The Endurance Factor - Book Review

The Endurance Factor

Greg Surratt & Chip Judd

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: What, you too? I thought I was the only one.” This is a quote from C.S. Lewis in the book The Endurance Factor by Greg Surratt and Chip Judd. What you discover in this book is that Greg and Chip are your friends because as they share their story. You will think, “What, you too? I thought I was the only one.”

The cover of this book states: “How ministry leaders can avoid burnout, live well, and finish strong.” With that purpose in mind, they share Biblical principles and practical advice to help pastors to finish strong. Every minister needs to read this book to avoid the pitfalls that cause us to crash and burn. I am just going to share a few highlights to hopefully get you interested in reading this book.  

In chapter one, they share three questions that every leader needs to be asking. These are not direct quotes but paraphrases. You will have to buy the book to get the full impact of these questions.

Think Decades Question: Can you live the way you are living now for decades?

The Trajectory Question: Can you get where you want to go the way you are going? Are you on a path that will get you where you want to go?

The Insanity Question: If I keep doing what I am doing right now, where will my relationship with God be in one year, three years, or five years?  

These are all questions I wish I had asked 30 or 40 years ago.  

There was one quote on marriage that caught me off guard until I finished the sentence.  “In fact, I have found the secret of a great marriage is to have an affair…a love affair with God.” His point is that it is more important to know God’s love for you so that you have a proper view of yourself. It is hard to have a good marriage or any relationship until we know our identity in God.  

Here are some random quotes from the book that should pique your interest:

• “Isolation is one of the chief accelerators of burnout.”

• “When I operate from a secure place in the Father’s love, I can receive the praise of people without it meaning too much, and I can receive criticism without being crushed.”

• “As I have said, it is living from fullness, not for fullness.”

• “The key to a good attitude is a healthy dose of gratitude. When gratitude walks in, complaining and entitlement walk out.”

• “It’s perfectly fine for people to appreciate us and our messages, but we cross a line when we have to have it to feel okay about ourselves. When we crave it, it moves Jesus off the throne of your heart.”

These are just a few of the nuggets from this book. In addition to the book, Surrat and Judd have a podcast called The Endurance Factor that is loaded with lots of great advice and resources. They also have a retreat center near Charleston that is a great place of refreshing and camaraderie (retreats are made available at no charge). Their ministry is to see ministers succeed and finish strong.

Along with checking out The Endurance Factor, I would encourage you to check out Covenant Connections and Alan Ahlgrim’s book Soul Strength. I have personally benefited from both of these resources and groups.

Rumble Strips

Many roads now have rumble strips. They are designed to warn us that we are getting out of our lane and entering the danger zone. Many newer cars are equipped with vibrating seats or an audible sound that warns the driver that they are moving out of their lane. The rumble strips and warning systems of newer cars are all screaming at us to adjust our driving because danger is ahead. That got me thinking about the warning signs that might be telling us to adjust our lives
.

A common warning sign is that we are spending more money than we make. Someone has said this happens when we have more month than money. If your outgoing money is larger than your incoming money, it is a problem that can create long-term issues. The adjustment most people make is to expand their collection of credit cards. Heed the warning for when your income isn’t as much as expenses. Make the adjustment and cut your expenses.

I often see a warning in the morning when I step on the scales. It tells me to lay off the groceries and get more exercise. If I don’t adjust my food intake and begin to exercise, I could be damaging my body and cutting my life short. I may need to make adjustments to be a good steward of the body God gave me.

Another rumble strip we seem to be seeing more of today is people that have given up meeting together with the church. I guess many people have gotten out of the habit during the Covid lock down or just gotten too busy with other things. The writer of Hebrews warns us to not give up meeting together (10:25).  Reading the book of Hebrews gives us lots of negative outcomes if we don’t adjust our lives to God’s Way.   

When your car begins to rumble as you drift into another lane or off the road, you must adjust or pay the consequences. God has provided lots of rumble strips to warn us we are veering from the best that he has for us. I have only named three, but you will find many more in God’s Word. We can adjust or pay the price later. 

Check yourself before you wreck yourself!

We were headed home to LaGrange on Interstate 85 when I saw the car in the left lane with its left turn signal on and it was going about 50 miles per hour. Maybe they were slowing to turn left, I thought. As we got closer, I noticed a couple of interesting things about the car. Their rear window wiper was going even though it wasn’t raining. That is strange, I thought; but maybe they were using the rhythm of the wipers to help keep the proper beat for some music they were composing. I also noticed that there were car parts that seemed to be hanging off the left side of this vehicle. These parts were flapping in the now 60 miles per hour wind since the car was speeding up. When the right opportunity presented itself, I moved into the right lane to get around the car. I noticed two things as we passed this car that was now going about 45 miles per hour. The first was that the right side of the car looked like it had rubbed the wall at the Daytona Speedway going 160 miles per hour. Then everything was explained when I saw the driver. The driver was driving with her knees, she had her head down looking at her phone, and her stubby little thumbs moving at the speed of light. I was happy to get past this wreck waiting to happen. As I pulled away, I looked back to see the front of the car was missing a headlight, part of the grill, and some of the fiberglass cowling. I had a friend that often said, “You better check yourself before you wreck yourself.” For this driver, we would have said, “You better check yourself before you wreck yourself again.”  

 We all know the dangers of distracted driving, but do we know the dangers of distracted living? We can get over focused on finances, possessions, work, recreation, entertainment, relationships, etc. to the point that we have taken our eyes off Jesus. When that happens we are going to bump into a little sin that just might dent or ding up our lives just a little. The Hebrew writer tells us to fix our eyes on Jesus in Hebrew 12:2. That sounds easy enough, but we all know we have to fight to keep our eyes on Jesus.  If we don’t check ourselves, we will wreck ourselves. 

There are a few ways that we can check ourselves and keep our eyes on Jesus. I believe being in church every Sunday is a good beginning place. Sundays always draw my focus back to Jesus, especially communion.  I believe meeting with Jesus every day in his Word and in prayer helps me maintain a proper focus.  Having a small group of people that can help you see your blind spots and encourage you is also helpful. Statistics tell us that  more and more people are leaving the church. When I watch the news, it is one story after another about people who have wrecked their lives and other’s lives. Could it be that we have taken our eyes off Jesus? Maybe it is time we check ourselves before we wreck ourselves.

Hebrews 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, 

who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, 

and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. NIV

 Delight 

I have been camped out in Psalm 119 for a couple of months. There is a recurring word that keeps showing up as the Psalmist talks about God’s Word. It is a word that I rarely hear in conjunction with God’s decrees. The Psalmist uses the word nine times in reference to God’s Word. If the word was used in a crossword puzzle, the clue might be a high degree of gratification or pleasure. That word is delight.

The psalmist says that he delights in God’s decrees, statues, commands, and law. If the truth be told, many of us find those things to be hard, troublesome, and a chore. We rarely say that we find delight in God’s law and decrees. When you find something to be a delight, you will want to return to it often. 

The key to finding delight in God’s commands may be found in another often repeated word in Psalm 119. It may be a four-letter word to some, but it is the key to finding delight in God’s Word. When you do this, you find that the ancient writings we call the Bible are true and beneficial. That four-letter word is obey. 

The author of Psalm 119 uses the word obey seventeen times. Obedience is important when it comes to delighting in God’s commands. I believe that we will change our attitude about God’s Word when we do what it says and are obedient to the words we read. Our lives and churches would change because we obeyed God ‘s decrees. I can only imagine how different churches would be if people found delight in reading their Bibles through obedience. If we only changed our attitude toward God’s Word through obedience, we could change the world. 

If delight isn’t a word you would use in reference to God’s Word, it just might be an obedience issue. When I find God’s Word to be a chore, it is often because I need to do what it says. Who wants to read God’s decrees when they confront us with our sin? The best way to keep God’s decrees from being a duty is through obedience.

Psalm 37:4 "Take delight in the Lord, and he will give 

you the desires of your heart." (NIV)

Just A Closer Walk With Thee

                                                                  

For most of my adult life, I have been leading a church or parachurch organization. When you lead a church or organization, you have a good idea where you are going and what most days will hold. You pray for those you lead and the work that you do. It was straight forward. 

My new endeavor as director of church relations at Point University is not so clear. I know my job is to strengthen our relationships with our churches, but each day is different. Some days, I counsel and encourage ministers who are struggling. Most Sundays, I am visiting churches and pastors to share the Point story. I spend a good amount of time on the phone trying to reach ministers. I will even do some event planning. I never know what each day might hold because my primary role is to serve churches. It is very different from what I have done most of my life. 

I say all that to say I have had to adjust my mindset because I never know what role I will play on any given day. Since my primary role is to serve and I never know what that entails, my daily prayer has become, “Just a closer walk with thee, Grant it, Jesus, is my plea.”  That old hymn has become the prayer that prepares me for whatever will come my way. The closer I am to my King, the more useful I will be in doing his work. Walking with Jesus and staying in step with the Holy Spirit keeps me ready to be used in any way. 

If I can be transparent here, that should have always been my prayer. The first and most important task we have is growing closer to Christ. If I am growing closer to Christ, I will be useful to him and empowered by Him for any assignment he might have for me.   

The Door

It was just a broken door, but I couldn't keep my mouth shut. When I was a campus minister at FSU, I traveled and spoke in lots of different churches. Some churches would even invite me back. One church invited me back for five years in a row. As I entered the church building for the first time, I was greeted by a sign that said, “This door is broken, please use the other door.” Things happen, and they can’t always be repaired immediately. They invited me back the next year. When I arrived the second year, I found the same sign and the same broken door. This occurred again for the third, fourth, and fifth year. Then it happened. I could not keep my mouth shut. When I see things that need to be repaired, I think it should be done. I said, “I have been coming for five years and that front door has been broken for over five years. Don’t you think it is time to get it fixed?” Apparently, I said the wrong thing. I did not get invited back the next year. 

One thing that I often found as I traveled from church to church over the years is that the physical state of the facilities is usually an indication of the inner workings of the church. If they put up with a broken door that you walked by every Sunday, what is the condition of the things that you can’t see like the finances and record keeping or keeping track of the sheep. 

Jesus reminded us to be faithful in the small things and he would entrust us with more. Maybe the reason this church was struggling was that they had not been faithful in the small things. That door was a clear indication that they didn’t deal with problems well. For over 250 Sundays, that door screamed that no one cared enough to take care of a problem that was in clear view. What were the other problems that might be lurking behind the scenes that needed attention. 

One adjustment that we can all benefit from is looking for problems and taking steps to handle the issues. This adjustment could be used in our personal lives, businesses, and our churches. If we dealt with one challenge a week, we could make huge changes over a year. 

By the way, the next time I visited that church two years later, the door was fixed.

The old and familiar is an anchor for the soul.

 

Kathy and I recently saw a Beatles Tribute Show. It was a fun show. The crowd was mostly our age.  Most of us had probably not listened to this music in years, but when the music started the words just flowed from our lips. Not only did the words come back, so did the memories like sitting on the couch with my  family and watching the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show.  The evening brought back a flood of memories and emotions. 

Kathy and I were visiting a church in north Georgia. They have a blended service. That means they have some of the new songs and some of the old and familiar hymns. I am a huge fan of most of the new worship songs. I was not prepared for my reaction that day to one of the old and familiar hymns. We sang Great Is Thy Faithfulness. As we began to sing, it took me back to Southeast Christian Church in Orlando where I grew up. We sang that song there often.  It reminded me of the faithfulness of God to me through that church and those who invested in my life as a young person. It wasn’t long before I felt tears running down my face because I was reminded of God’s faithfulness to me over 50 years ago.

A number of years ago, someone told me that the old and familiar was an anchor for the soul. I am not sure of the origin of that nugget of wisdom, but it sounds like something Fred Craddock would say.  That morning in the north Georgia church that old and familiar hymn ministered to my soul as it reminded me of a lifetime of God’s faithfulness.