If you’re like me, the end of the year prompts both reflection and resolve. As I think about where I am in my life and what I want to be, I’m making three commitments. Maybe at least one of them fits your life and ministry too.

1.  Be Authentic

I am who I am, and I will continue to be that and nothing more. Why? Because when I am truly me, I help others truly be themselves.

I realize the real core of me is not going to change. I am who I am in Christ.

Again and again I talk with people who are tired of bumping up against people who are faking it, trying to be something they are not. People want to know who you really are.

I’ve discovered that authentic trumps slick all day every day. And so my goal for the new year is to help others become honest with themselves about themselves by showing that authenticity myself.

 

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“Do you have any vanity issues?”

The owner at the bow shop took me by surprise. I was there because my daughter wants to hunt deer with a bow, and we needed to make a plan. Why this question?

“The draw weight on this bow is 70 pounds,” he explained, referring to the bow in front of me. “Most guys come in here saying they want it set at 70-pound draw weight, but they can’t draw it. Most guys come in here with no clue, quoting some snippet they’ve read on the Internet. I can tell in five minutes they know nothing.”

I freely admitted, “I know nothing. Treat me like an idiot.”

He was glad to oblige!

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Fifteen years ago I would have told you I want to lead the most relevant, cool space for people to come into. I believed “relevant” and “cool” were both necessary qualities for any church that wanted to attract people to the gospel.

But I’m not saying that any more. I’m done trying to be the cool church, for at least two reasons:

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I shared a post a few weeks ago about my time at the SALT Conference. Joey Santos and I had the privilege to speak to a group of people about our online campus and the effects that is having on culture. The conference was all about the behind-the-scenes skills and strategies that make many church worship services work. The audience was mainly sound and light and video technicians, web experts, and other unseen workers from their churches’ worship teams. As one speaker told them, “You’re the ones who bring flavor” to the Sunday-morning experience.

That may explain the title for the conference: SALT.

It also sets the stage for two lessons illustrated to me as I attended SALT October 10-12 this year. And the lessons don’t have anything to do with technology, which is the main emphasis of SALT. Instead, what I experienced there led me to two personal reflections about my task as a communicator of the gospel.

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