Our new president… Barack Obama

Posted on November 5, 2008 by paulpeterson

Last night was amazing.

I watched Jesse Jackson cry as he watched the events of the evening unfold. I wondered what was going through his mind. I’m sure he was reflecting on those long, hard, scary days when he, Martin Luther King Jr. and many other black men and women fought for rudimentary rights that white Americans had enjoyed for decades. I was moved by his tears… and the tears of many others as I watched the events of the evening unfold. Having recently read the autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. this evening was significant for me.

I did not vote for Barack Obama. I voted for John McCain… even though I didn’t like him. My vote had nothing to do with race and everything to do with content. I voted for a man I did not want and got a president I did not vote for. Nevertheless, this morning I am excited for the future and grateful for our new president… President Barack Obama.

Some reflections on the evening:

  • I am proud of Barack Obama.
  • I am in awe of the vision of Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders. They saw this coming a long time ago.
  • I am excited for the beautiful Obama family to grace the halls of the White House.
  • I am in awe of Obama’s ability to rouse a sleeping voter block - young people.
  • I look forward to Obama’s compelling speeches and inspirational rhetoric.
  • I anticipate significant racial healing to come as a result of this election. This pleases me.

Mr. President, I salute you and pray for you and your beautiful family.
barack obama

Filed under: My life, politics, social issues | 26 Comments »

Starting a church… building a core group

Posted on November 3, 2008 by paulpeterson

Walls Down Church will “go public” (i.e. launch) on January 4, 2009.

Before then there is much to be done. The most pressing issue on my radar right now is the creation of a core group.

A core group is a team of workers… a team of people who are committed to the vision of tearing down the walls that keep people from knowing Jesus.

The core group works harder, gives more, prays more, and feels the weight of the vision more than any other group in the church.

The core group is made up of people who look at the pastor and say, “I’m in. You can put some weight on my back. You can count on me to help tear down the walls that keep people from the life Jesus promised.”

The pastor, and the core group understand that the vision is just a dream until a team of people come together and make it a reality.

I’m realizing a few things about building a core group:

  • It takes a special kind of person to be a part of the core group. This group is not for consumers… it is for passionate, committed, determined workers. Building a church is different than attending a church. While attending is easier, building is more rewarding, though the consumers will never know this!
  • You need believers to be on the core group. Trying to build a core group on the back of people who are not committed to Jesus is like trying to persuade a John McCain supporter to recruit and persuade people to vote for Barack Obama. It doesn’t work. The crazy thing about this is that many of these believers are already involved in ministry in their church… and happy. While I believe that you certainly can and even should have unbelievers on the team, I don’t believe that you can build the church on the backs of people who aren’t committed to the Leader of the church… Jesus.
  • Building a core group is different than growing the church. I’ve led growing churches, and the people we reached out to and focused on were different than the people we’re reaching out to now, as we build our core group. Growing a church is the result of reaching out to those who don’t know Jesus. Building a core group is the result of reaching out to those who do know Him and want to help others discover Him. Practically speaking, this makes a difference in how you approach your marketing. You have to do two rounds of marketing: Round 1 = Come help us start a new church; Round 2 = Come to church.
  • Steven Furtick talks about the space between the promise and the payoff. That space is called the process. The process isn’t sexy. It isn’t always fun. It will be long hours, hard work, and not always net a ton of reward, at least initially. For church planters, part of that process is building a core group. You have to keep reminding your core group, your team, your family, and yourself that “It’s not what it will be. We’re just laying the foundation now!” You have to stay in the game even when the auditorium isn’t packed with people worshiping and hearing the gospel! You have to do the work of building a core group. If you bail out in this stage, you miss out and so does everyone you could have reached for Jesus! Pastor Furtick says, “We forget the promise, and forfeit the payoff because we’ve fainted in the process.” If you are starting a new church, as we are, don’t faint in this time. Don’t get discouraged. Don’t live and die on the numbers every weekend. Remember the promise, pray and work like a crazy man, and look forward with confidence to the payoff!

Filed under: Church planting, Walls Down Church | 3 Comments »

Posters around town

Posted on October 31, 2008 by paulpeterson

Our town and the surrounding areas are BIG football towns. The Bengals suck (0-8) but the local high school teams are doing good, so our second poster around town picks up on this theme…
football core group

Filed under: Church planting, Walls Down Church | 1 Comment »

Posters around town

Posted on October 30, 2008 by paulpeterson

This is one of the posters we are posting around town to recruit a core group for starting Walls Down Church!
core group guitar pic

Filed under: Church planting, Walls Down Church | 3 Comments »

How to make scary decisions

Posted on October 28, 2008 by paulpeterson

Here’s what I’m thinking about making decisions that scare you…

It doesn’t have to make sense, it just has to be clear.

CAVEAT: don’t be stupid… but be brave when you KNOW God is urging/calling you towards a specific decision.

Filed under: leadership | 2 Comments »

Fear of failing

Posted on October 28, 2008 by paulpeterson

One of the biggest fears of a church planter is that he/she will become a statistic. The odds of a new church succeeding are dismally low. Statistics say that anywhere from 60-80% of church plants will not make it for the long haul.

The tendency is to play it safe… to hedge your bets… to make logical decisions… to assure as much as possible that there will be money, people, resources, etc. left over for the rainy day.

I feel that pressure. I feel the pressure to make safe decisions. I feel the pressure to give in to fear and make decisions that make sense.

This morning while reading from Craig Groeschel’s book “it” I came across these words:

The it-ified ministries that I’ve observed fail often. They’re led by aggressive, do-what-it-takes, thick-skinned people who are willing to make mistakes. They’re not afraid to fail. In contrast, the ministries without it are usually the ones playing it safe, doing only what is sure to succeed. As counterintuitive as it sounds, failing often can help a ministry experience it. Being overly cautious can kill it.

On the surface, these ideas don’t seem to make sense. But they’re true. Aggressive leaders with it are often dreaming, experimenting, and testing the limits. They don’t know what can’t be done and are willing to try things others think aren’t possible.

Because of their conquering nature, these passionate spiritual entrepreneurs take risks and at first glance don’t appear to succeed. They fail often. But when they do fail, they tend to rebound quickly. Temporary failures are often followed by lasting success. They try, fail, learn, adjust, and try again. After a series of accidental learning experiences, these hard-hitting leaders often stumble onto innovative ministry ideas they never would have discovered without rolling the dice.

As we prepare to launch Walls Down Church there are many decisions that give me pause:

  • Asking people to move here to be a part of the ministry team. Asking people to come and work for nothing but the vision of what God wants to do beginning in Maineville, OH takes my breath away. What happens if high capacity people uproot their lives, move to Cincinnati to do ministry for no salary, and Walls Down crashes and burns? Scared? You bet… but not enough to not ask.
  • Making the decision to invest several thousand dollars into two free Re-Think Money seminars. We’re offering a seminar for pastors and church leaders on Saturday (Dec. 6) and one for the public on Sunday (Dec. 7), and we’re not charging anything! These seminars will cost us several thousand dollars. Are we scared? You bet… but we’re more confident that this is a God thing and so we press forward.
  • Making the decision to not supplement my income through other means (e.g. teaching, etc.). To give myself completely to the work of the church when there is no church yet is scary. We have raised funds, but what is going out is greater than what is coming in. It would be quite easy to attain secular employment and divide my time between the church and an outside employer. I’m not doing it. Scared? Sure, but not enough to divide my time between the church and another vocation.
  • Asking people to join our launch team which means they will have to leave their church, ministry position, etc. is a big deal. I’m asking them to consider radical life-change. I’m asking them to uproot their families, say “goodbye” to friends (at least for a season), give up their spot in the pew, and the list goes on. I’m asking them to leave the familiar and comfortable to come and work the hard, long hours required to start a new church. I’m asking because I believe that tearing down the walls that keep people from the life Jesus promised is a cause worth sacrificing everything for. Am I scared to do this? Sure. I’ve got the same lump in my throat that you do when I make the ask, but I’m not going to stop asking because I know that this is a cause worth giving your life for.

The list could go on, but you get the point.

Leading is scary. Planting a church is scarier. When you’re just leading, it’s only your reputation on the line. When you’re starting a new church, it’s God’s reputation on the line.

So the question is, will we play it safe or take the risk.

I say if we’re going to fail we may as well fail so badly that everyone will notice and when they notice we’ll ask them to help us start a new church!

Filed under: Church planting, What I've learned from books, leadership | 1 Comment »

Kids and meds

Posted on October 27, 2008 by paulpeterson

One of my favorite bloggers is Crystal Corn.

Crystal is a passionate follower of Christ, a high school teacher who makes me wish I were in high school again, and a thoughtful writer.

A few days ago she wrote a post that was so good I asked her if I could cut and paste it onto my blog. She has consented and here it is…

A thought for parents (by Crystal Corn)

Please don’t be offended by this post. I get it. Some kids have legitimate medical problems that require medication…..but 4 years of teaching has lead me to the conclusion that our definition of “legitimate” is far too wide, and often tragic. I can’t tell you how many kids in EACH of my 5 classes have said, “Miss Corn..sorry if I’m tired/in a bad mood/not paying attention/etc. but they’re regulating my meds again and I”m really having a hard time”. One of my kids actually made the courageous decision to quit meds completely and….get this….learn to COPE with his attention defecit because the meds made this 13-year-old suicidal!

Today I ran across a little more wisdom from a pop musician (Gavin Degraw). It’s worth your consideration….

Tell ‘em, “Say no to drugs”
“Substances make you dumb”
Then you say, “give ‘em some”
Are you the victim
Of this experience
Child experiment
Teacher’s predicament?
You’re in THE SYSTEM

And if you don’t walk the line
You can walk the plank
Your older brother (government)
Wants to control your mind
You’re more useful blank

[Pre-chorus]
Medicate the kids
Feathers turn to quills
Pump ‘em full of training fluids
Powders and pills
There’s nothing you can’t flush out
And nothing you can’t kill

[Chorus]
Why don’t you just back off of us
Before we go crazy?
I’m gonna tell you,
“No way,
This ain’t fair play,
Just don’t medicate me”

Tell ‘em, “Say no to drugs”
“Substances make you dumb”
Unless you get ‘em from
Someone who loves you
One who knows best for you
Paid for those tests for you
Knows how to get you through
When it’s above you
And you can’t get on top
Cause it’s high to climb,
You hear them saying,
“Don’t make me call the cops”
Every other time

And there’s a long line
Flowing from prescription aisles
Filed through legal means
So we can alter the child
For his protection
Tie him to extension cords,
This is the age of discipline

One last word: Allow me to be real with you. Teachers are real people. We get tired. We get frustrated. We have dozens of kids that we didn’t raise each day. Sometimes, it’s super easy to day “I think this one may need testing for _______.” And sometimes we’re just wrong. Use your noggins folks. They’re your kids first. Meds are a LAST resort…not a first option.

Paul speaking again…

If you are interested in reading further about this subject, a must-read book is Your Drug May Be Your Problem.

Filed under: Blogs I regularly read, Parenting | No Comments »

Put your kids to bed!

Posted on October 25, 2008 by paulpeterson

“A father who thinks a television show is more important than a child’s bedtime will lose out on some of the most wonderful moments of life.” Gordon McDonald

Buy “The Effective Father” and read more of this kind of challenging “stuff” here.

(Right now you can buy it for as little as $.01 on Amazon!)

Filed under: Parenting, What I've learned from books | No Comments »

Fun on Friday

Posted on October 24, 2008 by paulpeterson

Recently Lexington has been mesmerized by yodeling.

We found this clip of apparently one of the better yodelers, judging by the large crowd. As a side thought… can you imagine an evening at a yodeling fest?

I dare you to try to watch this whole video without laughing… go ahead… try it…

Filed under: Funny things kids say, Lexington | 3 Comments »

The teaching at Walls Down

Posted on October 23, 2008 by paulpeterson

At Walls Down Church you can expect that every week you will hear teaching that:

  • Addresses issues that you’re dealing with
  • Comes from the Bible
  • Calls you to life-changing action
  • Points to Jesus

Look, we’ve all gone to church, invested an hour, and walked away saying, “What the heck was he talking about?”

Sermons that start with the various theories of the atonement and don’t move further than that are pointless and unhelpful.

I have a Masters of Divinity Degree. I took 15 hours of Greek and six hours of Hebrew. I regularly read theology books, and I love a healthy debate about theological issues, but I realize that I’m a bit odd in that regard.

Joe the Plumber… ever hear of him ;-) isn’t concerned with Greek, Hebrew, and the intricacies of the five theories of the atonement.

Joe the Plumber isn’t wondering what the dragon and the beast in the book of Revelation are all about, and he sure as heck isn’t wondering what the Greek word for “forgiveness” is.

Joe is working through issues like:

  • Disappointment - That didn’t work like I thought it would… where do I go from here?
  • Success - I’ve got it… now what?
  • Guilt - I just can’t forgive myself.
  • Anger - I live one degree from boiling and it’s killing me and my family.
  • Lust - I hate it, but I’m hooked on porn and real close to cheating on my wife.
  • Drivenness - I’m working way too much… watching my kids grow up without me… I need to change…
  • Questions of purpose - Is this what I was made to do/be?
  • Relationships - How do I be better husband? Son? Parent? etc.
  • Finances - I want to get out of debt but this economy is killing me!
  • Forgiveness - I know I should but dang… it’s tough
  • Confidence - If they only knew, I’m not as confident as I act… what would they think?
  • Affirmation - I love it when she tells me she’s proud of me.
  • Romance - Yea, I need some of that in my marriage.
  • Etc. - What the… Oh, it’s an abbreviation for etcetera.

These are the things that keep Joe awake at night and they are the things we will be talking about!

Filed under: Walls Down Church | 1 Comment »

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