Christmas is around the corner now. Just two weeks from today we will be opening presents, eating good food, and spending time together as a family. I look forward to the day. One of my favorite parts of the season is Christmas Eve. At church we have candlelight services and I get to lead them with an incredible group of volunteers. They use their gifts and are there for 4 hours or so, a great birthday gift to Jesus and His family. Thank you Jesus, my family, and my church family. Happy Birthday Jesus!
Posts
Monday, September 28, 2009. This morning we set up our 2020 Initiative display for the FIND Conference, a church planting conference, in Mt. Pleasant (near Charleston), South Carolina. Chuck Frank, Eastern Regional Conference (ERC) Church Planting staff person, led our “talented” crew of himself, Greg Utermahlen, Mike Schooley, and myself in putting the display together. There could be a video just for that adventure. But moving right along… After meeting some other attendees including welcoming the others from ERC who had come for the conference, 13 in all, we had lunch. Then it was time to head into the opening session of FIND. Worship was led by the Worship Band/Team from Seacoast and then Pastor Greg Surratt shared his heart to plant churches. Seacoast has 13 sites. Important questions to consider. Why plant churches? Many people are reached for Christ that wouldn’t be reached by established churches. Is church planting for me? Greg shared his passion to plant churches in t...
It's Sunday afternoon and I will soon be heading for the FIND Conference in South Carolina. I will be flying there tonight with four others and starting at the conference tomorrow with others from across the country. I expect to blog my experiences there so if you follow this you will see a lot more posts from me than normal. This conference for church planters will be filled with information for any of us who want to make a difference in the world. So if you want to help people discover the fulfilling life that comes from a relationship with Jesus, join me these next few days as I share what I am learning at the Conference. Usually I learn a lot of things that weren't on the agenda. God is funny that way, wanting to teach us what we don't even "hear." So I better go pack up and get ready to get picked up for my trip to the Harrisburg airport, the first leg of my journey.
This morning I got a newsletter from Midnight Oil Productions. They have a monthly freebie of a graphic or video and since I like quality and I like free, I decided to zip on over to their site from the link in my newsletter. I watched the video and listened to the very cool voice over or under depending on which seems the most important to you. So of course I wanted to get it for free, hey who wouldn't, and I typed in my username and e-mail address. Well, it seems that the e-mail address matched but not my username or password. So I needed them to send me my password but the system wouldn't allow it without my typing in my username with my e-mail address. Well, I already told you that I don't know my username either apparently so I couldn't retrieve it. Did I give up? No way. I thought to myself "I'll just register again." So I started through the registration, which is quite simple on their site, but was told in an appropriate font that my e-mail ...
Got back from vacation just after midnight last night. It is so nice to get away from the everyday activities of life and travel with my wife and daughters. We went to New York City last Friday to tour Columbia University. What a campus and what a history that university has. Then we went to Tom's Restaurant and discovered while eating there that it is the exterior shot for "Seinfeld." That was cool and I had my picture taken outside. Friday night we stayed with Sarah R. who lives in New York City. She gave us an insider's view of Columbia, where she had graduated and is attending again (for a few more weeks), and a unique look at the city. It was a special experience for our family to be welcomed by her...quite different than a hotel. On Saturday we went to AMDA, the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, for an open house. They are all about training actors for the practical side of drama. Acting, singing, dancing, and even stage combat. Quite a good exper...
This week I'm on vacation with my family. So far it has been reasonably relaxing with lots of sleeping in...watching videos, The Price Is Right, and The Bachelorette...eating a bunch, and playing some board games along the way. Tonight we went to Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre. Instead of eating there we went to Sonic and I enjoyed chili and cheese fries and a chili and cheese hot dog (a big one). Then we went to see "Singin' In The Rain." It was definitely well done. Very talented actors/singers/dancers. It took a little while to get used to having different actors than the movie version...but after awhile I just enjoyed the people who were in this version and went with the flow. Afterwards? It was back to Sonic for a strawberry shake for me and a variety of other sweets for the rest of my family. It has been a good vacation. Tommorrow it is supposed to hit 90 degrees and we are headed for Hershey Park. Roller coasters, the wave pool, and assorted other activiti...
Friday and Saturday night I am looking forward to seeing "Fireproof" again. I have seen it three times already but it is so good that I am glad to get the chance to watch it and share it with the Dover/York area. It's free! No entry fee! No exit fee! No cost at all! Bring your own drinks and snacks if you like. The teens will be running the concession stand for those who wish to buy something. These sales will benefit the teens traveling to Baltimore in June to serve in a downtown soup kitchen and do other volunteer activities to serve the people there. If you get the chance this weekend, come watch it at Friendship Community Church, 3380 Fox Run Road, Dover, PA . It's just off Route 74/Carlisle Pike. If you're northbound turn right at the McDonald's there and the ballfield & church are on your left within a 1/4 mile.
Last night we had a great beginning to a new small group at Friendship. We met in the Friendship Cafe and ate cake and drank coffee and got to know others, ourselves, and God. Our study was "The Ten" and we began the series with the first of the 10 commandments. It's a series called "Liquid" which includes a dramatic episode and then a good teacher. Then we talked around tables and read and discussed scripture. Twenty people enjoyed a nice night together and I'm glad to be a part of this group. Sharing life together
It's nice to have a couple of days in a row off from work. Memorial Day holiday tomorrow and then Tuesday for my official day off for the week. Then I am looking forward to taking a couple of weeks of vacation this summer. One of the nice things about knowing that vacation is coming is just the anticipation of it, the dreaming of what could be experienced on vacation.
Day Two of the Church Planting Summit in Harrisburg, PA with Ann and Jared Roth began by reflecting on what was learned yesterday. Then we immediately moved into looking at the ERC vision for planting new churches. We looked at the vision before we got into the specifics of implementing it. Later in the morning and in the afternoon through 4 p.m. we covered a lot of topics and shared ideas. Throughout these two days I was stretched and gained so many insights from the Roth's and all of the participants. The important thing is for us to truly love people and then work to implement ways of showing that love to everyone. And the best love of all, the most loving act of our lives, is to show people the love of Jesus and invite them to respond to His love.
MOTHERING A NEW CHURCH 1) Create a sense of urgency. People need Jesus. 2) Build a team. 3) Communicate the vision. 4) Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. 5) Empower people. 6) Celebrate short term wins. 7) Consolidate. Deal with the laggards. Invite them to change their behavior. 8) Anchor into the corporate culture. Be glad for late adopters who finally have gotten on board. Announce your next church plant. Jesus said, "I will build my church..." The day ended by participants mapping out the next action steps that each of us needs to take. It has been a good day and I am glad to have been here to learn and be surrounded by others who care about starting new churches.
FUNDING OF CHURCH PLANTS 1) Planters raise money. Planters start a micro-business. 2) Denomination puts in money. 3) Mother church puts in money. 4) Several sources of revenue including mother church, denomination, and planter raising money. Bi-vocational planters work in the ministry area to develop contacts. Typically different church plants cost different amounts of money and are funded at different levels.
MODELS FOR STARTING CHURCHES Hub model : Decentralized programming. Centralized administration. Hive model : People recruited from mother church to start a new church. Substantial core group proportionate to the model of church. About 65% of people who go end up staying with the new church. A larger church comes about when a planter networks for awhile in the community over a large core group coming from a mother church. High Impact : Large start without a hive. Home Church : Church meets in a home. Sometimes several home churches meet together (that could happen).
The Multi-site Church Revolution book is recommended by Jared Roth. Synopsis: This book captures the story of a widespread movement of churches that are expanding their ministries to include multiple formats, venues, and locations, using dozens of in-the-trenches examples, identifying the primary reasons churches succeed as well as how they overcome common snags on the route to “one church—many congregations."
MOVING A VISION FORWARD 20% is the critical mass to move a vision forward. Having 20% of leaders on board gives you permission to move ahead and pilot something, try something, low risk. After you have piloted something and either succeeded or learned a lot from it, the mid-adopters buy in. The late adopters come on board in about three years and it has become part of the church culture. There are some laggards who never come on board. This is about preference, not character. We ourselves may be in these various groups at the same or different times about different subjects. Give people time to get on board when they are ready to do so. Be patient and be persistent in sharing the vision.
CASTING VISION 1) Model evangelism personally before you share vision with others. To be credible about planting a church to reach people for Jesus, you must already be developing friendships and getting involved in people's lives who need Jesus. (This is a point I am definitely weak in. Get to it Rich!) 2) Decide who are the leaders in your church and meet with them one by one. This group includes influencers and blockers. Meet with people individually for lunch, handball, etc.--do something with them that they enjoy doing. 3) Sharing the vision with the leadership group at your church. Don't ask for a quick decision about the vision. That will probably lead to a "no." It takes six times of sharing the vision and then many will say "yes." So...vision cast in multiple ways over a period of time.
What is the starting point for mothering a church? What are the first things to do? What do we already have in hand? What is our church good at right now? Praying people? Money? Teams (college ministry, music)? Furniture, sound system, chairs, etc. Guest speakers, Bible teachers. We were asked to think of things that our particular churches are good at. The ones I listed for Friendship Community are: 1) Training youth and children's workers, 2) Using media and music in worship, 3) Finding & using creative small group video teaching. 4) Angel Food ministry to help people with their food budgets and grow disciples who work together to serve in this ministry.
When would it be right for "our" church to plant? What are the leadership issues? Import, impart, and send. Desire to plant sooner rather than later. IMPORT Look for planters in seminaries, colleges, college ministries within churches, and church planting "farms" (a place that is open to sharing their planters with others). Second Career individuals--look for leaders to apply their leadership skills in planting churches. Baby boomers who are wanting to do something else, to change careers. Jared shared about people who became church planting pastors at 72 and 78 years old. Campus Crusade staff people who are wanting to leave college ministry and plant churches. Church planters can be of any age. Age isn't the issue.
What are the signposts for planting a church? 1) If a church sacrifices more than 10% of its resource base (money, people, leaders) it will most likely do harm to the mother church. 2) What about the age of the mother church? The age does not matter, the leader does. 3) What is God prompting? Listen for specific smart goals. So what do you need to plant? The God prompt. A person to plant. A healthy church (what does that look like...decide). God interrupts/surprises everyone. How much money do you need? Money follows vision. Vision first and then develop a financial plan.
Ann Roth began the day with the story of one young woman she met. Ann stressed that church planting is all about reaching one person. One person at a time meets Jesus. Persons shared a variety of reasons of what they hoped to take away from the day. 1) How do we create a parenting environment? 2) Raising/Training/Deploying Planters. 3) Awareness of why we plant churches. 4) Perspective/confirmation. 5)Examples of how small churches can parent churches. 6)Ministering to church planting couples. 7) Building confidence for church planting. One of the questions for the day is how to balance reaching out from within a structure that spends a lot of time reaching those inside. At the end of the day the hope is that each participant will have a goal and action steps for accomplishing something to reach others for Jesus.
Today I am at the ERC (Eastern Regional Conference of the Churches of God General Conference--yeah, I know it's a long name, that's why you will see ERC instead)Church Planting Summit in Harrisburg, PA with Jared and Ann Roth. More than two dozen persons interested in reaching people for Jesus through starting new churches have gathered to learn, discuss, pray, and plan for the future. At this point people are talking, eating donuts, drinking coffee, and getting ready for presentations. This is a good time of the day with lots of laughter. The picture, by the way, is of Jared Roth. Ann's picture will be posted later.
Today I am attending a Memorial Service for Jill Martinez. Though I only knew her for a few years, she was one of those people who seemed like an old friend from the start. From the day she moved from Oklahoma to Pennsylvania I enjoyed her great smile and wonderful singing voice. She was instantly on the Worship Team and served well with others. Several Christmas Eve's ago she and her brother Jeff sang a cool song called "Offering" (the "Christmas Offering" version) by Paul Baloche. Though I don't have a video of their inspiring version I decided to post this one by the author of the song. May it be a tribute to God and a reminder that all of us, like Jill, have the opportunity to live each day as an offering to Jesus.
Last night I enjoyed seeing my daughter Emily, a Junior at Dover High School, in the York County Junior Miss Program (not a pageant :) Twenty-eight girls from across the county sang, danced, signed, acted, etc. and shared what is important to them. Lots of talent all over the stage at Central York High School. Emily sang and accompanied herself on the guitar for her talent presentation. She did a great job and I was so proud of her, not just then but all through the program. She really lights up a stage (OK, I know I'm prejudiced but I'm allowed). It was great to share the night with Diane and Rosie and Jess, a friend of Emily's. A teacher also came to see her and the two others from Dover. And the various families congratulated each of the girls for the wonderful job they did. Emily won a scholarship as one of the two winner's of the Scholastic Award. No surprise for me there...she is a quite the bright young woman. It's really cool to see my daughters grow and mat...
Just saw this great picture of five of us who went to Orlando last week to Exponential '09 Church Planting Conference. Thanks Ed for putting this picture in your newsletter...so that I could get a copy to share. (l to r): Mike Schooley, Rich Thornton, Mike Allen, Dwight Lefever, Gilbert Thurston. OK I know it looks like we spent a lot of time at Universal Studios, but actually I was only there three times. No rides though. But it was a fun place to go to that was close to our hotel.
Ever feel invisible. No, not some superhero kind of invisible but a feeling that no one really cares if you are alive or not. It's easy to feel alone...at any age. And if you always feel like people notice you, then stop and take a moment to notice the people who are around you...and really see them.
I was back at Doubling Gap Center, (Camp Yolijwa), near Newville, PA for the day. Craig Sider spoke again and was once again inspirational. Also today, the Church Planting Commission that I am a part of gave its report to all of the people in attendance. It went well and I hope that people will want to plant new churches to help people begin a relationship with Jesus. For more info about this check 2020 Initiative here.
I was at Doubling Gap Center, Newville, PA (near Carlisle) today and will be back there tomorrow. The annual ERC meetings are there and I have the opportunity to talk with old friends and meet some new ones. Today I got to hear the main speaker twice, once for the whole crowd and once for the seminar he taught. He is excellent and really inspirational. His name is Craig Sider and he is currently VP and Executive Director of the Center for Leadership at Evangelical Theological Seminary in Myerstown, PA. The setup at conference is the best that it's been. The people running sound/video/lighting, etc. are doing a great job and set up for a conference of today. There is a big screen so you can see the speaker even from the back of the gym and good sound and well-lit and creative lighting of the stage. The best though is the chance to talk with people. Today I got a chance to have lunch with church planters and people from their churches along with others, like myself, who are ov...
O.K. Exponential '09, the largest gathering of church planting leaders in North America, is over. It ended yesterday. I am back home in Dover, PA and glad to be home. It was great to get home from the airport last night and see my wife and kiss her. And great to see one of my daughters this morning and talk with her as I drove her to school. I walked into my church this morning and said, "I'm home." It's great to be back home and I look forward to this weekend's worship and my life in God's service. I am embedding this sermon player one more time right here so that you can hear the opening and closing messages at Exponential. It was loaded in a few days ago but I will save you having to scroll down. You will also be able to download the messages so that you can share them with others or listen at a different time. The first two messages are from Exponential and the following ones are sermons from Pastor Dennis Hall here at Friendship Community Ch...
I'm back in the worship center. After my last session I got a chance to talk with Tom Clegg. I had met him a dozen or so years ago at a Church Planters Bootcamp when my wife and I were looking at planting a church in Virginia Beach. He would have been our coach. Anyway, that didn't work out for us to plant the church and a lot of interesting experience have come my way this past decade. But hearing and talking with Tom brought back a lot of memories. I believe in church planting so strongly even today. I want to help accomplish the mission of reaching people for Jesus. I really enjoy serving as Worship Pastor. But I am hoping that we can expand our ministry to reach more in different ways. It takes many people to work together to reach the community and world. Francis Chan is sharing next to close out the conference.
Tom Clegg is very inspiring. He has talked about how God is setting a fire in many people today that may/can lead to revival in the church, in the country, and in the world. I remember a bootcamp I attended a dozen years ago and have been looking back on the intervening years. Tom is a church planter, a coach of church planters, and a trainer of coaches. Fire produces hope, that's why a campfire is so powerful in a person's life. Big question: Do we really believe that God's power is in each believer? God is able to lead people. Our job is to equip them. Sustained momemtum on the journey of church planting comes from coaching. Coaching can seed a movement. Tom challenged us to find one thing we can do from what we learned/experienced at this conference. Then develop a plan for doing it. What are the obstacles? When & Where? First achievable steps? Who do you want to go with you? How will you measure and celebrate? Who can join you on your next adventure? A gr...
Now I’m continuing with Kevin Giddings' seminar “using the internet to gather, disciple and create community.” A lot of people are looking at the church website first. 13-24 year olds spend more time online than in front of the TV. Building a missional web presence: The url needs to be searchable. Your name must be able to be searched and found online. 3 kinds of websites: Brochure, dynamic, interactive (church websites should be interactive) The rest of this will be available later (that's the plan :)
I’m still blogging here at Exponential ’09 in Orlando, Florida. I just got back inside from sitting outside in 80 degree weather for lunch. It was nice to be outside. My seminar this morning was Rick Howerton on “Selecting a small group system that is right for your culture.” He has served churches as Small Groups Pastor, was a church planter, and now works at a publishing house of small group materials. His outline and powerpoint presentation can be found at serendipityblog.com It was a good overview of the various ways that churches can have small groups. Then he gave us a way of evaluating the systems and looking at the one that would be best for our particular, or your particular church. Right now there is an introductory video of a church in Indonesia and Eddy Leo, pastor of a dynamic growin from there is speaking next. After that Bob Roberts will be speaking. Bob Roberts shared passionately that the American church has a lot to learn from churches around the world and relig...
Marc Choi from Korea and now planting a church in New York City and looking to plant in New Jersey has introduced the next speaker Craig Groeschel, senior pastor of LifeChurch. 1) Craig is sharing that a movement will never be safe and clean. It must be dangerous. The seeker sensitive movement had its place. But now the church needs to preach a dangerous message of full commitment. Trusting in the power of God's Word we need to take some risks. 2) A movement is not about our ministry but about His kingdom. We can't affect our city by ourselves. Build a church based on what you are, not on what you are not. Don't put down other churches. We are all in this together. 3) You will not lead a movement based on the old measurements of success. The scorecard has changed. Old: attendance, offerings, commitments, baptisms, small groups. New: identity is wrapped up in who you are in Christ, not numbers. Don't blame yourself for the declines, becaus then you will want...
The theme this week for this conference is "The Art of Movements." Not just having one new church but a movement where many churches are birthed. The first speaker this morning is from Korea and is part of a movement there that began with a church, Onnuri Community Church in Seoul of 12 members and is expanding from the 53,000 members there now to planting churches globally. His name is Mark Choi and he was on the staff of this big church. 29% of Koreans today are Christians. Korea is #2 in sending missionaries. U.S.A. is #1 Marc planted a church in New York City 3 years ago called "in2 Church." Marc spoke of 3 movements/principles for Christians. 1) Daily Quiet Time 2) One-to-one discipleship. 3) Small group. They have weekend worship also, but people need to grow so they need these 3 principles.
At Exponential 2009 New Church Planting Conference this afternoon I got to hear Erwin McManus speak and then attended two seminars. Both seminars were not what I had planned to attend, but I believe they were what God wanted me to hear. The first one was about raising money for doing ministry. Sharing vision and inviting people to participate in the vision through prayer and financial support. It was a very good presentation. The second one was Top 10 Mistakes made by Church Starts. As someone who planted a church a dozen years or so ago that ended about a year and a half later this was an interesting talk for me. At first I felt bad that I had made most of those same mistakes but then I felt better because others had done the same (misery loves company) and the fact that the guy shared ways to fix the problems. Good stuff. The notes are here so if you want them you can look for them here. Good luck downloading them :) At the end of the afternoon our group went out to eat--we are eat...
5 Lessons To Save You 5 Years [to start a multi-site campus]--part four More Extra Credit: Churches that had a launch team of 41 or more are more likely to have an opening of 300 or more. Make sure you have a big enough launch team and the right Campus Pastor. Next in the seminar is a question and answer time. One time they linked adding on to the facility at one place and launching 7 new campuses.
5 Lessons To Save You 5 Years [in planting multi-campus ministries] -- part three Lesson 4. The Small Group Lesson A. Small Groups extablish a reproductive culture in your church. B. People are still best cared for in small groups. C. Clusters of groups provide an avenue to start new campuses. D. Proximity increases the depth of community. Groups closer to where they live lead people to be more committed to the groups/campus/church. Lesson 5. The Language Lesson--words matter. Don't talk about satellite campuses talk about campuses or sites. Talk about what God is doing. Good Words: North, South, West, East, Campus, Location, Site, launch team. Bad Words: Other, satellite, main, extension, branch, second, third (etc.), core team. Lesson 6. BONUS Lesson--EXTRA CREDIT The Failure Lesson--don't assume that what worked yesterday will work today.
5 Lessons to Save You 5 Years (part two)-- For starting multi-site campuses. Lesson 2. The Campus Pastor Lesson--the face does matter. The campus pastor is the person that people see and know in the local location. The Campus Pastor needs to have love for people and a great leader. Lesson 3. The People Not Like Me Lesson. The people you understand the least are the people you need the most. Secrets to Developing Artists (singers, musicians, tech, etc.) A. Use a variety of styles and develop multiple venues. B. Make room for failure. C. Start a school for the arts. D. Commission artists to identify and recruit other artists and hold them accountable. E. Let non-Christians play. Let people experience community in the band and find their way back to God.
Good morning from Orlando. I'm back at Exponential '09 and this morning's topic is "5 lessons to save you 5 years." The presenter is Jon Ferguson of Community Christian Church in Naperville, Illinois. Carl George was right, "The central leadership task of the church, after hearing from God is to develop leaders." Lesson 1: The Leadership Lesson. A. The Matrix (not the movie)--an organizational way of knowing how many leaders are needed and a chart for names of people to be these leaders. B. Launch Team development--125 people to launch a new campus with 500 people on opening day with 300-350 people to stay after opening day. Launch Team meets monthly 4-5 months before launch. Last month before opening day the Launch Team meets weekly. The purpose is to develop the team, cast vision, and energize for the launch. New people need a relationship and responsibility. Children's ministry seems to be the hardest area to have enough leaders for. C. ...
Great day with Dave Ferguson and team at Exponential '09 today. After that, our group of 9 went out for dinner and debriefed. It was good. Then a lot of us went over to Universal Studios to City Walk and walked around. Twice in one day for me. Wow! More exercise than I've had for awhile. Tomorrow morning I will be back at the "Multi-Site" seminar and then the main conference begins in the afternoon. I am looking forward to more to soak in and reflect on and then put into practice.
"The Big Idea" session with Dave Ferguson (who has a Zondervan book on this). People are on idea overload. Ideas hit us every moment. The idea has to stick to make a difference. We want something to stick with people when they go to church. But people get multiple ideas. One might be the quote on the church sign, one from the bulletin, one from the worship leader, etc. There might be at least 20 competing ideas in just one trip to church...and more with children and teens along. The "cancel" effect means that multiple messages can cancel each other out. 1. More information can equal less clarity. Give people a single idea. 2. More information often equals less action. One BIG IDEA equals more clarity and more action. The Goal of The BIG IDEA is a community of transformation not just information. Concentrate on one BIG IDEA each week for adults, children, and youth...geared for each age level. They plan one year ahead and brainstorm and plan series. Not a...
Right now it's question and answer time. One question was about how big areas need to be to do multi-site. The answer is that the movement seemed to start in suburbs, go to the cities, and now it's moving into rural areas. Even smaller area can have multi-site churches. Everything rises or falls on leadership. Developing leaders, apprentices, is the key. There is a need to always be training someone so that they can be set free to reproduce ministry. These church sites used to use all the same kinds of equipment at every site. Now there are some differences from place to place. A key is to be flexible to plant churches and keep the DNA of the church. They have started 10 churches and only one site has failed. The next section this afternoon will be on "The Big Idea."
I'm still in the "7 Moves to Multi-Site" seminar at Exponential '09. One oops already (at least). The presenters are from Illinois not Indiana. They are 20 miles west of Chicago in Naperville. Check out www.CommunityChristian.org and/or www.newthing.org One guy that just shared the "Arts" area is headed to France to start a church in Paris...what an Arts community there is there.
I'm in the "7 Moves to Multi-Site" seminar this afternoon in Orlando. Staff from Christian Community Church in Naperville, Indiana are sharing. Right now it is a section on "Reproducing Artists." It is essential: 1) To show a need for artists. 2) To show a need for new artists. 3) To have multiple pipelines for recruiting. 4) To have outside resources. 5) To create an environment of recruiting. 6) That you recruit from all age groups. 7) That you follow up fast. It is essential: 1) That you have strong leaders. 2) That you are apprenticing new artists. 3) That you have people shadowing in tech. 4) That you have a long range plan. 5) That you have your artists grouped. In this seminar with me today are Dwight Lefever and Gilbert Thurston. Here's a picture of us.
Today I'm in Orlando, Florida at Exponential '09, a church planting conference. Thousands of people will be here to learn how to reach more people for Jesus by starting new churches. But to prepare myself for the day I showered (a good idea after a long day yesterday), read my Bible (a wonderful idea and I read in the Gospel of Mark), had breakfast at the hotel, and then walked to Universal Studios. I walked around City Walk which is stores and eating places. As I got close to it and more and more people were approaching Universal Studios for the day I could feel the excitement building. It was fun. Now it's time to head to the site of the conference. Today it's about satellites...churches that is. How to start a new "church/worship experience, etc." in a different location that is connected to the home church. Should be interesting.
One thing that I often think about is that Jesus is the way to God and through life itself with all its bumps along the road. Way back in the 1970's I first wrote a song about this and then rewrote it this past year. Fortunately, I am privileged to get to lead worship most weeks and a few weeks back we did this song, "Jesus is the Way." If you would like to hear it you can do so at my page for my songs at www. shapingworship.com
This past week I wrote a new verse and rearranged some things for a song called "Another Dawn" that I wrote way back in 1975. The Worship Team at Friendship Community Church sang and played it with me in weekend worship. The song's lyrics express thoughts on love that come from 1 Corinthians 13. Here it is for you to listen to...along with video to watch with some old family pictures. The first picture of the cute kids? That's me on the left, my sister Rosalyn in the middle and my brother David on the right. Later there is a pictue of a guy with a beard...yep, that's me too. Thirty-four years after I first wrote the song it is still true. "And it's so hard to find out what love really is. But we can't give up 'cause it's something we all would miss."
Today is Infantry Day. Just say today's date out loud and you'll figure it out. Yes, it is time for all of us to make a difference. Be kind and help someone. That's my goal for today. At church we are in a program called 40 Days of Love. We've been making videos of people telling stories of a time when someone showed love to them. Simple actions of love and kindness can be so important. Here is just one of the videos.
Love is amazing...whether it's Valentine's Day or not! Right now I am collecting stories of times that somehow expressed love to another person. I am going to video people telling about a time when someone expressed love to them in some way. Yesterday afternoon I taped a video of Dennis Hall, Pastor here at Friendship Community Church, telling a simple story of how someone went out of their way to help him and what a difference it made to him. I'll be taping and editing and posting video tales of love. We all need to hear about how life can be good sometimes and what a difference a little love can make.
Yesterday afternoon I spent a little time walking down memory lane. I went through a file I have of programs/schedules from an event I used to attend in Findlay, Ohio each year called Workshop. It was for teenagers and I first attended it in 1965...I was a week or so shy of being 15 then. I made a lot of great friends there over the years as I grew up and helped at the event by singing and being on staff and eventually getting to be one of the directors. I attended 25 in a row, through 1989. I experienced so many things there because it was a place that I looked forward to going back to each year. Seeing old friends, making new ones, and feeling comfortable in a life that wasn't always comfortable. I moved lots of times over those years but returning to Findlay was like a safe haven. Connecting with good friends and Jesus. There were good speakers and good music but the best was the friendship and the times spent with God. Maybe you have a memory like that. It could be a path you...
This morning I have been reading. First the Bible, a good place to start--finished up the Old Testament book of Ezra. Those guys had it rough trying to rebuild the temple and restore their relationship with God. Then I pulled out magazines that I "need" to read. I read/skimmed through the Nov./Dec. 2008 issue of Outreach . Good article on The Joy of Sacrifice about Francis Chan. He and his family moved from a nice 2,000 square foot California home into an old, beat-up 1,000 square foot home to give more to the poor around them and around the world. A lot of Christians didn't understand why he would do this. He's speaking at a conference I am going to in April so that should be good to learn more. And I could find a book by him, Crazy Love . Ever notice how reading one book or article often leads to another one? Then I moved on to Collide magazine. I'm still working through it but I came across a brief article on iamsecond.com . I went on their site and there are a...
Another day that it was supposed to snow, but nothing has happened yet. I gotta say that as a Worship Leader I'm glad for people to be able to get out to worship tonight and Sunday. So hold off snow, OK? This weekend we are going to introduce a new song at worship. It's called Pass It On. No, not the 1960's one that was a good one (and still is)... this is a more upbeat song from Tommy Walker. You can hear it and see it on video here:
The discussion for The Shack went well last night, there were 14 people out. It has such meaning and touches people differently with new insights and brings up emotions. I'm glad to have read it (twice) and glad to get to talk with others about it. Now I'm looking forward to our showing of "Fireproof" five times this next week. It ended up doing well in theatres and is coming out on DVD in a few weeks. We are showing it for free on our big screen in our Worship Center/Gym. We will be showing it Sunday at 5 p.m. (children are watching another movie in the teen room during this showing). Then we are showing it Tuesday at 6:45 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and there is a special showing for Teens at 12 Noon on Wednesday. It is about the need to fireproof our marriages. Kirk Cameron, the Growing Pains and Left Behind guy, stars in it and is a fireman who becomes a hero but not to his wife.
I went back to my first post on this blog and found this prayer. May it touch your life, encourage you, strengthen you, and remind you of what you need to be reminded of today...and may it be our true prayer to God. O Lord, by your dealings with us, whether of joy or pain, of light or darkness, let us be brought to you. Let us value no treatment of your grace simply because it makes us happy or because it makes us sad, because it gives us or denies us what we want; but may all that you send us bring us to you; that knowing your perfectness, we may be sure in every disappointment you are still loving us, in every darkness you are still enlightening us, and in every enforced idleness you are giving us life, as in his death you gave life to your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. [Phillips Brooks (1835-1893) Praise and Worship Study Bible, Tyndale House, 2002, page 54]
Today I am taking the day off. Still, I have been online searching for some discussion questions to use about The Shack for my Thursday night group. There are a ton of questions out there. Lots of people have been getting together with others to discuss this book. Meanwhile I have been reading the book again. It's interesting the things I missed the first time around and the things I anticipate happening. It should be fun to hear what others think of the book and the experiences they will share. I know some people think The Shack is way off base. I happen to think it is a good work of fiction with a lot of truth in it. The kind of book that is ripe for discussion. Bring it on!
This week I am re-reading "The Shack" by William Paul Young. I have been wanting to read it again since finishing it in August but just hadn't gotten around to it. But this Thursday at 7 PM I am leading a discussion group on it so I thought it would be a good idea to reacquaint myself with it. Between last night and this morning I have read the first 114 pages. It is an intriguing book, this story of Mack who feels The Great Sadness and is given an opportunity to share time with someone who can transform him. I've known The Great Sadness and experience it from time to time. A book like "The Shack" helps me to realize I'm not alone.
As the new year has begun I have been hanging out at home. My oldest daughter, Rosie, was home with her boyfriend, Sean, for the last few days. Today they took off to be with his family and go skiing before returning to college. Early in the morning, about 1:15 a.m., my youngest daughter, Emily, returned from her band trip to California. What a great time it was for her. I am so fortunate to have two such terrific daughters. My wonderful wife, Diane, and I are so blessed to share life with them. And I am blessed to have my beautiful wife Diane with me throughout life. I look forward to 2009 as we experience more change and live through it all together. All of this as we grow in our faith in Christ and try to share Him with others in very unique ways.