History in the Making

Amazon Espionage

Something fun to do besides Google people... =) is search out their Amazon wishlists. I think you can tell a lot about a person by what they'd like to read. It speaks to their hopes and aspirations, their dreams and desires.

On a side note, my older brother Chad is a writer who specializes in creationism, cryptozoology and herpetology [to keep the list manageable]. Just a shout-out to his ever lengthening list of books on Amazon. I never thought a guy who kept dozens of snakes in his bedroom growing up would ever be so accomplished.

Surprise at the dry cleaners

In the middle of most nights, under the cover of darkness, I hear the "thud" of Dylan's balled-up, dirty diapers hitting the wall, as Ainsley shoots for two at the trash can across our room. Tonight, I dropped off my bag of dress shirts at the drycleaners ~ a bag which sits adjacent to the trash can. I laid out the shirts one at a time on the counter for the dear Chinese lady... until I came to quite a stash of "rebounded" diapers in the bottom of my bag... ugh.

All of our failures are prayer failures

Tomorrow morning, some of the men in History will rise early to pray together... As in 6:30 early... I'm not by any means a morning person, so I dread these gatherings going in... but love them going out. Not much else could be as rewarding as praying with a bunch of guys. Elmer Towns quoted his boss: "All of our failures are prayer failures."

What are you bad at?

Knowing our strengths will get us half-way to effectiveness. But knowing our weaknesses will get us the rest of the way there. Sure, it takes humility to admit incompetency, but until we acknowledge these shortcomings in ourselves, we'll fail to let the truly gifted people in those areas lead us.

Worth the price of lunch?

I just met with a local church staffer who is considering church planting. He's entrepreneurial, spirit-led and prayerful ~ he's going to be great. Besides the free lunch at Applebees, I relished the opportunity to give him three pointers I learned the hard way...

1. Work hard to build a core group before you launch
2. Invite your trusted friends to join you... move if they must
3. Understand your target community and how to reach them

It's exciting to watch guys like him stand at the edge of a waterfall, deciding whether to jump in. It's scary, but a life-changing experience.

Beachhead established

Our church meets in a school located in the center of a bustling neighborhood. We've been praying for 2 years that God would help us reach even one family to gain a spiritual foothold in the community. On Sunday, we met a wonderful young family that came to check us out... They live directly across the street.

My favorite blog to read

...is updated at least once a day
...links to other sites but also has original ideas
...has concise, well-written posts
...is designed well
...has a short, quality-controlled blog roll
...uses photos at least part of the time
...is personal; not just business
...shares good ideas generously
...doesn't have to ask to be linked
...understands who its audience is

Reading 'Simple Church' part 4

If we're making disciples, we have to know what a disciple looks like. What qualities? Not all of us will have the same definition, but it's important to paint some kind of picture, as incomplete as it may be. Rainer's model for a Simple Church promotes 3 qualities ~ loving God, loving people, and serving the world. At History, we aim for 5 [but we'll see how many are left when I finish this book=]:

1. Believer
2. Servant
3. Steward
4. Witness
5. Teammate

Reading 'Simple Church' part 3

The goal is to make disciples, not converts. Simple churches don't boast about salvation decisions because the process isn't over for them; its just beginning. The worship service is just the first step in a process that takes people to the next "environment" for growth. You had 200 decisions? Big deal. Where will they be in a year?

Reading 'Simple Church' part 2

Only 3 announcements on Sunday mornings ~ 1. Guest reception, 2. Membership class, and 3. Small Groups. Wow. I love this. It's already our process. Done.

Also, love Rainer's note that simple churches don't spend time planning on a calendar. Their discipleship system is already in place. Nothing is added to it. Everything else is worked through the simple process.

Reading 'Simple Church' part 1

Currently reading the Simple Church by Rainer and Geiger... which is the Oprah book club pick for pastors in America right now. =) First noteworthy insight ~ make your church's mission statement reflect your discipleship process. Wow. History's mission statement is "to make disciples who can make disciples of Christ" and we do this by reproducing our small groups... so we're pretty close. But I don't know of many churches that can communicate their actual process in one simple statement. Willow Creek could have made a fortune charging .05 for using any variation of "fully devoted followers of Christ."

Erwin McManus interviewed

Interesting interview with Erwin McManus here at Infuze. Erwin does a great job of smuggling biblical truth into people's worldviews under the guise of human conscience. He puts it this way:

"I have to show them this truth is evident within the human spirit and then show them how the Bible already teaches this. It's upside-down."

This is not an approach many of us can understand outside of LA's multi-religious, postmodern culture. Pastors like me tend to start with propositions of Scripture and extend them outward as commands [ie: the Bible teaches this, so we must believe this...].

As someone who believes God's word is the source of absolute truth, I cringe at the idea of flipping the paradigm. But Erwin points out that Paul did it at Mars Hill ["I see you are very religious... Let me introduce the unknown God to you."] And I wholeheartedly agree.

But so much of the "relevant approach" [for the lack of a better term] in ministry today seems to be a methodological apology for the offenses of proposition-based preaching.

If we remove propositional truth, then what is the aroma of death to which Paul was referring? For what reason did Jesus warn us we'd be hated? [not that I want to be hated =]. We seem to have more and more disdain for the religious enemies of Christ... and more and more empathy for the Athenians.

11 Church Innovations

My favorite seminary professor Elmer Towns just submitted a manuscript to Regal Books about 11 church innovations that are having an impact on today's culture. You can download the outline from this year's SuperConference. If anyone attended and got the answers, I'd sure love to have them.

1. Ancient Future Churches
2. Multi-site Churches
3. Organic House Churches
4. Recovery Churches
5. City Reaching Churches
6. Community Transformation Churches
7. Cyber Enhanced Churches
8. Nickelodeon-Style Children-Focused Churches
9. Intentionally Multicultural Churches
10. Decision / Journey Churches
11. Attractional Churches

In fact, you can get all of the conference video, audio and pdfs [here]. Thanks to Kent for the link!

Neighborhood Fall Festival

Some of the amazing folks in History Church volunteered at today's fall festival in the neighborhood where our church meets on Sundays. It was a great opportunity to connect with people in our community and let them know who we are...

The artistry of ministry at Lakewood

Long before I'd ever heard of Joel Osteen, I used to watch his father, John, preach on TV. What captivated me most was the unique camera angles of the broadcast. The technique of putting a camera near the back and to the side of him [so that the audience was visible in the shot] was pure artistry. Aside from any theological differences, I loved the way they did things. Turns out, Joel Osteen was in charge of the behind-the-scenes broadcast operations of the church at this time... and I wonder if it was his idea. I don't think Joel simply inherited the church. I think he's been grooming the vision of it all along...

Surprise pastor appreciation gathering

The good folks in our church surprised Matt and me with a pastor appreciation gathering tonight... It was rainy, cold; I was ornery; but Ains somehow got us all packed up in the car to go out. The warmth, crackling fire, and community I found at the Kruses' beautiful home provided such a great evening. I truly love this church... I wish I had taken my camera.

Sweet London, bring us back

Last year, Ainsley and I won an all-expenses paid trip to London, and it was everything we'd dreamed of. Today, I filled out an entry form for each of us to win another trip through another sweepstakes! puh-puh-puh-pleeeeease! There is nothing like Oxford Street at Christmastime.

Insights on sex from a pastor and his wife

Jason Boucher -- pronounced "boo-shay" -- [one of the pastors at LifeCentre] is tandem blogging with his wife Lori about sex. They're writing some biblical and personal insights about one of the most overlooked but potentially impactful topics for couples. In this media-age, I believe the church must become an authoritative voice on this subject... or God's plan for sex and marriage will lose out.

Jason's Blog
Lori's Blog

Awaken Pictures

Matt [who has relocated to TypePad] found the site for Erwin McManus' Awaken films, which are wildly creative and apparently available for download.

What Mr. T can teach us about ministry

I had the privilege of interviewing and assessing church planters for the SBCV for the past two days in Richmond. Sitting in these meetings is 10 times more insightful for me than reading any book on church planting.

I believe a sign of spiritual maturity in pastors is seeing that God uses all types of churches to build his kingdom. By my standards, their tactics are absurd; their approaches are irrelevant; and their decisions are irrational. But one thing is certain ~ God uses all types of churches to impact people for eternity.

And my way isn't the only way...

I never understood this 10 years ago when I was attending my father's country church in Tipp City, Ohio. I thought there was only one right way of doing things, and I became my dad's biggest thorn in the flesh. Instead of contributing, I criticized... Instead of leading, I loitered... Instead of building-up, I abandoned...

When our hands and feet aren't serving, the only thing that moves is our mouth. In the words of Mr. T... "Enough of that jibba jabba."