From business coaching to 12 step programs accountability is crucial for success.  Our spiritual growth is no different.

Sadly, accountability in the church has become synonymous with a group of guys or gals meeting together and asking each other a bunch of questions that no one actually answers honestly.  If you’ve been in one of these groups you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Biblical accountability is so much bigger, and it is far more about the environment we create then the process we go through.  Accountability is the environment from which authentic community springs forth.  It is place where the ‘one anothers’ and ‘each others’ of the Bible form the foundation of spiritual growth.  Biblical accountability is the soil in which God’s Word takes root in our hearts, keeping our lives oriented towards the gospel.

The New Testament is riddled with over a hundred references, most of which are commands, about doing life together.  Following Jesus isn’t something that we can do on our own and be successful.  Having an intimate, vibrant, exciting relationship with Jesus requires our dependence on other believers.

So what does this ‘environment’ of accountability look like?  God’s Word teaches there are four elements to an environment of biblical accountability.

1. LOVE.

Love is the foundation of accountability.

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. – John 15:12

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. – Romans 12:10

Keep on loving each other as brothers. – Hebrews 13:1

Take away love and accountability becomes mandated religiosity, which only breeds resentment.  Love keeps relationship central.  It is only in an environment of love where we know relationship is the most important thing that we can feel save enough to experience the remaining elements.

2. CONFESSION.

Accountability rises and falls on humble, vulnerable confession.

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”  James 5:16 NIV

The problem with most confession is that it lacks humility and vulnerability.  We confess our sins but still hold onto the lie that we are independently self-sufficient.  Humble confession says, “I need your help,  I can’t overcome this struggle on my own.”

James 5:16 confession is more then just admitting that you missed the mark.  Confession here assumes ones need for help.  James 5 confession says, ”I can’t do this on my own, I need your help and, more then that, I need you to stand with me in prayer because it is only through the power of God’s Spirit working in me I will be healed.”

Humble, vulnerable, confession.

3. ENCOURAGEMENT.

Encouragement is what spurs us on to be better tomorrow then we are today.

“See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” Hebrews 3:12-13 NIV

Complacency is the kryptonite of spiritual growth.  Especially within a Christian culture where reliance on God is more of an option then a necessity, complacency is our enemies go to weapon.  Scripture teaches us that we are to “encourage one another daily”.  God knows our disposition towards complacency and that without accountability our relationship with Christ will slowly fade away.  Relationships are fluid; they are never static.  We are either growing closer to Christ or we are growing away from Christ.  Accountability makes sure we are moving in the right direction.

4. GRACE.

Grace keeps our eyes on Jesus, not our good works.

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them–yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.”  1 Corinthians 15:10 NIV

Grace reminds us that spiritual growth is not about what we do, but rather what we allow God to do in us.  We will never grow spiritually until we understand it is about reliance on God not our own good works.  Experiencing the grace of God, through our brothers and sister in Christ, when we miss the mark is a continual reminder of where we would be without God’s grace in our lives.

“To be truly biblical, as well as truly effective, the growth process must include the Body of Christ.” — Cloud and Townsend, How People Grow

When we enter into the environment of accountability where we can humbly experience love, confession, encouragement and grace we find our selves vulnerable to God’s molding and shaping us into the person he created us to be.  And that, after all, is what spiritual growth is all about…allowing God to craft us in the very best version of ourselves.

KB

Spiritual growth is a funny thing. And everyone has an opinion on it. There are a thousand models and even more resources that promise to help you take your relationship with Christ deeper. So why is it so easy for us to find ourselves “stuck” spiritually? With all the resources available around us why do we still find ourselves struggling to develop a vibrant growing faith?

I believe the answer rests in our desire to create a on-size-fits-all process for spiritual growth. The reason that there are so many different models for spiritual growth out there is because they all work, as least for the person who wrote them. But just because they worked for someone else doesn’t necessarily mean they are going to work for you.

Over the next few weeks I will be writing about the Essentials to Spiritual Growth. This isn’t a model or a four-step process to spiritual growth, it is simply the three essential elements that need to be present for spiritual growth to take place. These elements are present whenever we see spiritual growth flourish. On one hand this frees us to find a model or resource that works best for us; that resonates with the unique way God has created each of us. But, on the other hand, it is a warning that if these three things our missing, there is no resource in the world that will find lasting effect on our hearts.

If today your spiritual passion is a little bit lacking, you are feeling flat in your walk with Christ, or you just don’t feel as connect with God as you once did, it would be my guess that you are missing one of these essential elements in your walk with Christ.

These essentials are, Accountability, Rhythm, and Mission.

Over the next few weeks we will look at the biblical precedent for each of these essentials and how they contribute to the vitality of our spiritual growth.

KB

I’ve been doing lots of dreaming lately. As you can see…it’s been a little quiet around here. But there comes a point when dreaming turns into being lazy. And nothing ever actually gets accomplished.

It’s time to ship. See you soon!

KB

I love the Christmas season because I love telling the Christmas story.
Here is the Christmas story told by kids…made my morning…thought I would pass it along!

KB

The D6Conference kicked off today in Dallas, Texas.  For the past several years that has been a big push for ‘Family’ Ministry to engage and equip parents to be the primary faith trainers of their homes.  While we have seen some great efforts and glimpses of movement, there is an underlying cultural shift that has yet to take place both within our churches and our homes.  I believe that we are getting close to saturation.  momentum is building.  we are seeing the beginnings of a movement…and we each have a part to play.

KB

I am spending the week at OSU in Corvallis, OR at a youth conference put on by Christ In Youth called MOVE.  This weeks theme is ‘Something Bigger’ and the whole week we will be looking at expanding our view of God.  Yesterday started off with the story of Rahab, from the book of Joshua.  An incredible story about a prostitue who simply had faith in a God that she had likely only encountered through the stories told of a homeless people wandering the land across the Jordan River.  Rahab assessed the situation, and with sober judgement placed her faith in a foreign God who had done some incredible things in a far off land.

In every great story their is a main character.  The one around which the entire fabric of the story hinges.  If that character goes away, so does the story. I think that sometimes when we read the Bible we forget who the main character is.  And if we are not careful we can begin to focus so intently on the individual stories of the Bible that we loose who this story is truly about.  This story isn’t about Rahab.  Rahab was simply a broken mess, just like you and me, who allowed her self to me used by the God of the universe.

When we make the story about Rahab, or ourselves, we miss the One who makes this story so incredible.  God does not call us to merely write a better story, he invites to become a part of His story.  A story that is way better then anything we can write on our own.

That is the mission of God.  To bring back God’s good creation into His story, a story that we decided to try writing on our own in the Garden of Eden. But the only way home, the only way to truly find the life that we so long for…a life filled with joy, peace, kindness, goodness and love…a life free from depression, heartache, brokenness and death…is to let God tear out the pages of our own story so that He can weave them into His.

This is what happens when we make God the main character.  We see the Bible for what it truly is.  A Holy Spirit crafted, multi-authored, masterpiece of stories telling humankind who the God of this universe is, and what this God is like.  This is the beginning of being a part of something bigger…this is the beginning of wisdom…the beginning of life the way it was meant to be lived.

KB

So yesterday while catching up on Seth Godin’s blog I decided to take his advice and check out Derek Sivers’ new book “Anything You Want”. It’s a short read, took me about an hour. In the book Derek teaches through his experience as the founder of CD Baby, a music distribution site committed to helping independent artist be heard. His take on entrepreneurship was refreshing, funny, and engaging.

It was a timely read for me. There were a lot of things in this book that I needed to hear. Things that were affirming to the direction I am headed in ministry. I don’t know if Derek has a relationship with Jesus, but either way, some of the things that he discovered on his CD Baby journey definitely line up with that which Jesus taught leads to an abundant life.

A few things that I will take away for Derek’s story:

• Be true to your giftedness, don’t try to be someone your not just because others think you should
• Do things you are passionate about, don’t waste your time on the other stuff
• Be a person of character
• Great fulfillment comes from serving others
• Live simply
• Work really hard at whatever you do

If you are an entrepreneur at heart and love dreaming, inventing, reinventing and creating then I encourage you to pick up Derek’s book.  It’s definitely worth an hour of your day.

KB

It has been a blessed, exhausting, awesome week at camp. Our speaker, Martin Flaherty, did a great job speaking to our kids junior camp kids this week, and the counselors were amazing. I have been abundantly blessed to have worked with such talented, passionate, and loving servants. They shined Christ brightly as they interacted with and led our kids this week. It was their hearts for these kids that made camp this week.

Friday’s are always a special day as everyone prepares for home and reality sets in that camp is coming to a close. The junior campers celebrated a great week by watching ‘How to Train Your Dragon’. (which is a must see, if you haven’t already) And the MS/HS camp finished the week off with an evening filled with a challenging message, much emotion, and changed lives.

While I am tired from a week filled with ministry and service, I am not quite ready to head back home. This week has flown by, and I feel like just as we catch our stride we have to say good bye. But maybe that a good place to be…heading home with a little momentum and a skip in our spiritual step.

KB

At the end of day four I’m beginning to feel the effects of 4-5 hours of sleep a night. And my pillow is calling to me loudly so I will keep this short.

Today started off with thunder storms followed by a good down pour. But by the end of breakfast the sun was shining and camp was in full swing. The kids in junior camp were particularly lively at worship this morning and seemed to be taking in every word Martin Flaherty, our camp speaker as saying. This morning Martin taught on the greatest commandment, love LOVE (God) and love loving others. This was illustrated by the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan’ and a particularly impactful illustration of atonement.

The wind and cool temps that our morning storm brought with it deterred most of the kids from getting in the water today. The lake is as cold as I have ever felt it, so without the warm temps the water isn’t as appealing. But the kids took advantage of the great crafts provided by one of our camp counselors and took the opportunity to use the zip line and giant swing.

Our MS/HS students spent much of their free-time preparing for their turn to preform for the week long lip-syncing contest. They did a great job in their performance and represented Sandpoint well.

This week has flown by, can’t believe that tomorrow is our last day. Kind of wish we had a few more days. Keep our kids, counselors, and speakers in your prayers as we enter our last day with these kids.

KB

As a camp director, by the end of day 3 the majority of your job is done. The kids and the counselors know the schedule and what to expect each day, and every thing that you have spent months planning begins to become reality. This year is no exception. After camp fire tonight I felt myself finally take that relaxing breath that comes when you know that your plans are working out and the camp is running smoothly. The reason you didn’t get a day two update from me yesterday is because day two set the tone for the rest of the week. So by the time evening rolled around, my mental energy was enough to get anything typed up. Now days 4 and 5 can just be enjoyed as more of my efforts and be focused on building relationship and creating great stories.

For our junior campers our theme has pushed them to let go of themselves and the world, and accept who God has created them to be and to view themselves through God’s eyes, not the eyes of their peers or even themselves. I have heard of some great discussions that have been taking place in their family groups. You can also see the Holy Spirit working to break down walls and there is a great since of fellowship that is taking place amont the group. Our worship times have been high energy and they heart felt praise that these kids sing out to their creator could bring you to tears. It is amazing the joy that begins to bubble up when kids spend a whole week center round deepening their relationship with Jesus. So much fun to see God working in their hearts.

I haven’t been able to spend much time in the MS/HS camp but from what I can see things are going well ‘down the hill’ as well. The hardened shells that build up around our hearts from day to day living in a broken culture are beginning to crack and you can see God’s working. They have been challenged in their teaching times to make a choice to be ‘all in’. Meaning, they choose relationship with God, over the false relationship of this world. Last night they were challenge to see past the facade Satan has built around what our world deems as success and to trust God in living lives according to His view of success. A life of sacrifice and humility. A life that is for others, not for ourselves.

Have I mentioned how much I love camp?

God is good.

KB