Jeff Kennon

How Can I Build Up Others?

Published by Jeff Kennon on May 27, 2015

How do we go about daily executing the tasks that are in front of us? Obviously, we need to plan and prioritize. If not, we lose focus and other things will set our agenda for the day. We generally want to do things that make a difference, but if we don’t put first things first, our time can get away from us as the trivial things take center stage.

The question we need to ask ourselves, however, is what are those areas we need to place first? I think the answer is fairly simple. It’s people.

In Matt Perman’s book, What’s Best Next: How The Gospel Transforms The Way You Get Things Done, he writes that in regards to the daily execution of tasks, we need to ask ourselves in everything we do: How can I build others up? For Perman, this brings us back to the fundamental principle behind everything: You are here to do good for others, to the glory of God.

All productivity practices, writes Perman, all of our work, everything is given to us by God for the purpose of serving others. Therefore, we need to be deliberate about this in all of our work–both the work we get paid for and the work of running our households. This means not simply doing the things we do for the sake of others; it means building others up in the very act of doing what we do. The aim needs to be not simply to get our tasks done but to build people up in the accomplishing of our tasks.

For me, this reorientates why we do what we do. We send emails, go to meetings, answer phones, wash dishes, wait tables, cook food, give presentations, design buildings, teach children, stock groceries, clean houses, diagnose diseases, write news stories, drive buses and more for the building up of others.

We need to remember that our job is bigger than the tasks we perform. Perman writes that we need to see our day “in terms of people and relationships first, not tasks. Tasks matter and are important and fun, but tasks have to take a back seat to people.”

I think there is always a tendency to view people as getting in the way of what we are trying to do. We are busy and important people, or so we think, and tend to lose sight of what it is we are really trying to do. Jesus told us to love God and love others. Pretty simple. Well, maybe not that simple. But Jesus words do help us to refocus what it means to be truly productive people.

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Around The Web

Published by Jeff Kennon on May 21, 2015

Don’t Kill That Quote – Quotes are like lozenges, great for savoring but terrible for just straight-out swallowing. Learn how to savor good quotes.

What Would Jesus Read? – In her wide-ranging and productive new book, What Would Jesus Read?: Popular Religious Books and Everyday Life in Twentieth-Century America (University of North Carolina Press), Smith argues that historians should give more attention to the experiences of readers and the ways in which religious books were useful to them and engaged their “daily lives in immediate, material ways.”

Biblical Marriage Has Always Been Counter-Cultural – In first century Roman Empire, when the New Testament was being written, the idea that a husband should sacrificially love his wife was shocking. In 21st century America, the idea that a wife should lovingly submit to her husband seems just as shocking.

How Seriously Should We Take The Phenomenon Of “The Nones?” – I’ve always had the sneaking suspicion that the vast majority of people who call themselves Christians only view Christianity as a value system, a set of ethical ideals to aim for (or judge others by) and not as a form of life that makes a difference in everything one thinks and does. Millennials are noted for demanding “authenticity.” The growth of “nones” is greatest among them. Perhaps they are noticing the inauthenticity of many older Christians’ Christianity and want nothing to do with that.

4 Words Leaders Must Say On A Regular Basis – Leaders are always communicating, even when they are not talking. But what words must a leader say on a regular basis? Here are four words leaders must use, not merely every now and then but continually. Over and over again.

Get Organized With These 6 Tips That Lead To More Productive Days – While every entrepreneur has the same number of hours in each day, you can make your time more productive by becoming extremely organized. Here are six organizational tips that will lead to more productive days.

The Oldest Working Nurse Turns 90 Years Old

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Moving Beyond Amusement!

Published by Jeff Kennon on May 20, 2015

“[It] is not that television is entertaining but that it has made entertainment itself the natural format for the representation of all experience. […] The problem is not that television presents us with entertaining subject matter but that all subject matter is presented as entertaining. (87)”
–Amusing Ourselves To Death by Neil Postman

These words by Neil Postman have proven to be characteristic of our age. We long for entertainment and fear boredom. This has dramatically affected the way we educate. Material must be presented in ways that grab and keep the attention.

I don’t believe we should ever seek to be boring, but the reality is that if everything we deliver or teach has to be exciting, then its relevancy will be based not on truth, but on whether it entertained. The topic which is most exciting will be deemed as the topic that is most important.

Our entertainment driven culture has no doubt affected the way we do church. And in some ways, it should. We should learn to be engaging and learn how to tell better stories from the pulpit. The danger however, is when we feel the need to make the next church service more enthralling than the last one. When we do so, we forget the purpose of why we are at church to begin with as well as portray a false image of what it means to follow Christ.

The reality of life, and even the Christian life, is that it is not all entertainment. Some of it is rather ordinary. And some of it is a bit of work. On a Sunday morning, the sermon you hear in church might not be as exciting as the one you heard the week before. This is okay and needed. If we begin to think that Christianity and church is about a quick enjoyment of a worship service, then we have missed the heart of what it means to follow Christ.

Following Christ is about being conformed into his image (Rom. 8:29; Eph. 4:24). This means we live a life formed by the cross as we walk humbly in obedience to God, sacrificially loving and serving those around us. This is not always easy nor glamourous. As Tim Chester has written, living for Christ involves learning to wash the dishes.

You should not think however, that though our lives are filled with the ordinary, that they will be void of joy. Christ has come to give us life. And when we see the life he has given us, we will recognize all things we do as permeated by His grace. Washing dishes provides us with the opportunity to consider others. Being obedient, though difficult, will be seen in light of God’s purpose for all of humanity. Our lives will become ones in which we trust God with the mundane and understand that it is through the ordinary that God sometimes chooses to do the extraordinary.

Christianity is more than an entertaining experience. I’m not saying that we don’t or can’t experience God, but if we begin to buy into our media saturated culture and reduce following Christ to just an experience which is valued only by it’s entertainment value, then I’m afraid we will begin to stop making disciples. Instead, we will be producing consumers.

We must therefore, move beyond amusement into amazement; amazement of what God has done for us through Christ. And for this to happen, we must trust, beyond our methods, the Spirit of God. Paul, when he preached in Corinth, made the following statement: And my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God (1 Cor. 2:4-5). We do well to do the same!

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Temptation: A Denial Of God’s Goodness

Published by Jeff Kennon on May 15, 2015

The basic idea behind all of temptation is this…

God is presented as depriving us by his commands of what is good, so we think we must take matters into our own hands and act contrary to what he has said. This image of God leads to our pushing him out of our thoughts and putting ourselves on the throne of the universe. The condition of the ruined soul and world naturally results. (Dallas Willard in The Renovation of the Heart)

Therefore, as Paul wrote to the church in Rome, we must be careful not to be conformed to this world and it’s understanding of God, but instead, be transformed by the renewing of our mind.

We must begin to see temptation for what it is and understand God for who He is. God is not a cosmic kill joy trying to destroy all fun and joy, but instead wants us to experience ultimate happiness. As C.S. Lewis has written, it is not that our desires for happiness are too strong, but too weak. Lewis writes that “we are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Temptation, therefore, is about causing doubt in us towards the goodness of God. “God is just holding out on you,” we are told. So we must have our minds renewed, as Paul has written, toward the image and character of God. Willard correctly writes that “the single most important thing in our mind is our idea of God and the associated images.”

We do ourselves well to gaze upon the glory of God. To know God who is holy and loving is to be changed by him. Paul wrote that we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor. 3:18).

When the world hints, or rather shouts at us, that true happiness is found in being free from the bounds of God, we need to remember the character of God. We need to recall that He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Rom 8:32). We can trust God in obeying his commands. We can begin to see temptation for what it truly is, a denial of the goodness of God.

As temptation comes our way, in whatever form, let’s recall the true character of God who gave himself up for us and trust the words of the Psalmist…

You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Ps 16:11)

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Around The Web

Published by Jeff Kennon on May 14, 2015

Is Christianity Dying? – Christianity is dying. At least, that’s what major newspapers are telling us today, culling research from a new Pew Center study on what almost all sociologists are observing these days—the number of Americans who identify as Christians has reached an all-time low, and is falling. I think this is perhaps bad news for America, but it is good news for the church.

Why The Best Reading App Available Today Is Not What You Think – This is going to sound crazy. After all, I run an online content business. But the best reading app for comprehension, emotional engagement, and more is … paper.

What’s The Point Of A Professor? – IN the coming weeks, two million Americans will earn a bachelor’s degree and either join the work force or head to graduate school. They will be joyous that day, and they will remember fondly the schools they attended. But as this unique chapter of life closes and they reflect on campus events, one primary part of higher education will fall low on the ladder of meaningful contacts: the professors.

When You Want To Be A Christian But Don’t Believe In God – Should we accept a “cultural Christianity” that relishes religious ritual while rejecting religious belief? I offer both a firm “no” and an unreserved “yes.”

Do You Love Theology More Than Jesus? – In the end, each of us has a theology. (Even the act of dismissing theology in favor of Jesus is theological.) If God exists (and He does), and He has fixed attributes (which He does), then the path to loving Him is knowing as much as we possibly can about Him.

If You See Something, Say Something – Ask religion journalists which they’ve encountered more: false witnesses and discord-sowers, or people with firsthand knowledge of wrongdoing who stay silent.

A Very Happy Brain

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Compassionate, Courageous, Commissioned

Published by Jeff Kennon on May 8, 2015

What is the greatest problem in the church today? Do we need more courage? Should we show more compassion? Or perhaps we need new methods to fulfill the Great Commission? According to Collin Hansen in his new book Blind Spots, we need all three. There is not one “preferred cure-all solution.”

It becomes dangerous however, when Christians begin to think that only courage, for example, is needed. When they develop this single solution mindset and surround themselves with others who think that courage is the solution, attend churches that believe courage is the solution, and go to conferences and Bible studies that teach that courage is the solution, there can be a tendency to “wield our chief concern like a stick useful for beating up other Christians who don’t understand the problem.”

While we all have personal strengths that we think are most needed in today’s church, we must realize the blind spots of each strength. This is the major premise of Hansen’s book. “Your weakness,” writes Hansen, “is often the flip side of your strength.” And these weaknesses are not something that we like to discuss much. It’s much easier to turn a blind eye.

“If you’re compassionate,” writes Hansen, “you can be so concerned with what others think that you shrink from telling the truth, especially about Jesus.” In addition, if you are courageous, “you probably fail sometimes to hear and heed legitimate criticism.” And if you’re commissioned and “look to explain the good news in a way the world can understand, you may struggle to confront the culture’s values where they conflict with the gospel.”

Hansen warns us against the disunity that can arise from a Christian’s one-sided vision of what the church needs. The truth is that we need each other. The church is “the only institution equipped in this age of skepticism to enjoy unity in diversity through profligate, never-ending truth in love.” As we become aware of our blind spots, “we’ll prepare to turn from our sins, follow our Savior, receive his reward, and await his return.”

I found two things extremely helpful about Blind Spots. First, Hansen caused me to think of my own personal blind spots. I am prone to lean towards seeing the need for courage. I see a great need for a return to theological depth in today’s church. But in doing so, I am quick to look down on those who seek to develop ministries I think have a tendency to distort the gospel. The truth is that I need to practice a bit more humility and instead of quick judgments, seek to listen and learn.

Second, Hansen helped me to see how courage, compassion, and commission work together. Perhaps the greatest need of the church today is for the people of God to work together in order to boldly speak the gospel to those who need it while caring and loving them in the midst of a broken world. If we are to let our “light shine before men” (Mt 5:16), we must become aware of our blind spots, work together and seek unity.

Blind Spots is a helpful reminder of what it means to be the church for the world. There is much concern today about declining churches in the West and what to do about them. It might be that Hansen’s work here could be of value in helping us determine what church revitalization might look like. But Blind Spots is not just for struggling churches or ministries, but all believers. As the title suggests, we all are prone to be blind to our weaknesses. Therefore, we need to have our eyes opened. I believe Hansen’s book will help us do just that.

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Around The Web

Published by Jeff Kennon on May 7, 2015

What Small Churches Can Do – Many smaller churches feel extremely limited by their size, believing that they simply cannot do much of what they would like to do, or believe they should do.

The Real Reason We Fail To Pray – The real reason we fail to pray isn’t because we’re too busy, too distracted, or too untrained. The real reason we fail to pray is because we’re too confident.

Americans Say Colleges Should Still Fund Student Religious Groups That Restrict Leadership By Their Beliefs and Practices – A dispute over who can lead student religious groups has left Americans uneasy, but few want to see groups punished for requiring their leaders to hold specific beliefs or practices.

13 Needs That Christianity Meets – Why did you become a Christian? For most people, though, the answer is closer to “because it met my needs.” But what needs does Christianity meet?

The Most Important Step In Becoming More Like Jesus Christ – The first step to become more like Christ is to behold his glory in his Word. That’s why it’s so important for us to regularly take in Scripture. For as we read or listen to God’s word we behold Jesus, and the Holy Spirit transforms us into his image.

What I Learned From Pastoring A 106 Year Old Widow – If you have these kinds of elderly folk in your church, consider yourself blessed. If you don’t, I’m sad for you—for there are many lessons to learn from the faithful widows all around us.

89 Year Old Scores Touchdown

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