[Encore Post] 10 Questions That Make Christians Wet Their Pants

Have you ever seen a Christian backpedal when asked a challenging question? Who am I kidding, of course you have. Maybe you’ve even done it yourself. I know I have. It’s embarrassing. For that reason, I have a rule about quoting the Bible in my home - You can’t quote it if you can’t find it.

This comes up most often with my oldest daughter, Alura. She likes to use the Bible to combat my wife and my parenting. One time she was frustrated with her chores. She came to me saying, “The Bible says not to overwork your children with chores.”

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[Encore Post] The 6 Keys to Finding Your Best Mentor

After the release of my new book, Good Fight, last Wednesday, I'm taking some much needed time to recoup. So I'm sharing one of my most read and personal favorite blog posts with you in this encore post. 

"Why don't I believe you?" My mentor, Jeff, said to me as we sat in my office. I had just finished trying to convince him that my relationship with Jesus was hunky dory.  I didn't want to confess that I felt disconnected, defeated and a little ashamed because it didn't seem like I was hearing from God during my quiet time. I sat frozen, trying to figure out what to say next. He saw right through my bluff and called me on it.

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Encore Post: I Made A Major Leadership Blunder

I'm taking this week to work on my ebook, 'Good Fight', and a couple other writing projects. While I'm refocusing, I'll be re-posting my most popular articles as measured by the number of page views they've received. Enjoy!

Tim H. Swanson

I love my team so much. I am so proud of them. And I threw them so completely under the bus.

Go team!

At the beginning of the year my boss asked me to preach once at the beginning of July. I had been asking to preach, so if course I said yes. I had months to prepare. I am also very fortunate that our youth worship leader, Jonathan, is a paid member of our staff, and a better worship leader than I am, in my opinion. So asking him to lead worship, on the week I preached, was a no-brainer. I paired him up with a talented young lady, named Allie, who has great potential to be an outstanding Worship Leader. As a team, the two were excellent together. So I went on planning my sermon without giving it much more thought. I checked in periodically with Jonathan to see how things were going. As I expected, he had it under wraps.

Go me!

Then in June, I had a conversation with my boss, who offered me a second opportunity to preach. As we spoke, I was thinking about another one of my team members who I had considered encouraging into worship leadership. So I accepted the second preaching opportunity, and called my team member, a true lover of worship named Andrea. She jumped at the chance to lead, which was encouraging. I felt like things were really looking up. I was finding leadership potential all over the place within my team. And I was going to get the opportunity to preach twice (which is exactly twice as often as most Worship Leaders get to preach in a year).

The first Sunday in July came and went. I preached. Jonathan and Allie led the Music together. It couldn't have gone better. My team was pumped, and so was I. I was walking on clouds all week. I felt like I wanted to shout about the greatness of my team from a mountain top.

Go away team. I’m on a roll!

Then in the middle of the week, I got an email from our lead teaching pastor, Bob Kerrey. He said my preaching skills had gotten some pretty high praise from a prominent church member. He said he was encouraged by it, and offered me the opportunity to preach a third time in July. At this point, I was no longer thinking about my team. I was thinking about myself. And I had become greedy. I accepted the opportunity to preach a third time and scheduled Allie & Jonathan to lead the music. Without thinking about how it would effect my staff and volunteers, I saddled them with the pressure of working without me for a third week so that I could pursue the things I wanted for me.

My second week preaching came along, and again I received high praise for my oratory skills. But this time, my team did not seem pumped up. They seemed tired. I was dropping extra work on them at the last second, and they were clearly getting worn out.

That was last Sunday. Today, I’m in my office preparing for my final sermon this Sunday. It has been almost a month that I have been completely unavailable to my team. In every interaction that I have with them, I’m increasingly aware that they’re getting burned out. I don’t think the issue is that I accepted three preaching engagements in one month. I think that my mistake is that I accepted three preaching dates without preparing my team or thinking about how it would affect them. It’s hard for me to watch them suffer because I was being selfish.

My bad.

In the future, I plan on preaching with some regularity at my church. Only, the next time I preach, the well being of my team will be in the front of my mind. I will spend time in advance preparing my leadership for the rigorous extra work that they will face when I am unavailable. I will spend more time with them planning, praying and preparing for the weeks that I will be away. I won’t accept big responsibility at the last minute, if it means that my team will bare the brunt of the burden.

As Worship Leaders, it is not just our responsibility to lead our congregations in worship on Sunday. It’s my view that we have at least an equal responsibility to our troops who follow us into battle every week. It is essential that we spend quality time preparing them for new responsibilities. When we drop things on them at the last second, we are cashing in on their trust in us. Some of us are in the habit of changing songs right before Sunday morning services begin, or even worse some of you are like me and you selfishly saddle your team with last minute burden so you can take more opportunities. Whatever it is, we have to learn to mind our staff and volunteers better. We have to learn to bring them along with us. None of us will ever build high functioning teams if we don’t learn to do this.

Over the next couple weeks, I have some serious apologizing to do to my teams. They are strong and mature believers, so I know they have already forgiven me. But that’s not the point. In my selfishness, I have cashed in on some of their trust in me. I plan on spending some serious time and money reminding them about how important and necessary they are. Lets face it. When  the Holy Spirit moves on Sunday Morning, he uses all of us, not just me. Every person is important, not just me. It is the collective effort of my team that accomplishes the will of God, not just mine. I have had to be reminded of that this month. My hope is that you will learn from my mistake, and not have to learn this lesson the way I have.

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Encore Post: Unrelenting, Heart Stopping, Sheer Terror!

I'm taking this week to work on my ebook, 'Good Fight', and a couple other writing projects. While I'm refocusing, I'll be re-posting my most popular articles as measured by the number of page views they've received. Enjoy!

Tim H. Swanson


The day was beautiful beyond words. Fluffy white clouds wandered through the sky above our heads. A mild breeze moved the tree branches about and made a calming 'swishing' sound. Surrounded by white capped mountains on every side, we were four days away from civilization on the path to the Pindari Glacier in the Himalaya mountains. The pain in our feet was of little concern to us as we stared at the majesty of God's creation.

The Team in front of the Pindari Glacier.

We walked through thick patches of lush greenery and past streams of crystal clear water during our days of travel. At one point, our path led us through a massive meadow on a west facing mountain slope. I stopped next to one of my fellow trekkers to admire the scenery. The meadow was carpeted with ankle high yellow and orange flowers sprinkled with tiny yellow fluttering butterflies. With all of it's magnificence, this place evoked pure serenity.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" The shrill scream cut through the air of the meadow as a young lady in our group ran full speed across the plane. Her pack, which was almost bigger than she was, swung from side to side nearly knocking her to the ground as she trampled the flowers. My fellow trekker and I stood still. Only our heads moved to follow the young lady who ran as if she were on fire.

Along the way we ran into a shepherd.

It's called Lepidopterophobia. It is the irrational fear of butterflies (and moths). I had never heard of it before the trek, but this phobia had my full attention as I watched the young lady run clear through the meadow and on until she was out of sight. While my friend and I took in everything those mountains had to offer and stood in awe of creation, she was blind to all of it. To her there was only one thing on that mountain side - butterflies. Her fear of those tiny winged creatures overshadowed everything else. She overlooked all of the splendor of that place because of tiny indifferent bugs that couldn't even hurt you if they wanted to.

It sounds silly to me that something so small had so much influence in her life. But as I've reflected on that day I've come to an unnerving conclusion: I do the same thing! If I'm really honest, fear permeates just about every area of my life. Last night before I went to bed, I took inventory of the places where fear influences my day. I realized that fear is part of every waking moment for me. When I drive, I worry about how my driving looks to other drivers. At work, I worry about making bad decisions, offending people, falling behind, looking inept, etc. At home I worry about failing in my marriage, letting my children down, letting my wife down, and much much more. I could go on for quite some time. When I started writing this, I thought the fear of butterflies was silly. And now, if I could trade all of my fears for one irrational fear of butterflies, I would do it in a heartbeat.

A photo of the lush greenery

How about you? How does fear influence your life? Maybe you don’t give fear any power over you. If that’s the case then you should find someone who has lots of fear and rub off on them. But if you’re more like me, then fear is overpowering. While I have not conquered my fears, I have made some real progress in the last few years that I didn’t think was possible. So now I’d like to give you three basic steps to begin approaching your fear. These things have been the only steps that have worked for me, and a lot of other people I’ve come to know.

1. Pray. At this point you may be saying, “Tim, that’s your answer for everything.” You’re dang straight it is. And it should be yours too. Specifically, pray for wisdom. In James 1:2-8, James tells the newly formed church to consider their trials as joy. That may sound like a stupid suggestion, I know it did to me at first. But that is not James’ suggestion, he proposes joy as a goal. The idea is that we look at the things that scare us as opportunities to grow and learn, and when we get excited about that kind of growth, then trials can produce joy. And he doesn’t leave us without tools to accomplish the goal. In verse 5 he says, “If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him.” Prayer will never steer you in the wrong direction.

2. Invest in Sympathetic Community. I know a lot of people who have done well trusting 12 step programs, I am one of those people. Another excellent community to pursue is the church. I realize that these communities can be a scary proposition for a lot of people. They probably should be, they’re full of imperfect people. But that is not a reason to do away with them all together. You’ll find the same hypocritical, judgmental, narrow minded people at church, work, clubs, bars, gyms, or anywhere else you go. The idea is not that these places will save you, only Jesus does that. But as you meet new people you’ll build fond memories and difficult ones at the same time. Only, when you go into these places with wisdom from God, you’ll even find joy in the difficult memories because they will produce valuable lessons.

3. Find Yourself A Trusted Adviser. Trusting people can be really scary. But it would be foolish for us to let our fear of other people rule the day. There is no shame in wading slowly into scary waters. What I do is look for someone who has something I want. Then I ask him/her how to get it. Today I have several excellent advisers. My wife is my only female advisor. She is a good one for me because she sees areas that tend to be my blind spots. I can always get some insight by asking her opinion. I also have a sponsor through my 12 step program. He is a guy who has dealt with similar fears to mine and has experienced the kind of success that I want. My father is another one of my trusted advisers. I am a lot like him, and he is a lot older than me. Going to him is almost like looking into my future in many ways. He has experienced a lot of the potholes that may be ahead of me. So when he gives advice, I usually listen. You may not have any relationships like these to build on. If that’s the case, then start by looking for just one. This person could be a manager or boss at work, a leader at your church, a reputable member of your community, a long standing family friend. Whoever it is for you, I recommend the same simple process that was given to me: look for someone who has what you want, and ask him/her how to get it.

Fear is cunning, baffling and powerful. As you pursue your goals, it may be the one thing that’s holding you back. If that is the case then take heart. It may have the advantage, but it’s not invincible. And you have the most powerful tool on your side - The one and only All Powerful God who loves you very much.

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Encore Post: A Lesson From The Guy Who Mugged Me

I'm taking this week to work on my ebook, 'Good Fight', and a couple other writing projects. While I'm refocusing, I'll be re-posting my most popular articles as measured by the number of page views they've received. Enjoy!

Tim H. Swanson

In the train station of the metropolitan city of Bangalore, India there is a group of young men. They don’t have any family outside of each other. Their bed is the train station floor. They earn money by carrying luggage for travelers during the day. At night, they spend that money on cocaine and heroin, which is their only recreation. In a country that revolves around a class system that determines each person’s value, they belong to the lowest class. They are treated as subhuman by the people they serve, and they are threatened with violence by the other members of their caste. These boys range in age from 9 - 20 years old.

I stepped out of the city bus, onto the crowded sidewalk in front of the train station. Huge letters spelled out ‘Bangalore City’ across the top of the large terminal. My team was a group of missionaries from the US and Europe. With us was James, a native and our translator. We were there to minister to the group of young homeless boys that live in the train station.

I was excited as we walked toward the large terminal building. This was not our first time visiting the train station boys. Over the previous weeks we had come a number of times. And similarly to the previous weeks, the boys were excited to see us. They came pouring out of the station doors as we arrived. Several boys surrounded each member of my team and began talking to us all at once, even though we didn’t speak a lick of each other’s language. We were glad to see them too.

As the sun set, it ignited the Indian sky. Shades of amber and crimson cast a mellow twilight blanket over everything. I felt a little tired after a few nights of bad dreams and carrying around a foreboding feeling that something bad was going to happen. But that night I tried to shrug it off since this was the highlight of my week. I didn't want anything to distract me from spending time playing games with those boys. And the nature of our games kept us in the parking lot. 

Packed in between the rows of cars we laughed and joked around for a long time. By this time I was beginning to recognize some of the boys, and I had even learned the names of one or two of them. But I still referred to many of them by their appearance, such as ‘the tall skinny one’ or ‘the short skinny one’. Being homeless and addicted to drugs they were all ‘skinny ones’.

Before long, the sun was completely gone. Our games were lighted by the tall parking lot lights. I was a little winded, so I decided to take a break from our game. As I sat down on the concrete curb, one of the younger boys ran up to me and grabbed my hand to pull me back to my feet. I shook my head and tried to communicate that I needed a minute to sit down. However, he was persistent. I couldn’t understand a single word he was saying. But he was exclaiming about something and motioning toward another part of the parking lot. Finally I gave in and stood up to go with him. As we walked past the rows of dark cars, and away from everyone else, I had a quick hesitation, “maybe I should let someone know that I’m going over here” I thought. Ignoring my better judgement I shrugged it off again and followed the now running boy. With the way he was hurrying, I began to wonder if someone had been hurt.

We flew past row after row of parked cars. Then he took a sharp turn in between two compact size sedans. He pulled me between the two cars with him and with one finger motioned for me to wait. I watched curiously as he reached into the pocket of his ripped denim shorts. In the moment after that, time seemed to nearly stop. It all happened in a moment, but I’ll never forget that moment for the rest of my life. The child removed from his pocket an old beat up straight blade razor. He unfolded it revealing a blade that had been sharpened down to a point. With the razor completely extended, he reached his arm out pressing the tip of the shiv into my belly. Then in very broken English he stuttered, “give me your money”.

Have you ever found yourself in a sticky situation like that? Unwanted things are sure to happen to all of us. But have you ever found yourself at the end of a short rope knowing that it could have been avoided had you followed your better judgement? Today, the world isn’t friendlier than it used to be. In fact, you could make a good argument that the world is less friendly today than ever before. This is especially true if you call yourself a Christ follower. As you work to grow your relationship with Jesus and show His love to others, your enemy is trying to trick, ensnare, tempt, hinder, crush, deceive, taunt, trip, and even from time to time stab you to keep you from accomplishing that goal. As Christians (and especially if you are in ministry leadership) we cannot afford to be caught unaware. Fortunately for us, we serve an all powerful God who wants us to succeed. And among an arsenal of protective tools, He has given each one of us a conscience, which will benefit us inasmuch as we follow it and seek to align it with Scripture. There are two great things you can do to build a spiritually aware conscience:

1. Read your Bible: Yes, I know it sounds rudimentary, but don’t underestimate it. There is no better way to align your conscience with Scripture than to make it the focus of your studies. Maybe you’re burned out on Bible Study. If you are, this might be a good time to find a new way to work through Scripture. There are lots of great resources out there. YouVersion is an excellent app that has a gazillion bible study and devotional plans.

2. Pray: "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16). If your past is like mine, you may find yourself having a hard time believing God actually likes you and wants to help you. Well, He does. He cares more thank you can possibly understand. And as you pray, you'll come to a deeper understanding of that care. You don't have to begin by praying for an hour every morning. Find something that works for you. I have some good friends who throw their keys under their beds before they go to sleep at night so they have to get on their knees before they can leave in the morning. Got wants to meet with you. If you're faithful, He will be all the more.

3. Accountability. This isn't a person who you occasionally get together with for coffee. This is someone whom you give the authority to get up in your face when you need it. This is the person you want to know your greatest weaknesses. Find a mentor, supervisor, spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, sister, cousin, parent, pastor, anybody who can stand with you when you need help making good decisions. 

I bet you're wondering how things ended up with me and the boy.

I stared down at the shiv that pressed against my stomach. It had clearly seen better days. The handle was worn, and the blade was covered in rust. In one moment the boy had presented the shiv and his demand. In the next moment I grabbed his wrist with one hand and twisted it to remove the tip of the weapon from my belly. With my other hand, I hit the boy in the chest as hard as I could. He staggered backward and dropped the razor as he fell over. As he laid on the ground gasping for air, I quickly walked back to the well lit area with my team and the rest of the boys were still playing and having fun. That may or may not have been the best way to react. But that’s exactly what it was - a reaction.

I should have listened to my conscience that night. I was very fortunate to be mugged by a boy that I could easily overthrow. But it would have been better for me to follow my conscience and avoid the danger entirely. I am no stranger to avoidable mistakes. Today I've learned some really hard lessons. One that I have no desire to learn again is that I should listen to my conscience. Initially this means listening to common sense that says not to go to dark places with strangers. As a ministry leader, this means avoiding the things that can destroy my testimony. As Christians we should never forget that our conscience is our safeguard. It’s not always comfortable to listen to it, but it is profitable.

"holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to their faith" 1Timothy 1:19

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