Sunday, December 12, 2010

Sunday Mind Dump

Just finished up a teaching series called "Be The Church." It was something we just plain needed to do. As we are in the infancy of 242 church we have to remind ourselves that we are to be about our Fathers business and he is in the business of people. That means if we want to be the church and not just do church we should be:
  • Loving the unlovely.
  • Spending time with those far from God.
  • Fishing for men (and women.)
  • And spending our lives connected to each other.
Those are tall tasks I know but Acts 2:42-47 is the handbook for how to grow a church. The question remains....will we become an Acts 242 church?


So let's dump:
  • Loved, loved, loved doing the brunch potluck last week and not "doing church." In many ways, we had more church that day than we do every other Sunday with a message and music!
  • Only a month until Pastor Craig comes on full-time. I've been talking to him on a regular basis and he is happy as a clam about it. God is going to do some good things though him.
  • Next week April and I will be away. Enjoy the Christmas music and Jenn. I am sure she is going to do a great job telling the Christmas story. Truth be told, I am terrible with anything remotely traditional!! People will probably be much happier with her telling the story :)
  • After Christmas we are going to start a one month series I am calling "Lost Luggage." It's the final series I am teaching before Craig comes on and takes over as the primary teacher.
  • We just announced our Chili Cook Off/Soup Cook off this morning. It's set up for Jan 29th and should be a hoot. Details will follow.
  • Looking forward to unplugging for a few days over the holidays. April and I have had a rough month and getting away will do us some good!
  • All my NFL teams won today. That doesn't happen often. Now if my fantasy teams would start playing to their potential!
  • One more week of school. Enough said.
  • I am out!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

The Power of a Connection

Just read some statistics that blow me away. If a first time visitor get's connected (makes some friends and is offered a meaningful place to serve) said visitor is 5 times more likely to stay at your church. I guess this fly's in the face of allowing first time visitors anonymity.

So, somehow churches need to find a balance and a way to allow people freedom to explore the church while at some point in the exploration meeting up with people that can befriend them.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Guilty As Charged

Doing some reading this morning and as God so often does he showed me how wrong I and perhaps to a larger extent the church as a whole has been. I have made plans, hosted events, and tried to grow a few churches by focusing on young families. In fact, if we are being honest that's what most churches focus on when they are trying to grow. Young families seem to be like the trophy of all (ok, at least most) churches these days. Yet as I read James 2 this morning, I had an overwhelming sense of conviction that I have been guilty of playing favorites with God's people.

Check this out:

James (NLT)2:
1 My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others? 2 For example, suppose someone comes into your meeting dressed in fancy clothes and expensive jewelry, and another comes in who is poor and dressed in dirty clothes. 3 If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person, but you say to the poor one, “You can stand over there, or else sit on the floor”—well, 4 doesn’t this discrimination show that your judgments are guided by evil motives? 5 Listen to me, dear brothers and sisters. Hasn’t God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith? Aren’t they the ones who will inherit the Kingdom he promised to those who love him? 6 But you dishonor the poor! Isn’t it the rich who oppress you and drag you into court? 7 Aren’t they the ones who slander Jesus Christ, whose noble namet you bear?

Dang that hits me hard.

I have often said as a prayer to God "Lord, give us the people no one else want's." Yet, my and our actions corporately as a church have been geared around reaching the group that every church wants, young families. I am not sure where I go with this, but it is giving me plenty of uneasiness as a pastor and church leader. How can I manage to have my actions, and our churches actions live up to the words of James? Right now, I just don't know. But I can tell you this stings a little.