Through the gift of a pastoral friend... vocal loop pedal.
That's all I'm gonna say.
Who I AM
- I help people launch great things. I'm the founder of STORY and Dream Year. My wife Ainsley and I live in Virginia Beach and have 3 cowboys, Wyatt, Dylan & Cody.
What I Do
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Does your church staff look like a school of fish... or Salmon
In preparation for assessing NAMB's staff in the Myers Briggs personality type indicator next week, I've set-up a website where people can 
take the assessment on-line in about 15-20 minutes. It's amazing to see how many church staffs hire and fire based on what they think is "chemistry" or the "right way of looking at things" ... when it's in fact based on personality type. It's a shame because having too many people around us who are just like us creates huge blindspots on our team. We all swim together, making the same mistakes, rather than letting people jump out of the water to swim against the current.
On the Road again
Just spent an extended week in Richmond for several meetings, including today's monthly gathering of church planters. A couple of the presentations from 
other church planters really caught me off guard spiritually... in a good way. But I'm glad to be home. Took out the fam to new favorite smoothie joint ~ Froots ~ where our one year old Dylan sucks down smoothies half his size and body weight. We're going to enter him into the Nathan's hotdog eating contest next summer.
Update on our new living locale
Auto insurance rates are higher because cars are more expensive here... (maybe ours will bring down the average)- More SUVs out here in suburbia -- and according to the bumper stickers, everyone's proud of their kids
- We've got Verizon Fios -- cable, phone and wireless internet on one fiber optic line -- but there's not a cell tower anywhere near here!!
- Our AT&T cell service is dramatically inferior to Sprint's. But no "I told you so's" -- loving the iPhone
- People are friendlier, more approachable in our planned community -- think Truman Show
- The new churches have already begun rolling in, but very tame -- zzzzzzz
- No business people meeting at the Starbucks like in Reston -- all soccer moms
David
I love putting modern-day faces to biblical characters [for example: the Gotti boys likened to the Sons of Thunder]. 
It makes the characters more believable... less mythic. Think of the biblical character David ~ ruddy, good-looking, athletic, artistic, got any girl he wanted. Remind you of any other Davids you might know? Too bad there weren't corporate sponsorships in that battle against Goliath.
I've been studying the life of David for the past several months, and here are some of the highlights:
- All that time spent in an isolated sheep pasture wasn't just David's background... it was his training for greatness [Psalm 78:70-72].
- David didn't bring five smooth stones to the battle with Goliath because he was a lousy shot... he saw four other giants on the hillside [2 Sam 22:19-22].
- When Goliath first challenged Israel, he was "coming down" his side of the mountain. By the time David arrived 40 days later, Goliath was "coming up" the Israelites' side of the mountain [1 Sam 17:8,25]. Our "giants" will become more and more threatening until we destroy them.
- David really wanted to build God's temple but had the wisdom to understand that vision is only what God reveals to us... not everything we can dream up.
- David came to realize that some people's criticism came directly from the Lord and wasn't to be defended against [2 Sam 16:10].
- David spent 13 years living in a cave after he was anointed king. David's was a descent into greatness.
- In the cave, David was surrounded by 400 distressed, indebted, and discontented people. He took what God gave him and turned them into "David's might men" -- an unstoppable, integritous, righteous band of brothers [1 Sam 22:1-2].
A guy can dream can't he?
Know what I'd love to do? Video signage on the street in front of our theater -- a live-feed of what's going on in our service. Big plasma screen projecting-out for passers-by to see.
Surreal driving
I figured out the perfect time to travel on the DC beltway to avoid any traffic whatsoever: midnight.
Wirelessly Speaking...
We're moving toward something new in our Sunday morning presentations... slowly but surely. We're going to mount a Mac on stage and switch over to its 
presentation during the message portion of the service. Using a discreet wireless remote, I'll be able to advance the presentation without relying on the tech crew to know my cues. I believe speaking presentations in churches haven't changed all that much over the years... we put so much into everything leading up to it... but just hope the preacher's charisma will carry the day. I think in multimedia and in layers, so this will give me a way to enrich the message with other elements.
Sunday
Some snaps from our family vacay a few weeks ago
The Gospel of Home-Cooked Meals
I've been telling our small group leaders that people are more open to the 
Gospel of Brownies than the Gospel of Jesus. In other words, our hospitality must precede the message of Jesus [not replace it... just precede it]. Drew Goodmanson quotes Francis Shaeffer who started the famous L'Abri house in Switzerland, which saw many postmoderns come to Christ through hospitality... and then apologetics. Schaeffer talked about the high personal cost of sharing our homes...
Don't start with a big program. Don't suddenly think you can add to your church budget and begin. Start personally and start in your home. I dare you. I dare you in the name of Jesus Christ. Do what I am going to suggest. Begin by opening your home for community…
L'Abri is costly... In about the first three years of L'Abri all our wedding presents were wiped out. Our sheets were torn. Holes were burned in our rugs. Indeed once a whole curtain almost burned up from somebody smoking in our living room...
How many times has this happened to you? You see, you don't need a big program. You don't have to convince your session or board. All you have to do is open your home and begin. And there is no place in God's world where there are no people who will come and share a home as long as it is a real home. newchurches
I liked everything about your church but the preaching
I'm interrupting my speaking sabbatical this Sunday to speak at my good friend Ed Allen's church, Gateway Community Church here in northern Virginia. Gateway is much like a sister church to RCC, albeit a Marsha to our Jan Brady. just kidding. Knowing what it's like to have other guys pinch hit for me when I'm winded, I'm excited to help Ed go on a much-deserved vacay with his fam. Plus, I've been wanting to do recon on Gateway for ages. Now I'll get the behind-the-scenes version. And if I don't like their church, it'll be my fault. =)
But I'd sure love to wear those uniforms!
Matt and I find ourselves defending the Great Commission more and more 
these days... not only to ministers at local churches, but even long-time Christians. The Great Commission is for everyone; not just those with the gift of evangelism or a calling to occupational ministry. And if there's any confusion about this issue, I'd rather do it and be guilty of overzealousness than not do it, and be disobedient. As for the church as a whole, heaven help me if my primary role as pastor ever starts to look like the social director on a Christian cruise ship. We're here to be a search and rescue team... not play shuffleboard on the deck.
What would Ed do???
This week, something incredible is happening at RCC. 
A good pastor-friend of mine is sending us a Canon XL1 pro-level digital video camera. We've been shooting on little handycam cammy hamstring camcorders until now. Our creative juices are flowing... locations are being scouted... characters are being cast... the possibilities are endless... Just one question... What would Ed Young Jr do????
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