just jumped out.

Click Here to go to the article.

Not to long ago a book came out for pastors titled Brothers, We are not Professionals, by John Piper.  He wrote, “The more professional we long to be, the more spiritual death we will leave in our wake.” Wow…what a hit in the face of the baby boomer generation that was turning to pastors into CEOs and Conference gurus.

Baby Boomers might have turned pastors into professionals, but the new generation of ministry is turning pastors into Rock Stars.

I have felt it for myself in life.  Especially when I go speak at another church or a conference.  Armed security following me around, getting whatever I wanted, gift baskets in my hotel room, etc.

Who knows why or how the church world got here?  Maybe it is because we put pastors on pedestals and think that somehow they are different “people” than the average joe.  The only thing different about a pastor is the calling.  The calling is important, not the person.  Honor is due to a pastor for the calling they are fulfilling and I believe in treating them well…but we have taken this thing to an out of control arena.

Too many pastors are just trying to make a name for themselves.  They name drop who they are connected to, where they have been, and what they did.  They have forgotten that we serve Jesus and our calling is equip the bride of Christ, the church, to glorify God.  We should be making the name of Jesus famous, not our image on our books or how many followers we have on tweeter or facebook.

A fan page?  You kidding me?  “It is because they only allow 5000 friends for a normal account.” Cool, then stick with that normal account, pastors are not keeping up with 5000 people anyways.  Pastors don’t need fans just as they don’t need to be on Pastor Idol. Pastors, we, must decrease as Jesus increases.  Not the other way around.

When you get to a pastors conference it is ridiculous to see the lines of people waiting to have a “celebrity” pastor greet them with a handshake and to sign their book.  Not mingling with the “conference goers,” but back in the green room hiding out with all their free drinks and food.  I can say this, because I’m in those green rooms.  I’m one of those people!

Don’t believe me.  Take a picture of the pastors at a conference.  You will find expensive clothes on all of them.  It usually looks like The Buckle exploded on everybody in attendance.  Pastors wear clothes that most people wear to a club on Friday or Saturday night.  Expensive and not typical.  The haircuts are not typical haircuts, the shoes are not your average shoes.  Fake tans, teeth whitened, etc.  We are turning pastors into Rock Star whores of the gospel.

Being set apart from the world is not with expensive clothes, haircuts, shoes, and watches.  It is with our attitudes, our values, our grace, our mercy, our actions…with JESUS.

Elevation Church can make it without me.  This isn’t my church.  No pastor owns their church, well if they are following Jesus they don’t.  Jesus is the head of the church, not a pastor.

My prayer is that we will stop seeing pastors as superhumans that are set-up on a pedestal for all of us to gawk at, but real people serving out a calling to lead the gatherings of the followers of Jesus.  Equiping them to be the church.

We are not pop celebrities of the day.  We are not rock stars.

Brothers, we are not Rock Stars!

Yesterday we talked about how Jesus taught us what it means to be rich towards God.  If you didn’t get a chance to hear the teaching then check out the podcast.

I went home after the last service of the day and I thought about how much my heart has been pounding with this idea of downgrading life.  The house, the cars, etc.

It really isn’t downgrading is it?

It is just living as Jesus called us to live.  Open-handed and our treasure the right treasure.

Do I treasure my stuff?

OR do I treasure what God treasures?

I would take it that most of us don’t really treasure what God treasures, that most of us would not be willing to sacrifice our “stuff” for those in need.  I am not sure that I would do that 100% if I was honest with you.  I feel like I am generous, but could I live life beyond just being generous as an atribute that comes out now and then, and could I live life where being generous was normal.

I know for most of us it is baby steps in the right direction and not leaps…

I just hope I understand which direction helps me keep my heart soft towards the things of God and not weeded with the things of this world.

Parables: UNforgiving from Elevation Church on Vimeo.

There is this universal law.

Use it or lose it.

You don’t use your muscles and they waste away. (Ask anyone who has spent time in outer space and if you have friends who have spent time in outer space then they are way more intelligent than I and you talk to them instead of reading my posts.)

You don’t use your mind, it becomes dull.

You don’t use information, you forget it.

You don’t use money, well…eventually Uncle Sam has something to say about the interest you will make on it…and in the end, you will lose it. (You are not taking it to heaven with you.)

You don’t give attention to the garden, you will lose it.

You don’t use the sports abilities you have, you will lose them.

You don’t care about that new sod you just laid, eventually the weeds take over and you will lose it.

You don’t spend time with your kids, you will lose them.

The universal law applies everywhere we look.  I could make a point on so many different topics, but what I want to show you is that when Jesus taught on the parables of the talents, his main point was this:

Everything you have in life is from God and you are suppose to use the things God gives you for God’s purposes and if you don’t…you will lose what he has given you.

Parables were told to get the hearers to make a decision.  I’m looking around my house right now and examining my life.  What am I wasting or spending on myself instead of God’s purposes? If I don’t use it, I will lose it.

Or something like that.

We are going to walk through a few of the many parables that Jesus told during his life.  Reading through these parables and studying them together is going to be really helpful in our walk with Jesus.  The reality of God was revealed in these short stories and they challenged the listeners to respond to an eternal message, a message that Jesus lived and taught.  These stories go beyond the intellect, but capture the heart.  You can feel, identify, and touch the reality of the story beyond mere understanding.

Our dig through these ancient stories starts this Sunday with the Parable of the Talents.  Bring a friend, bring a neighbor, wake your spouse up…this is going to be good.

It has always been a dream of mine to write books.  Yes, that was plural.  I have been working on several book ideas and writings for YEARS, but never to the point of putting anything out to get published.  Did a few articles here and there, a few for relevant magazine, and a few for church groups…but no books.

I got a book agent a few years back that believed in my writing abilities and what I had to offer in the way of thoughts on paper (suckered that guy into being my agent really).

But – it took a new good friend, Daniel McNaughton from Philly, hooking up with me in Dallas and putting a great opportunity to co-write and expand the idea of discipleship – to get my butt to sit down long enough to punch out some writing for a book.

And guess what!?

It is going to be out this FALL.

LEARNING TO FOLLOW JESUS -by Daniel McNaughton and Trinity Jordan

The book is designed for those that are new to following Jesus and walks them through 7 attributes that are essential to learn in our journey with Jesus.  It was designed with the idea that a new believer would have a spiritual coach/mentor walk with them through these essentials.  No more discipleship classes, no more expecting people to just “get it” when they come around long enough.  This is a strategic attempt to teach and get one-on-one discipleship in place.

Maybe it will never blow up anywhere else, but for Daniel’s church and Elevation…we will become churches that are committed to discipleship by individuals.  As my friend JR Mahon calls it, “table top evangelism.”

Here is the first concept cover for the book…designed of course by Elevation Studios (Brandon Irwin).

Sabbatical is over.  I’m back in the game!

So excited to be working again…full-time in the office with all the coolest peeps in the world.  It is no secret that I am a workaholic, so my fix is back.  I have learned a few lessons while I was on sabbatical that I am ready to incoporate into my life now.

• I am called by God to be a husband and father first.  I get one shot with these little girls, their whole lives will be shaped by how I father them.  My family deserves my attention more than an email, phone call, or random thought.
• No more doing what I am not good at.  I know what I am good at and I will pour myself into that when it comes to pastoring and leading.  What I am not good at…I will pray that God shows me someone who is and put that person in charge.
• I need to take ALL my vacation days every year!  Never done it…must do it.  For my own sanity.
• Elevation, though they took a drop in attendance & money while I was gone, is not MINE.  This is Jesus’ church and he will do as he wills.  I will listen, but I will not carry this on my shoulders, I will place it on his.
• Costa Rican coffee is the best.  (Just saying)
• I miss my friends at Elevation.  I miss your encouragement and your passion to live life.
• I am not going to wait until some time in the future to attempt to do the things that God has placed in my heart to do…I’m going after them now, whether you like it or not.
• I placed too much of my worth on the success or failure of Elevation.

Excited to be back…excited to annoy everyone again with my thoughts.  Excited to teach the Bible and live life with some great people.

Trinity’s Statement from Elevation Church on Vimeo.