I thought I’d blog on some of my passions since I’m preaching on the topic this coming Sunday. I think there is a difference between position and passion. I’m a pastor, but that isn’t my passion. That is my position. It’s the way that I give expression to my passion. My passions go deeper and extend further than my positions.

C.S. Lewis said, “Every life is composed of a few themes.” Here are a few of my passions that have become themes:

My primary passion is to help people reach their God-given potential. That’s me in a nutshell. So whether I’m parenting or pastoring; whether I’m writing or preaching or leading; I want to help people reach their God-given potential. John Maxwell said it best. “Potential is God’s gift to us. What we do with it is our gift to God.” I’m all about the parable of the talents. Too many people play it safe and bury their talent. They are playing not to lose. I think God calls us to play to win. One of our core values is: playing it safe is risky! I want to help people unearth their talent and use it to glorify God. That’s what I’m about.

Another passion is communicating old truths in new ways. I love redefining words and ideas. I try to communicate with creativity and originality. I think truth is kaleidoscopic, but too many of us are one-dimensional in the way we communicate things. The truth should be anything but boring. NCC has a core value: irrelevance is irreverence. One of my core convictions is that the greatest message deserves the greatest marketing. I’m a competitive person and that competitiveness can be a spiritual stumbling block. But I also believe it can be sanctified like every other part of who I am and be used to glorify God. Too many churches view other churches as a competition. Our competition is Hollywood and Madison Avenue. They are doing a better job at communicating unimportant and insignificant things than we are at communicating the Good News. I just don’t believe that you can oversell the gospel. It’s impossible because it’s too good.

I have “sub-passions” as that complement my primary passions. I’m a closet comedian. I believe that laughter is one dimension of the Imago Dei. I take fun seriously! I believe that we need to be good stewards of our medial ventral prefrontal cortex (the part of the brain identified by neurologists as being the seat of humor). I love making people laugh.

I wrote about it in ID: The True You:

This may sound strange, but have you ever told God a joke? I’m serious. Does loving God with all your mind include the medial ventral prefrontal cortex? I know there’s a fine line where we can cross over into sacrilegious territory, but this isn’t it. Humor is not just healthy, it’s holy. It’s a gift from God. God is the one who created us with the capacity to guffaw. Permission to speak frankly? I don’t want a relationship with someone I can’t laugh with.

My kids crack me up all the time and I only have three of them! What with six billion of us running around this planet, I wonder if God ever stops laughing! There has to be millions of hilarious things happening all the time!

Two of my other sub-passions are twenty-somethings and church planters. I’m going to turn this current message series, The Game of Life, into a book for twenty-somethings. I feel like I’m called to be a voice to emerging generations. And that book is my way of helping twenty-somethings navigate the third decade of life. Another passion is church planting. I feel called to be a voice to emerging churches. I’ll always make time for a church planter! I love being around entrepreneurs and dreamers. And I love sharing our story in hopes that it’ll inspire and encourage others along the way.

I think one key to a fulfilling life is making sure your life revolves around your passions. I think fulfillment and fruitfulness are found where your gifts (what you do best) and your passions (what you love most) overlap! I’m trying to organize my life around those things. I’m saying no to things I’m not passionate about. I’m trying to do the things I’d do even if I didn’t get paid to do them!

By the way, that’s a good way to define passion. It’s what you would do for free! It’s what you can’t imagine not doing! There are weekends where I need a break from preaching, but you’d need a restraining order and straight jacket to keep me out of the pulpit for very long! So here’s the $64,000 question: would you be doing what you’re doing if you didn’t get paid to do it? I can honestly answer “yes.” But I’m afraid I’m in the minority. According to one survey I read a few years ago, 89% of Americans don’t enjoy their job! That’s means only 1 in 10 people really like what they are doing. I’d like to help the other 89%! At the end of the day, I want to help people pursue their passions the way I’ve pursued mine. And, by the way, I’m not done I’ve got plenty of passions to pursue in the coming years. I think I’d only identified the tip of the proverbial iceberg!