Thursday, November 29, 2007

Church Planting

I read a new study put out by Ed Setzer today and I have to say if it's accurate it rocked my church planting world! His group did a study of church planting over the last ten years and they really made some sense of what most church planters are looking at. First off, according to the numbers the days of being able to send out some mailers and see large amounts of people show up are over. I can echo that. We have seen slightly less than a 1% return on them. For example if we mail out 20,000 mailers we'd see fewer than 20 people show up......for most churches the return rate is 1/3% meaning they'll see about 4-5 people per 20,000 mailers. What they were getting at is that unless God does something supernatural you can plan on growing slower than churches that were planted 15 years ago. I am feeling really good about were we are BTW!

Here are some other factoids I picked up from the study:
  • The average church plant sees 10 conversions/baptisms it's first year.
  • Most church plants are running under 100 people after 4 years
  • Most church plants are just getting to the point where they are financially self sufficient at the 4 year mark.
  • The success rate for new church plants is much higher than it was 15 years ago.
I won't tell you exactly where we are on all this yet other than to say we are beating their numbers in every area! If you want details you'll have to be at our vision 2008 service the last Sunday in December.

Writing

Doing some writing this week for the next month of messages. It's really interesting at times how God works. I get an idea about where God wants to go with something and it's not until I actually sit down and start writing does it all come out. Today was one of those days. We have some good stuff coming up soon!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Roller Coaster Week

This sure has been one of those roller coaster weeks. Very busy and all over the page in terms of emotions. As a church we are all in shock over the loss of Shelly's son TJ. We are getting ready for the funeral, in fact, I just finished the message for that. That message was one of the hardest things I have ever sat down to write. I do think that God is going to use it in some really powerful ways. In fact, it might just be my best work in ministry. How many times can you say that about a funeral message?

On the exciting side we are prepping for our Christmas series. April is getting all the new songs ready and the band will start working them out tomorrow night. For Christmas, we are doing a candlelight service that is going to be un-plugged. We'll just a guitar, a bass, and a couple of voices. I have also been thinking about doing communion as well. It's tough to do communion in a seeker friendly church for a whole host of reasons. We'll see if God gives me the Green light on that one.

Our message series is called Christmas is.... and it's all about forgiving those who have hurt us. Going to others and seeking forgiveness for our wrongs and Learning to forget what has happened in our past. I am looking forward to it. The My Secrets series was awesome but very heavy and this will be a much needed break for me personally!

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Sunday mind dump

A pretty solid day at church today. We ran our first video lesson from Lifechurch.tv. I'd like to get some feedback from our people to see how they liked it. We have the opportunity to do more of that. In fact, we could go as far as becoming a network church that uses their materials every week or we could just use them now and then as a change of pace. We will be using them at least two more times with the kickoff of our series on personal finances in January.

  • Music went well today. I did make one boo boo that the band will hound me about at every practice from now until the rapture. I played a song in the wrong key. I get ahead of myself and do it all the time during practice. Today was the first time I have ever done it during a service.
  • People seemed to enjoy My Secrets. I really think it was much needed and several people told me how much they needed to hear some of the things we talked about.
  • I want to thank everyone who gave a testimony during My Secrets. I know it can be tough and you really helped make the series a success.
  • I missed small group tonight. I love getting together with God's people and fellowshipping. There isn't much of anything better church wise!
  • We had some technology safus today with the TV and video stuff. Gotta love it. A big thank you to Tony Trezzo our resident Geek Squad go to guy.
  • I pastor one of the coolest churches ever. I love this job!
  • People are really starting to get into the worship more. I see more and more people singing and worshiping than when we first started. How cool is that?
On a tragic note. One of our members lost a son to a suicide today. At times like this there is nothing you can say or do to make a person feel better. We can only pray and offer to hold a hand. Right now, I'd ask everyone to pray. There are a ton of people hurting and asking a lot of questions tonight that there are no answers to. Just pray.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

What am I thankful for?

I just wanted to take a second and tell everyone some of the things I am thankful for.
  • I have awesome family. A great wife and two really great kids.
  • I get to lead the greatest bunch of people I have every met @ Real Life.
  • God blesses me over and over again even though I don't deserve it.
  • I live in a place where we are free to worship as we choose.
Most of you will never know it but I thank God everyday for everyone that is a part of my life!

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

My Secrets: Revealed

This is the last weekend for our message series My Secret. I am really excited about this weekends message. It'll be very different from anything else we have done. It's going to be really uplifting after a few messages that were...let's face it. Pretty heavy to say the least.

This week is going to focus total on the good that comes from confessing secret sin and getting it out in the open. We are going to not just talk about changed lives, but show example after example of a changed life. This is a cool weekend. It's the kind of weekend I would do over and over again if I could.


Sunday, November 18, 2007

Sunday Night Mind Dump

Not too shabby of a day today. The sound system was a little muddy and I think we need to pick ourselves up a nice EQ. That should help take care of some of our problems. The message seemed to go well and was received well which is always nice to hear.

  • I needed a good football day today after Michigan got beat up yesterday. My Tampa team won 31-7 so I can be excited about them for the week. Cleveland also won a close one today so Go Browns!
  • Jake did pretty solid playing the bass today. We need to work on helping him control his volume levels a bit but we'll get there.
  • The kids made some really cool crafts in kids church today. I had tons of them come running up to me and showing me their trees. That is sweet!
  • Setting up and tearing down the YMCA gets easier every time we do it. It'll almost be a shame when we get a more stable locale and don't have to set up every week. We are pro's already!
  • Looking forward to moving into a new series after next week. Five weeks of teaching on the same basic thing seems like it goes on forever.
  • We just had a great small group tonight. Small groups are one of my favorite things to do in church. I just love sitting down with a group of people and talking about the things that God has done in our lives.
We are going to be doing some big things over the next few months. I can't wait to be able to share them with everyone!!

Friday, November 16, 2007

I am so nervous!

O.k., this is going to be a huge weekend for us that is true. I am really looking forward to the message because I just know how it is going to help people make some big time changes in their lives. But I am really nervous at the same time. Not for me, I am used to playing, singing, and speaking in front of people. I am nervous for Jake. This will be the first time my 14 year old is stepping in with the house band and playing bass for us.

The boy is a pretty solid bass player. He's been playing it for a few years and has a great ear for music but this will be his first time playing in the band.

It's always harder on the parents isn't it?

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Best Service Ever

This weekends service might just be our best one ever. In fact, the next two weekends might just be our best ones ever for different reasons. I am completely psyched up for this weekends message. This weekend we are talking about shame. Shame is one of Satan's finest tools. At one time or another he uses it on each of us and we usually fall hook, line, and sinker for it.

At Real Life, we are going to confront shame head on and we are going to take that tool out of Satan's bag of tricks. No more will we allow our enemy to use the past against us, no more will we allow our mistakes to drive our future, and no more will we allow ourselves to be isolated from our friends and families. We are too important to God to allow that to continue to happen to us.

This is going to be a huge weekend for us. I have been thinking about a few people specifically who are going to be completely blown away this weekend. You don't know who you are yet but God does!

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Parenting

I know this is like every parents story so I just wanted to make note that I am in the same boat with you all. My kids make the dumbest choices sometimes!

Parenting can be difficult. Sometimes you do everything right and your kids still make the wrong choice. So what does that mean we are total screw ups as parents? Nope, it simply means our kids are human and they have a choice to make everyday just like you and I have a choice to make sometimes its the right choice, sometimes its the wrong choice, but there is always a choice.

Hang in there. God promises that his word doesn't come back void. We need to do the right things and trust that in the end God will work everything out for his glory.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Sunday night mind dump

A great service today. The series My Secret is going very well. Today we had Gwen Kelly come and give her testimony. It was very powerful and many people were really moved!

  • The new stage set up went over really well. People could see the screen much better for power point.
  • The noise levels for the band were awesome today. Very quiet and we could all hear really well. Kudos to Noah!
  • Martha is doing a killer job with the kids. It's too bad she is only working with kids until we find another kids pastor! One thing is for certain, whoever the next person is that takes on that ministry is going to inherit a great program that is really set up well.
  • The last two messages have been geared towards the guys in the church. Next week,it's ladies night. O.k., it's ladies Sunday. We are going to gear much of the message to you!
  • Attendance was down a bit because of the bug that's going around this week. We had a ton of kids out sick.
  • John is doing a killer job on the drums. I have seen so much growth from him over the last few months. He is really starting to think less and flow more. Which for a drummer is a very good thing!
  • It's really cool to see people stepping up and volunteering to help in so many area's.
This whole thing is starting to come together. Sometimes we just need to get out of the way and allow God to do what only God can do. After all, it is him who is going to build his church. We are only along for the ride.......and what a sweet ride that is!

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Rough Day

My Wolverines got spanked today in Wi. I was really bumming about it until our bitter rivals got beat down today to. Too bad for all you Buckeye fans. It'll be a shame to see your team lose it's last two games after being ranked #1 for almost the whole season.

Go Blue!!

Setup

Probably our best setup yet. We have done a little reconfiguration of our staging area to make it a little bigger and to get the screen up a little higher. We really liked the results today. Honestly, it was the best the band has ever done from a strictly sound standpoint so kudos to Tony & Noah!

Looking forward to tomorrow morning.

Friday, November 9, 2007

Collaboration, Church, and Lifechurch.tv

As we started off in church planting we and by we, I mostly mean me, I have longed to be able to work side by side with other churches. It's funny because we aren't competing with other churches we should be the biggest cheerleaders for them. When one church is succeeding, as pastors, we ought to be the first people on the phone telling the other pastors how happy we are for them. When they are struggling we ought to be the first ones on the phone offering to help in anyway we can.

Sadly enough it just doesn't seem to want to work that way. Over the last year I have personally called a half a dozen guys in the area and no one seems to want to put any energy into working together. Calls and emails go unanswered. Understand this, I am not griping about it. More than anything it just saddens me because the Bible tells us that "Two are better than one. When one falls the other is there to help them up." in another place the Bible tells us that "a three strand chord is not easily broken." In other words, there is something about being and working together that strengthens people and the same, I believe, is true about churches.

When churches link themselves together for prayer, worship, and teaching there are some great things that happen. That is one of the reasons I LOVE Lifechurch.tv. They're actively seeking people to partner with because they get it. There is strength in numbers. It's not about creating another denomination or sect of people that are isolated away from the rest of their community they're all about partnering together so that each church can more fully do what it was called to do in the community it was called to do it! We and they want to share resources, knowledge, and support so that all churches and ministries are as successful as the can be.

As we go through the next few months you'll be seeing more about Lifechurch.tv. Keep in mind the goal here is not to become them. The goal is to partner with them so that we are more fully equipped to do what we are called to do. That might take shape in any number of ways but one thing is for certain we are who we are, and we are going to stay who we are. The simple fact is I don't know how to be any else than who God created me to be.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Getting Pumped Up

I am getting really excited about this weekends service. I just have this hunch that this is going to be a big weekend, not only for us, but for everyone who comes out. We are hitting on some pretty touchy material this weekend (pornography and sexual sins.) Virtually everyone's life has been effected by this stuff on some level.

Most of us guys can tell you the exact time and location we saw our first naked lady photo. We can tell you because that image is burned into our brains. Those images changed our views of women. Our minds were transformed from the moment we saw them. We never looked at women the same.

This weekend we are going to hit it head on. We are going to talk about what porn does not only for us guys, but the effects that it has on women, our marriages, and our minds. This is going to be a huge weekend. Get every guy you know to church on Sunday!

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

A method to the madness

One of the things that has always puzzled me about church growth is that people in church leadership seem to think there is some magic formula out there. If they could just tap into that magic formula then their church would be able to grow just like that church across town that is growing. While there are some basic things every church can do to help it self grow just copying another church isn't going to make growth happen.

For us, we are going to do what we are. We are a church made up of normal everyday people. That's who we are and that is who we'll be. We do music that is stuff we'd listen to on the radio, we dress like we'd dress if we where hanging out with our friends, and we'll teach on stuff that we all need to hear. We don't need smoke and mirrors, we don't need fancy $2000 suits and slicked back hair. In fact, I loathe wearing a suit! I don't spend more than $12.00 for a haircut, and if someone were to turn on a smoke machine I'd probably have an allergic reaction to it.

At Real Life we think that church growth happens best when you are actually reaching people. When lives are being changed people get excited and when people get excited they invite their friends. When people invite their friends church growth happens. It's as simple as that.

For years I served at a church I would not invite friends to because I was too afraid they'd be offended or turned off by the churches lack of understanding of people not like them. We played music no one outside of the church would have ever listened to, we talked in church-speak, and we had a culture all our own. We wondered why we weren't growing and reaching the lost. The answer was simple, we were clueless.

We had no idea how to relate to people that were not churched because we were so far removed from them that we had no idea how to reach them. That is why at Real Life we actively seek out people that are not yet Christ followers and try to include them in what we are doing with no strings attached. It might be playing in the band, helping us set up, helping deliver food to the needy, or anything else we are doing.

At times it can be messy. They don't always say the right things or do the right things. But the payoff is huge. A month or so ago, I looked out during Sunday worship and saw someone that was as far from God as a person could be a few short months ago. That person was in tears as we sang and worshiped God. That is how a church grows.

Monday, November 5, 2007

Sunday mind dump

Ok....It's actually Monday but I thought I'd go ahead and unpack the mind from yesterdays service.
  • A good service overall. We had a few issues with sound but that is to be expected from time to time.
  • A solid turn out. We had our second highest number of attendees to date. To top that off we had our best single week offering to date.
  • We have some cool things planed for the next month or so. First, we are doing a family fun day service December 18th. We'll be combining the kids into the adult service and the kids will get a small taste of what we do and we'll get a large taste of what they do!
  • After the family fun day we are going to have a pizza party for everyone who wants to stick around and chow. It'll be a great time to get to know a few people from the church and we'll have a few minutes to mingle with some of the newer folks.
  • The series my secrets is going very well. Tim Gurney shared his story about becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol. He did a great job telling us of his struggles.
  • We have a surprise guest next week who'll be talking about the effects of pornography on the innocent party. You won't want to miss this one I can promise you that much.
  • A great job by Noah Stone of stepping up and running the sound board with only my 3 minutes of minimal training for him! Great Job! You get the award for volunteer of the week!
Seeing all these new people gets me really excited! I say it a lot but the truth is I REALLY can't wait to see what God is going to do next.....I feel like a kid a day before Christmas.

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Set your clocks back

Remember to set your clocks back tonight!

We'll know if you didn't because you'll become a part of the set up crew without even knowing it.
Looking forward to the next couple of Sundays. We have so many cool things we have coming up. I'd love to just spill it all right now but what fun would that be?

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Grace

After a rather heated discussion with someone today I got to thinking about grace. What exactly is grace and how do you show someone grace? Grace is simply unearned mercy and unmerited favor. When we show kindness to another person that doesn't deserve kindness we are living a life of grace. When we love them even though they haven't earned it that is grace.

Grace is a big challenge for most of us because we want it shown to us. We want people to forgive us when we haven't earned it, to love us when we haven't been lovable, to be merciful to us when we haven't shown others mercy. When it comes to the wrongs committed against us most of us want justice instead of grace.

God is just the opposite. God commands us to love the the unloving, to forgive the unforgiving, and to give to those who haven't yet earned it. Jesus was talking one time to a woman at a well who was a known prostitute. While he was talking to her a bunch of religious folks approached wanting to stone this woman because of her wrongs. Jesus basically said. O.k. cool, whichever one of you is blameless go ahead and throw the first stone. Of course, they all went away sad.

Man that is so us some times.

We have the stones and are just looking for reasons to throw them...........remember that every time you have a stone in your hand....