Lately I have realized that there are (at least) two ways that I have been trying to be something that I am not.
Number 1. I am not Mark Driscoll — so I shouldn’t try to preach like him. Some of you might not know this but Mark was my first pastor, and for better or worse, I love the guy (I don’t love everything he says, but I still love him). And he was a very formative presence in my life. My first preacher, first person to recognize my call, etc. And i think because of that I have tried to model my preaching (the thing Mark is famous for) after him.
But here’s the problem — I am no Mark Driscoll. I don’t have his talent, his sense of humor, or his style. I don’t prepare in the same way he does and most importantly, I don’t share with him the theology of the Bible that propels him to preach the way he does. So why do i keep trying to model what i do after him? Don’t know, but I’m gunna try to stop.
Number 2. My church is never gunna be like every other church, so why am i worried about it? All too often, I find myself thinking “I don’t want us to be like every other church” as if that’s the goal. It’s not. We’re never going to be like every other church — no matter how hard we try, we’re just not. So let’s just be as faithful as we can in who we are. Regardless if that is the same or different from anyone else.
I made a series of leadership pledges to myself the other day and one of the pledges was, “I will stop trying to be what I am not, and stop trying to make our church be something that it is not”.