it’s not my intent on this blog to simply promote the content of other blogs all the time…
however, this post by perry this morning brought tears to my eyes and conviction to my heart – it rattled me in a really good way…this post is priceless and the timing of it for me personally is perfect…
more later on the purpose of this blog…get rattled!
Just came across this on NewSpring’s website – what a great thing!
Yet another church opening up their experience and their resources to serve the Body of Christ – I love it!
If you have time, check out the two main sessions that Perry teaches on video, there’s also some of their music and prayer time on there if you want to enjoy it. Thanks Tony for making us aware of these things…really, and I mean REALLY appreciate the heart that these guys at NewSpring have for the Body of Chris.
Here are the two video links:
And, here are a ton of resources that are pdf’s available for download – as I always say, skim over the top of it and pick up the nuggets that are best for your situation:
| Breakout Session | |
| Blogging and Communications |  |
| Creating Excellent Experiences for Children | |
| Creating Community in a Large Church | |
| Financially Equipping Your Congregation | |
| Production Team FAQ | |
| Senior Pastors Only | |
| Staffing for Success | |
| Student Ministry | |
| The NewSpring Experience | |
| The Volunteer Experience | |
Late getting in tonight…headed down to the middle part of the state and spent a couple days with my dad and other family down there – really cool to hang out with my sister and brother in law – my nieces are growing SO quickly – and soon we’ll have another one.
Strange thing…my brother and his wife seem to only know how to have boys, my sister and her husband seem to only know how to have girls – we, however, have struck the perfect balance! – what can we say! – (thank you God…for all my nieces and nephews).
I think I see the Easter bunny…it’ll be an early morning tomorrow to see the goodies – the Easter bunny knows how much I love Reeses Easter Eggs – the eggcelent!
That’s all…i’m tired – Easter day is in 45 minutes…
Thanks Father for sending you Son to die the perfect death to provide the perfect gift of eternal life.
so stoked about several things:
first, you have to get past the zepplin reference…
here’s a great post about communication from michael hyatt - the prez of thomas nelson (a Christian publishing company).
i love the detailed description of what he calls cascading communication – you’ve got to read this – think about it – and skim the principles from the top of the that are applicable in your situation.
if you’re not reading this blog, you need to sub to it now – always meaningful and great content – thanks michael (if he ever reads this).
for what it’s worth, this is one of the major areas churches need to constantly work on – every church that i’ve ever served in could’ve use this wisdom. not saying they were all bad, just saying this is a skill that must constantly be evaluated and improved.
i was in a contemplative state of mind this morning (really, that’s code for sleepy!) and was thinking about the blogs that I track. many of them are church planters and they’re getting it done! i love the passion, the creativity, the zeal and the vision these guys exude. their sermon series, their methods of ministry, their communication all stick with the message, but in a fresh way. then something struck me…(after my first cup of coffee)…
i’ve seen it said on various blogs that the opposite of entertainment is boredom…and, i’ve bought that statement. in fact, i, for the most part, agree with it. i’d rather you NOT be bored as i minister, as i lead, as i teach or as i preach. i want you to be engaged…i want US to be engaged. so, i decided to do a quick look up of the word ‘entertainment’ – this is what i found...”noun – an activity that is diverting and that holds the attention.” hmmm, well, that’s what i want to happen – as i communicate the powerful message of the gospel, i want to be able to hold the attention of people…but, what if?
what if, with all of the focus on what we call ’seeker’ we’ve really created nothing more than an event to go to? we’ve packaged church services so that they are entertaining (yes, they hold attention, which we want), but also they’ve become what i call ‘event-ment’ - whereby people only attend because of the event? is this wrong? is it so bad to go to church because, “you never know what’s going to happen” (which is true for most of life)? is it wrong for peole to view church as an event? what is our theology of ‘church’ becoming when we reduce it to an event in people’s PDA’s?
what if my trip to the georgia dome on monday night was viewed as only an event? how sad! here’s why…because frankly as good and fun as the game was, the conversation and friendship and fellowship (nice, churchy word) was far greater. what if in 3 years i only remember the game (an event) and forget the surrounding ‘process‘ of the game (finding our way to MARTA, getting stuck underground on MARTA, having really meaningful conversation with a great friend…that’s the process i’m talking about)?
i’m certainly not against the other churches that are growing at a phenomenal pace…i’m not about to slam any of the bloggers or churches that i follow – these guys are getting it done, i love them, i love what God is doing through them – i’ll continue to read and follow closely what God’s doing in their lives and churches. i’ll continue to grow and learn as a leader because of what they are doing.
here’s my concern…are we hiding our creativity and ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking behind the cloak of ‘entertainment’ yet at the same time creating an atmosphere where church is only an event – much like a trip to s’bux or target? have we called it entertainment when in reality it’s just event-ment? would love to hear what you think…
hard to believe, but it’s true…3 national championships in 12 months!
got back late last night (really, early this morning) from an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime trip to the georgia dome to watch the gators with all of their explosive firepower unleashed upon the ohio state buckeyes (who I have to say have one of the most ridiculous mascots i’ve ever seen! – sorry to all of my ohio friends!).
i’ve got to say first that the ATL represented well! man, I’ve never seen marta run so smoothly – well, except for “situation” they had that put us on the tracks underground for 35 minutes PRIOR to tipoff – not what you want. but it was cool, we were in with a great little pocket of people talking, watching one with with claustrophobia deal with major anxiety issues (i guess) – we prayed for him, i was feeling bad for the dude because no one had water, he couldn’t sit down, he couldn’t get his mind off the fact that we were underground and stuck waiting on ‘issues at five points’ to be resolved – marta really should come up with better terminology than ‘issues.’ nonetheless, the experience was GREAT! their was a ton of police, military, and ushers/greeters to guide and greet us – hats off to you marta! even the trains smelled good (ok, well, the north-south trains smelled good – not sure what’s happening with the folks on the east-west sides of town, but they left some funk in the train I’m pretty sure).
then, the game…you can check out the stats here on the game (great article here)…. the depth of florida’s team is amazing! they’ve got guyS (plural, not just one) that can hit the 3-pointer from distance with accuracy and consistency. they’ve got guyS that can block shots, grab rebounds and play tough. although osu has oden, he just was not enough for florida’s guyS – they are a team!
my good friend todd, at the last minute, couldn’t find it within himself to pull for the gators – needless to say, i was disappointed! i thought the brother would at least put aside for a little while his disdain for anything-gator and for for the SEC team – i was wrong. once in the atmosphere – which was ELECTRIC! – he was embedded in a sea or orange and blue! he just couldn’t do it.
i have this dual nature about me that most folks in georgia and florida just don’t understand – i LIKE both teams! I PULL for both teams! I’m LOYAL to both teams! some say it can’t be done, I’m DOING IT! last night was a great night – probably a once-in-a-lifetime game for me – a nat’l championship with one of the teams i really like.
below you’ll see a shot of from where we were seated. we were in the 327 section, about 8 rows up. we had the advantage of being able to ’see the plays develop’ as one neighbor put it – that’s code for ’sucky seats’ – his words, not mine. in reality, they were great seats, we were on the bench side of the court, gator-end…their had to be at least 10 thousand people with worse seats than us.
headed to the championship game tonight! – pics to follow!
I’ve mentioned it here before, but there’s a great book out by a guy named Mark Batterson called “In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day” - you can purchase it here. Mark’s a church planter in DC planting a multi-site congregation called “National Community Church”. NCC is A/G congregation that has a vision to plant multiple congregations across the nation’s capitol meeting a Metro stops – what a vision!
Below, I’ve pasted the “Lion Chaser’s Manifesto” from his site that he’s been sharing with men’s groups and college/university groups across the nation – read and think about it…
Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing it safe and start taking risks. Expand your horizons. Accumulate experiences. Enjoy the journey. Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can. Live like today is the first day and last day of your life. Don’t let what’s wrong with you keep you from worshipping what’s right with God. Burn sinful bridges. Blaze a new trail. Criticize by creating. Worry less about what people think and more about what God thinks. Don’t try to be who you’re not. Be yourself. Laugh at yourself. Quit holding out. Quit holding back. Quit running away.
played golf for the first time today in about 4 or 5 month – it was interesting! the ball was white upon impact, but by the time it landed it had it was coated in yellow – today’s pollen count was close to 6000! i think it’s like anything over 150 is extreme! ok, not really coated in yellow, but our clubs, our carts, the cart path, the water coolers, the hats, the sunglasses – pretty much everything was yellow – the ball wasn’t because we kept crushing it with a gold club (i wish!)…
so, here are my issues…
tell me what you think...