Classic Deuceology: What Are You Passionate About?

This post came from a couple of years ago during the early days of Deuceology.

I was reading a Tweet a few days ago from a preacher.  He quoted another preacher, C.J. Mahaney, in his Tweet.  Pastor Mahaney was quoted as asking this question of several preachers: If I asked your congregations what you were passionate about, what would they say?  The first thing that went through my head was how I would answer this about my pastor.  I would ask you that are reading this how you would answer this about your own pastor.  Please keep your answers to yourself.  But there is another question that I would like to ask.  What would be the answer be about yourself?  What are you passionate about?

How you answer this, truthfully, will show the results of your possible relationship with the Lord.  Between you and your pastor, it will probably also indicate the health of your church.

In thinking about this, there were three possible conclusions that I came up with.  Read them and tell me what you think.  I don’t have the corner on all of this.

1.  If your pastor is passionate about the Lord and His Church and you (and everyone else) aren’t, you will be uncomfortable with the direction of what’s going on in your church and with your pastor.

2.  If your pastor is not passionate about the Lord and His Church and you (and everyone else)  are, you will be frustrated and irritated with what is going on with the church.

3.  If your pastor is passionate and you (and everyone else) are passionate, the question is moot.  You have unity and everyone is on the same page.

My prayer is that your pastor, my pastor, you and I are all passionate about the Lord and His Church.  Oh, what a day!!!

What are you passionate about?

For Crying @TamaraOutLoud

Tamara Lunardo, of Tamara Out Loud fame, recently put out a call for folks to send submissions to guest post over at her blog recently.  If you don’t know Tamara, follow her on Twitter, like her Facebook page, or read her blog, check it out.  However, I will caution you to be careful if you are uptight or easily offended.  What she writes is honest and her style won’t sit well with many normal church-going folks.  So you’ve been warned.

I quickly hammered out a piece and sent to her.  I sat back and waited to hear from her.  And waited.  And waited.  On Friday, she sent out notifications to all of us who submitted our pieces to her.  How did I fare?

I was rejected.  Told no.  You know, the “Thank you for submitting.  I can’t use it now.”  kind of email.  How did I react?

I could have reacted several different ways.  I could have been upset.  I could have been angry.  Instead, this was my reaction.

Relief.  A big “Schwewwwww!!!!”  I felt like I dodged a bullet.

On Saturday, I messed with Tamara for an hour or so about not being selected.  I told her that I was going to write this post.  I think she worried about it for a while.  She may still be worried as I write this, for all I know.  She shouldn’t be.

I need to thank her.

You see, Tamara, without realizing it, taught me some great lessons through this process.  Let me share them.

Generic

The post that I sent her was not my best work.  The post was blah.  It was boring.  It didn’t fit what she wanted.  It contained a thought that I had been mulling over, but it was really just filler.  I should have taken my time and spent more time before I sent it to her.  I rushed it.

Passion

The post that I sent her didn’t have it.  Passion, that is.  It didn’t have any heart.  It didn’t have, quite honestly, me in it.  Not that having me is important.  But anyone could have written what I wrote.  It didn’t contain one of the things that I think make blogs great.  It didn’t have the heart, soul and passion of the writer.  It didn’t have me in it.

Empowerment

The piece I wrote was about empowerment.  I had been wanting to write a post about empowerment.  That’s what I did.  And it stunk.  Almost immediately, I regretted sending it to her.  I quickly began plotting what this post would be like when she did not choose my original.

Tamara empowered a bunch of people, including me,  to write guest post submissions.  She empowered other bloggers to be creative.  She empowered me, by not choosing my post, to write this one.

When it comes down to it, Tamara taught me to not write generic posts.  She taught me to write with my own passion.  She empowered me to do better.  This is what I think the body of Christ does.  It stimulates each other to love.  It stimulates each other to good deeds.  It stimulates each other to better blogging.

For crying @TamaraOutLoud, Thanks!!!!  Thank you, Tamara Lunardo.

Has anyone ever rejected you resulting in something positive?

What Are You Passionate About?

I was reading a Tweet a few days ago from a preacher.  He quoted another preacher, C.J. Mahaney, in his Tweet.  Pastor Mahaney was quoted as asking this question of several preachers: If I asked your congregations what you were passionate about, what would they say?  The first thing that went through my head was how I would answer this about my pastor.  I would ask you that are reading this how you would answer this about your own pastor.  Please keep your answers to yourself.  But there is another question that I would like to ask.  What would be the answer be about yourself?  What are you passionate about?

How you answer this, truthfully, will show the results of your possible relationship with the Lord.  Between you and your pastor, it will probably also indicate the health of your church.

In thinking about this, there were three possible conclusions that I came up with.  Read them and tell me what you think.  I don’t have the corner on all of this.

1.  If your pastor is passionate about the Lord and His Church and you (and everyone else) aren’t, you will be uncomfortable with the direction of what’s going on in your church and with your pastor.

2.  If your pastor is not passionate about the Lord and His Church and you (and everyone else)  are, you will be frustrated and irritated with what is going on with the church.

3.  If your pastor is passionate and you (and everyone else) are passionate, the question is moot.  You have unity and everyone is on the same page.

My prayer is that your pastor, my pastor, you and I are all passionate about the Lord and His Church.  Oh, what a day!!!

What are you passionate about?