Monthly Archives: August 2007

I used to think…

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My ecclesiology (what I believe about church) has been evolving over the last seven years.

Here’s where I’m at…

I used to think:

  • Church was an organization whose purpose it was to serve the “members” (Christians)
  • People giving their lives to Jesus was a bonus. If it didn’t happen it wasn’t necessarily a sign of unhealth.
  • Church was an event that you attended on Sunday morning at 10:45, or if you were REALLY spiritual, you’d show up at 9:30 for Sunday School where they’d teach you about Jesus with flannelgraphs.
  • If you attended church long enough you’d eventually “fit in.”

These days I’m thinking…

  • The church’s primary purpose is to connect unbeliever’s to God (Matthew 28:19-20)
  • The church is a place where we care for one another so that we can become more like Jesus and connect others to God (Ephesians 4:11-16). In other words, interpersonal care is not an end in itself! We care for one another with a purpose!
  • The church is made up of all kinds of different people! The model is Jesus not a denomination or the “Super Saint” of the local congregation! (Revelation 7:9-10). In other words, there is no such thing as “fitting in.” So we need to stop trying to make people like “us.”
  • The church is a place where “tenure” means fewer rights and greater responsibility! Most churches think that the longer you have attended the more rights you have… WRONG!
  • The church is a team of people working together to connect disconnected people to God, the church, other people, and the world. THE CHURCH IS NOT AN ISOLATIONIST MOVEMENT! The church is a place where the hopeless find hope, the pointless find purpose, the unlovely are loved, and “the longest attenders” are the greatest servants!

Bottom line…

I used to think that church existed for the “churched.”

Now I believe that the church exists for the “unchurched.”

An honest confession about fund raising

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This week we are going to Cincinnati, Ohio to hang out with some friends for some R & R and to do some “fundraising” (more about this in a minute). I’m looking forward to spending time with these guys!

I was Dan’s youth pastor ten years ago. It’s been awesome to watch him grow as a man and a follower of Jesus! It’s so cool to see ministry payoff like this!

While we are with our friends, we will be going to their church to present the vision of what God has called us to do… start a church that will connect disconnected people to God, the church, each other, and the world. After presenting this vision we will be asking for their financial and prayer support as we give our lives to this cause.

One of the toughest… no, the toughest part of this whole journey for me has been the “fundraising” part. I am a strong, educated man with five ladies looking to me for support… financial, spiritual, emotional, etc.  I have strong convictions about what a man should be/do in the home and one of them is to provide for his family, hence my struggle.

I want to provide through my own strength and/or knowledge and it appears as if God is calling me to provide through faith. GRRRRRR…

As we listen to God and wise counsel it is clear to us that my time is best invested in this church-planting residency, and therefore I should give it as MUCH time as possible. That simply means this… my “work” for this next year is learning how to plant a church; to do anything else will compromise the learning experience.

Studies show that 80% of church plants fail within the first year because of a lack of “know-how.” This next year of our lives is an investment in a healthy, successful church plant. 

Honestly, asking people to support us financially over this year has been crazy for me from a whole bunch of different perspectives. A few reasons why it’s been so tough:

  • I’m strong and can paint
  • I’m educated and can teach
  • I’m proud and don’t want to depend

And yet I cannot escape the fact that I am not here in Georgia to paint, teach, or be proud.

I am here to be learn and be humble, and so I continue writing letters, making calls, and visiting churches to raise funds to support our family as we learn how to most effectively start a church that will connect people to God, the church, other people, and the world.

So there it is… an honest take on fundraising.

Someday I will look back on this blog article (which I will print out and put in my journal) and celebrate the lessons God taught me/us… but until then I will continue raising funds.

A day at New Spring

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Last night we went to New Spring church to hear Perry Noble.

He preached about hell… the BEST presentation of a VERY tough subject that I’ve EVER heard.

The New Spring team used all kinds of tools to create an environment that created thoughtfulness…

  • The sermon started with a casket being carried onto the stage. Perry began talking, but no one could see him. And then… he climbed out of the casket! He went on to make the point that EVERYONE will someday face death. It is a reality that we will not escape.
  • There were pyrotechnics and rock and roll music (everything from Led Zeplin’s “Stairway to Heaven” to AC DC’s “Hell’s Bells”) but the bottom line… it created an amazing environment to hear about a tough topic.
  • The service ended with a huge celebration of what Christ has done for us by delivering us from the threat of hell - the song In Christ Alone brought everyone back to hope and confronted us with grace!

Bottom line… these guys are pushing the envelope! I’m quite confident my dad wouldn’t have liked this service (at least the music) but I know a few things for sure…

  • Perry did NOT pull any punches!
  • Their theology is thoroughly biblical!
  • Their method completely engaged me (and thousands of others) as we listened to a VERY DIFFICULT and CONTROVERSIAL topic.
  • The results (i.e. people coming to Christ) speak for themselves (110 people yesterday).

You can check out Perry’s take on the weekend here.

blog updates

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Hey gang!

A couple of things…

  • Thanks for reading and interacting with this blog! I believe that life is a journey and it’s best traveled out loud… hence the blog!
  • Unfortunately, spammers have begun commenting on this blog. In order to stop this I have set up this blog to only accept the comments of those people who are registered. I will try this for a while and see how it works. Maybe someday we’ll go back to open comments, but for now, for the safety of anyone who might click on one of those spammers and get an eyeful… anyone who comments must be registered.

Its popping around here!

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These last few days have simply been incredible!

  • Friday and Saturday = Good Sense class (a Financial class). Casey Graham, one of the MLC pastors, challenged people to cut up their credit cards as an outward commitment to debt free living! It was awesome to watch people make that move!
  • Saturday night = during the 4:30 service I sat in on the Children’s worker’s volunteer orientation. MLC is HUGELY thorough with their volunteers in terms of outlining expectations, resources, etc. After the service we had a “Critique the service” meeting, followed by a meal with Shawn and Jeff Murphy (my fellow-resident in church planting).
  • Bonus: I got to meet Chris Elrod last night – a thoughtful blogger and church planter! (You’ll need to move quickly past his last post to get to the more “thoughtful” stuff!) ;-)
    • Sunday – 9-9:30 pre-service time with Shawn; 9:30-11 – Connection Group Leader training (I sat in on this training to learn… Great stuff! MLC has nailed it when it comes to explaining the “Why” and “How” of group life!); Tonight we’re headed out to New Spring to hear Perry preach about hell.

    This week we’re headed out to Cincinnati to do some more fund raising! More about that later…

    Judging in the church

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    We are not only allowed, but SUPPOSED to “judge” in the church!

    Follow me on this…

    St. Paul, writing to the church in Corinth says, “It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your job to judge those inside the church who are sinning in these ways. 13 God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove the evil person from among you” (1 Corinthians 5:12-13 NLT).

    I draw two key thoughts from these verses:

    • We (i.e. the church) are not to judge people who are unbelievers.
    • We (i.e. the church) are supposed to judge people who are believers.

    Most of the time we get this backwards!

    • We judge people outside the church.
    • We don’t judge people inside the church.

    Why did St. Paul give this instruction?

    • There was sin inside the church… (a man was having sex with his mother-in-law and the church was “cool” with it.)
    • Paul consistently teaches that there is a higher set of moral expectations for those in the church because we represent God in this world!
    • He then taught that, “If even one person is allowed to go on sinning, soon all will be affected” (v. 6).

    My question is this…

    Why are we so slow to confront sin in the church when we are so quick to confront it in “the world”?

    If we would start judging ourselves by Biblical standards maybe…

    • We would look more like Jesus
    • Unbelievers would take us more seriously
    • Believers would begin stepping up to the plate

    Check out what else St. Paul says,

    When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. 10 But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or who are greedy or are swindlers or idol worshipers. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. 11 What I meant was that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a Christian yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or a drunkard, or a swindler. Don’t even eat with such people. 12 It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your job to judge those inside the church who are sinning in these ways. 13 God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove the evil person from among you.” (1 Corinthians 5:9-13 NLT)

    Church, we’d better take the log out of our own eye before we try to take the sliver out of the eye of the unchurched.

    The Five Most Viewed Posts of the Month

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    WHOA… where did July go? Well, in spite of a LOT of HUGE events in our lives I still managed to blog and you still took time to read!

    The most viewed blog articles this month…

    Honorable mention…

    • About me -  an updated version of what’s going on in our lives and who “me” is.