Chips and Axes: Are You In Possession?

Wednesday I wrote a post about the danger of allowing your passions to carry you along in leadership without first submitting to the Divine process of "proofing." The logical question to ask then is "do I have a chip on my shoulder and an axe to grind and how do I recognize them?"

It is painfully simple to see if you know what you are looking for. A man or woman who has been through this Divine process is willing to lay aside the passion in their heart if God asks. She is more fascinated with being with her Father than she is with working for Him. He is willing to cooperate with whatever authority is in his life even if it appears his passion will not take top priority. But when your pet passion, be it ending poverty, caring for the elderly, pastoring a megachurch or foreign missions, is the driving force in your life, you had better check your shoulder and your hands because you are most likely armed and dangerous and of precious little use to God. He chooses yielded vessels. He chooses vessels that do NOT dictate to Him the what and the how but instead are willing to completely die to the very passion that He instilled in them.

For me, it was eighteen years before He gave me permission to publically speak and write about the passion of my heart. And I thank God for the Divine process for it is that alone that makes the leader ready for the heat that inevitably accompanies leadership and the living out of the Holy discontent that keeps you awake at night. Leader, check your shoulder, check your hands and embrace the process.

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Chips and Axes: Weapons of Mass Destruction

It is a scary thing to work with a leader who has an axe to grind and a chip on his or her shoulder. And yet such leaders are everywhere, even in the church. Chips and axes are passions that have not been yielded to the tempering that comes from the Divine process. Unyielded passions will always become chips and axes and these will most assuredly become weapons that hurt those to whom you desire to minister.

My passion, my holy discontent as Bill Hybels calls it, is seeing women free in the church to lead in any capacity God desires and not be held back due to misuse of Scripture. For almost twenty years I wrestled with my passion and God put me through a process, a Divine process, that was necessary for me to be trustworthy with this message God placed within me. It is a proofing just like bread dough must go through before it is ready for the heat of the oven. The dough must be worked and kneaded and then put aside for the yeast to do it's job of making it ready to bake. Usually the dough is then "punched down" and set aside a second time for it to rise and become ready for the heat. And so it has been in my life. God has put me through rigorous circumstances and then put me aside while His deposit has done it's work within me. And then came the punching down (it is agony, friends) and more time sitting alone, waiting. All the while He was at work in the interior, making the woman ready before I could be trusted with His message.

There must be this season of proofing so that your passions do not become a chip or an axe. And if a leader is placed into the "heat of leadership" before the process is complete, what results is hard and incapable of being nourishment to others. How do you know if you do have a chip on your shoulder and an axe to grind? Head on back here Friday and I will tell you...

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Audacious Intimacy

I have been thinking again of brokenness and how vitally important it is in the life of a leader. It is important for anyone, but to be in a place of leadership, unbroken, is to be a walking time bomb, capable of wounding the vast audience of innocent onlookers in your life. In a past post I wrote about breaking a horse, but recently I have been thinking of a breaking of another kind.

My favorite passage of Scripture to teach is the story of Mary of Bethany (Mark 14, Luke 11). Now there is the greatest of unlikely Biblical heroes. I love this story of a broken vessel. There was the vessel of costly perfume, a years wages it cost, that she broke over her Master's feet and then wiped them with her own hair. But there is the picture of another broken vessel...Mary herself. Only her brokenness would have enabled her to even approach Him, much less touch Him, for what we so often overlook in this story is the fact that men, and especially rabbis in that period in time did not even look at a woman, let alone stoop to speak with her or teach her. But this Man was different. This man looked at her, talked to her, listened to her, touched her. He understood her. And she understood Him unlike any of the men in His company of followers. They called it waste, but she understood His worth. She knew that the broken vessel represented His broken body. And the oil, the preparation for His burial. She understood and knew what was coming. Her acceptance of His impending death was her great sacrifice, not the jar of oil. She had paid attention to every syllable of His teaching. And the truth of it not only moved her, it owned her.
And He was, I believe, moved by her companions. Who were these companions? Need. Poverty of spirit. Divine longing. And brokenness. And as a result, she knew an audacious intimacy with Jesus that no man there thought she deserved. And the truth is she did not deserve it, but the great disqualifier was not her obvious femininity but rather her sinful humanity. The inconceivable reality is that we can all know this audacious intimacy and the pathway is brokenness.

Who are your companions? Who are mine? Pride? Independence? Self-satisfaction? Ego? Our closest companions as leaders must be those that surrounded Mary; need, poverty of spirit, divine longing and brokenness. They will usher us into an intimacy with God that only a broken vessel can know. As leaders, that should be our greatest goal.

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Fearless Heretics

There are moments when I question the passion that I carry. Most people have a passion for something...something that captivates the quiet moments of the mind's private reverie. For me it has always been women and leadership. In his book, Tribes, Seth Godin writes this: "In a battle between two ideas, the best one doesn't necessarily win. No, the idea that wins is the one with the most fearless heretic behind it."

This statement haunts me because for so long I was not fearless in regard to my passion to see women free to lead as God truly intends. I thought I was the only one on Earth (in church circles, that is) to hold such beliefs, beliefs that must surely be unGodly and evil and wrong. Since discovering the truth about it, I still feel at times that I am alone, although my disclosure has certainly aroused the passions of a few other women and men who have boldly declared their agreement. And while I am still unclear as to where this passion and this resolve will lead me, I do know that it is with fearlessness that I must move forward.

The truth about fear is that it never truly leaves. When banished from the spotlight of someone's life, it finds contentment lurking in the shadows and taunting from the sidelines. Godin asserts that the fear must be drowned out by something greater, by the all-consuming passion of the human soul. A passion that was put there, inside of you and me, from the beginning of time by the God of all creation who knows where His passion inside of you will lead.

And so I pray that He will connect me with the "tribe" I am to lead and that I can help give voice to other men and women who carry this same passion, that we might all make a difference in the church, in the marketplace and in the arenas where we each have influence. I pray for you, too, that you will become more than familiar with that "thing" deep inside of you that you long to see made right. May the "fearless heretic" within you come out and make a much-needed difference in this world.

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Are There Women In Your Posse??

Many pastors place only men on the leadership teams of their churches, particularly if they will wear the title of elder or deacon.  These leaders boldly declare that Jesus did not place women in such positions of leadership and they are only following His example.  So, did Jesus have women in His posse?  I am so glad you asked!

In the book of Luke, chapter 8, verses 1-3 we see that, in addition to the twelve disciples, Jesus also had several women in his entourage; Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna and then some others who were lending financial support to His ministry.  This, in itself, is monumental as Jewish rabbis in that time did not have anything to do with women, much less teach them, as their tradition stated that women were immoral, stupid and basically evil.  Jesus was so "cutting- edge" to allow Mary of Bethany to sit at his feet and be taught by Him (Luke 10:38-42).  Not only that but He praised her for it.  If we are to use the argument that the twelve disciples were the exclusive pattern, then male Gentiles would be ineligible for leadership in the church because the original twelve were all Jewish.  It was only a few years after Pentecost that there were Gentile leaders in the church and also a Roman woman by the name of Junia (Romans 16:7).  

The women in Jesus day knew that He was unlike any other religious leader.  He sat in public and had a theological discussion with the woman at the well (John 4) and He healed a woman in public, calling her a "daughter of Abraham" (Luke 13:16).  No church leader had ever done that!  No, the women around Him knew that He was different from the unadulterated chauvinism to which they had been subjected.  And the women of today can know this, too.  He has set us free to know Him intimately and to make Him known, leading in whatever capacity He so chooses in His church.  I will address some of these "other capacities" in future posts....

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Head...Small Word, Big Misunderstanding

1Co 11:3  But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. 

This is a verse of Scripture that has been misunderstood for a very long time.  In the original Greek language the word for head is kephale.  Kephale means source or origin.  The word head in this passage is meant to communicate that man is the source or origin of woman.  It was from man that woman was taken.  The entire reflection of God's image was found completely in Adam, the first man.  When woman was taken out of man, he was no longer the complete image by himself for the woman was the completion of that total image.  

The ancients believed that semen, the source of life, was produced in the brain of man which is in his head so then the head represented the very source of life.  David Hamilton points out in his book, Why Not Women, that "kephale was the word used for the source of a river.  This is why the Greeks often set up the head of a man at a fountain or at the source of a river.  We still refer to the source of a river as its headwaters."  Somehow in the church this meaning is often hidden and instead authority is what is pulled from this passage.

In his beautifully written book, The Shack, William Young has the Holy Spirit speaking to Mack, the main character, and He is answering his question regarding things that God seems to have hidden from man in this life.  Holy Spirit answers him saying, "The choice to hide so many wonders from you is an act of love that is a gift inside the process of life."  God hides some things so that we can have the pure joy of finding them.  Woman was one such gift for man.  She was there within him and God brought out what was hidden to bring joy to the man and complete him.  Man is her kephale, her source, her origin.  And that is why together they are one.  And that is why marriage based on this understanding of this verse in Corinthians is so fulfilling.  It is not about heirarchy...it is about oneness.  Oneness, completion, the fulfillment of real intimacy...this is what man and woman were intended to know together and it is one of the very sweetest of His "hidden joys".

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Scratch That.....

In my post this morning I declared that I would not share my political  opinions.  I am retracting that statement and I am asking you to please read this article before you go and vote.  I am categorically and unapologetically opposed to abortion.   Nothing anyone could ever say to me would change my mind.  I am also pro-choice.  I think a woman should have a right to choose and that choice should be made before she has sex.   

The article I reference here by Robert George is the most thorough explanation of Barak Obama's stance on abortion that I have ever read.  Please be informed on where Obama stands on this issue and what this will mean for our country should he be elected.  Many issues are at stake at this pivotal time in history, but none so important as the preservation of human life.  This is not a short article but it is hugely important.  Feel free to forward a link to this blog or a link directly to the article.  Please be informed and please, please vote.

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A Unicorn In A Balloon Factory

As I pray and talk to the Lord about His heart for women to lead strongly in His body, I go back to the handful of scriptures that have been misinterpreted and then used as institutional bars in the church to keep women safely imprisoned in the cage of the status quo.  Sadly, many women have accepted these rules as a reflection of God's heart towards them.  They assume that what they are allowed to do in the church is all that they were created for and that men were designed to carry the weight of real leadership.  Some of the women I have talked to even seem relieved that they are limited because it is safer to hide behind man-made walls of limitation than to have to step out and lead where it might feel uncomfortable.  This is understandable given the fact that it is all they have known their entire lives.

I remember years ago asking one woman, who I greatly respect as a leader in the church, her opinion of women in leadership and she gave to me the response I have heard so often from men in my 25 years in the church, "Women can teach and preach and lead in any way they choose except for church government.  Pastoring and and leading in positions of eldership are for men only."  I remember how stunned I felt when those words left her lips.  I had never felt so alone as I did in that moment.  I never expected her to have swallowed such a gross misrepresentation of God's plan for His daughters.  But she did and so have many others.  

On the flip side of that coin is a moment I recently experienced.  I asked Lee Grady, editor of Charisma magazine and author of two books on women in leadership, to speak at our women's conference earlier this month at Christian Heritage Church.  During one of his teaching sessions Lee had the women come forward who had been trapped by fear so he could pray for them to be free to lead and fulfill God's destiny for them.  So many women come forward crying out to God to free them to rise up for such a time as this.  My heart was ignited with such a passion to see women come to the place of understanding that God places no gender limitations on them.  He longs to see the misuse of His word come to an end, just as He did when slavery was an issue in this country and people were misusing His word to validate their sin of holding back other races.  I was reminded in that moment, as I stood and watched the women find freedom, that THIS is my holy discontent and the reason I have been given a voice at this time.  

It is time and I am excited.  I realize that this makes me much like (to borrow a phrase from Seth Godin) a unicorn in a balloon factory.  And I'm okay with that.  This is not about me.  This is about the other half of the army of God.  In the coming days and weeks I will be addressing some of these passages of Scripture with the hope of bringing light to a dark place in the church.  To quote Loren Cunningham (Youth With A Mission), "If we don't seize this opportunity now, the church will fall behind for generations."

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Out Of Seclusion

I am holding my breath as I write this post.  I have been blogging on this site for nearly a year and I have not yet written about the one issue in Christiandom that keeps me up at night.  I am passionate about a number of things, but this one issue is the sum total of all that has consumed me for the past two decades.  And this one thing is how the church limits women in leadership and how God wants to set them free.  

I became a Christian when I was fifteen years old and I began chasing God with a passion unlike any I had ever possessed.  I was mentored by my youth pastor, Ray Owens, and in all of those years I was never told that there would be limits put on me because of my gender.  I was raised in a home where gender was never an issue and I was always told by both of my parents that I could do anything to which I applied myself.  At the age of twenty I married a man who adored me and wanted to see me fulfill all of God's plans for me.  We were, and still are, a true team.  We walk side by side and we lead those around us hand in hand.  No heirarchy.  No power struggles.  Just mutual respect and mutual laying down of our lives for each other.  All was right in my world.

And then I met "the church".  After leaving the safety of Ray's leadership, I ran right smack into the deepest disappointment I have ever known.  And it has taken me nearly two decades to come to a place where I am now free to come out of seclusion to begin publicly speaking and writing about this.  It has taken me this long to understand that God's heart is not reflected in the church's narrow and culturally influenced interpretations of a handful of Scriptures.  It has also taken me this long to hear God's voice calling me out to be an instrument of revolution in His church.  I assumed that a man would need to be the one to proclaim freedom to God's daughters.  And there are a few.  Lee Grady is one such man and so is my amazing husband.  David Joel Hamilton and Loren Cunningham number among them, as well.  But God has also called me and the time is now.  I have nothing against the church.  I love her because God loves her.  I am not "against" anything.  I am "for" seeing God's heart exposed on this issue.  I have no axe to grind, I have a sword to brandish...the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.  And His Word has much to say.  But not what you have most likely heard.  So I am out and I have some things that I believe He would have me say....

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