Doing something different

This morning, I went to a yard sale. It was put on by a group from my church going through financial classes at our church. The cool thing is, they aren't just learning about personal finance and thinking it would be nice to be debt free. They were doing something about it! Selling off a lot of their stuff to go toward paying off their debts that they accumulated buying that stuff. These people got up on a Saturday morning and were out making a difference in their lives and in the process, they were able to talk to other people about what they were doing. Was it a super spiritual thing? Maybe not, but they were making connections with others and talking about something they believe in.
Shouldn't we as Christians be doing something different to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with our communities? Just being there at the yard sale gave me a chance to talk to someone about my church. Is that the same as sharing the Romans road with them and bowing our heads for the sinners prayer. No it isn't, but it was establishing a positive relationship with this particular man toward a church that is letting people have a yard sale in the parking lot. Many people who first make friends with people in a church later become believers in Jesus Christ through seeing God work through those they meet. My hat is off to those trying to get out of debt and achieve financial freedom! I myself am on that journey...and 20K less in debt this year than I was two years ago! Let us all go out and do something different for Jesus Christ. Like in the movie "Pay if Forward", just come up with something that will change the world.

What are you doing?

OK, so you have a church. What is its purpose? Who is it trying to reach? I know that all churches have some things in common. They at least should have in common that they are trying to reach people for Jesus Christ and disciple those people and most likely be a place of fellowship for believers. Beyond that, there are differences. Example: if you are trying to reach out to young urban professionals, would you really want to start your church in a barn or a rodeo arena? However, if your target is to reach cowboys, that might be the perfect place. Some things to keep in mind as you plant a church or redefine the church you have just started pastoring...or even just realized something needs to change because you have been in a downhill rut for years in the church you are a leader at.
1. Know what you are about. If you don't have a passionate call from God to reach the people you are trying to reach, then why should they come to a laissez faire church? Like writing a blog, if the church doesn't offer quality content, then there is to much competition for their time. They won't waste it on a church just because it has a building and a sign out front.
2. Be proactive in evangelism. You can't expect people to come through the doors of your church on their own. They need a reason to come. Some will occasionally come because they are family of the people already there, but to reach the rest of the community, it is important to go to them. There are thousands of ways to do that, but the important thing is that you are reaching out beyond the walls of the church.
3. Don't rely on tradition to bring them in. This may just be a continuation of point 2, but just because peoples parents are from the Church of God of Methodibapticostal Episconazaratholic doesn't mean that they will follow in those footsteps unless they have a reason to. This is also a point to look at what you are currently doing. Is your church doing X program because it is effectively helping you reach one of the goals of the church like reaching out to the community or discipling believers, or is X program in place just because as long as grandma has been there in that church that is the way it has been done?
4. Help your congregation find their passions. Most people have them they just need help focusing their passion. They need leadership, and that is where you as a pastor or church leader come in.

I hope this gave you a few ideas for kick starting your church if you were in a slump and if you are a church planter, my hat is off to you! Hope this helped you too.

Home TEAMs

About a year ago, I started working with the small group ministry at our church. We call them Home TEAMs, you may call them small groups, cell groups, Sunday school... As it continues to grow, I am amazed at how each group has its own dynamic. While all are accomplishing the two primary goals of Home TEAMs which are to help people build relationships with God and with each other, I find that each group interacts in different ways. It is, on a microcosm level, a great example of how churches are all different, but should be all working together toward the same goal of reaching people for Jesus Christ and then discipling them to help them grow in their walk with the Lord. Some of our Home TEAMs seem to grow by leaps and bounds, so I am constantly working to find new leaders and hosts so that we can divide the group up into smaller Home TEAMs. Other groups seem to go for months and months without gaining or losing members. That second group isn't a failure! Those people are growing in the Lord, they are serving God in many ways both inside and outside the church! Just the Home TEAM itself doesn't see its primary mission as evangelistic. The people in the group are, but they invite new believers or non believers to our church, not to their Home TEAM. Other Home TEAMs invite people off the street who aren't a part of our church at all. Each is serving as a different part of the body of Christ, just as each church and each member is serving doing their part of the work of the Body. Keep doing what God has called YOU to do!

Swine Flu - Christian Response

I don't often do this, but the following post by John Lindell was excellent. I didn't want to just rewrite it in my own words, since there wasn't much I would change..so I cut and pasted his entire blog entry here. Click Here to see original blog.

As the World Health Organization raised the pandemic level to 5 on a 6 step scale governments worldwide are being encouraged to take steps that could diminish the spread of the 2009 H1N1 virus or as its better known the “Swine Flu.”

If you’ve never been a thorough “hand-washer” now would be the time to acquire that discipline! But of greater concern to me is the response of Christians during a time of crisis–how should Christians respond?

1. There is no substitute for prayer. We can pray God’s mercy and protection over the lives of people. A pandemic is not inevitable…prayer changes things…and our prayers can make a huge difference!

2. Walk in love and faith as opposed to selfishness and fear. Because we have a God who loves and cares for us. Because we have a God who watches over us and is a healer; during this time of potential crisis we are set free from fear and the need to save ourselves which should allow us to be a people of compassion.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness…” (Colossians 3:12). One of the hallmarks of the Early Church and one of the reasons that it made such an impact on a totally pagan culture that hated Christians was the fact that Christians were compassionate and kind. They understood the power of compassion when it comes to touching people’s lives. They lived in a society that devalued life-deformed boys were thrown in the city dump. Unwanted girls were thrown on trash heaps and it was the Christians who came along and rescued those little babies by feeding them and providing for them.

Often you read that the churches’ passion for the poor and the needy was so great that they had seasons of fasting–not just fasting and prayers for the poor but they saved their money from missing those meals and collected it to give to the poor and the needy! In a culture that cared nothing for the poor; it was the Christians who walked the streets and reached out to care for them.

Early church historians tell us that when two devastating disease epidemics swept through the Roman Empire (165 A.D. & 251 A.D.) one third of the people across the Roman Empire died. En masse, people fled the cities for fear the plague might overtake them. In the mist of those epidemics it was the Christians who stayed in the towns and cities to minister to those who were dying and it made a huge impact on the culture. Over time an entire culture was changed because of the Christians’ compassionate and kind response to those around them.

No one wants a crisis but the darkness of the hour creates an opportunity for the Gospel light to shine even brighter if the followers of Jesus will walk in faith and love.

Out Reach stuff

A guy I talked with last night just made my week! Maybe my month! April 4th, our church put on "Easley Egg Drop 2009". The concept was simple. Drop a bunch (about 180,000 or so) plastic eggs from a hot air balloon. We gave away prizes, cotton candy, snowcones, popcorn, drinks...everything was free and open to the community. About 200 volunteers from our church helped put on the event. From a numbers perspective, it was a success, somewhere around 10,000 people or more came and participated. Kids had fun, lots of smiling faces etc. Now, back to the guy I talked to last night. He was sharing his testimony with me in a parking lot. He and his wife both got saved after coming to the Egg Drop! They couldn't believe that everything really was free! They interacted with people from our church and found them to be friendly and helpful. So they decided to check out our church. A couple weeks later, the wife asked Jesus into her heart! Then a week after that, this man had asked Jesus into his heart! God is now working in both of their lives! So what does dropping a plastic egg with a tootsie roll in it have to do with bringing people to know Jesus Christ in a very personal and wonderful way...absolutly nothing...unless it is accompanied by people who are sharing the love of Jesus Christ with others while not expecting anything in return. That selfless love is what brought this man and his wife to the Lord!
PS. Thank you to all the volunteers who helped out! This family's salvation is in a large part due to your actions!

Rethinking Church...

Before I write anything on this topic, I must first confess that I am church cultured all the way through. I have been in church since the first Sunday after my mother and father created me. Nine months or so later, I became a regular in the church nursery. You get the picture. In the world of business, a lot is changing, old business models aren't necessarily working as well as they once did. Technology and the internet have made it possible for people to make business connections that were nearly impossible 5o years ago. So, my question is, how is that affecting the church? Should it? While the message we have to give away must remain constant through time, the way in which that message is given must be ever evolving and changing if we are to reach this generation for Christ! Pastors, we are awful about finding something that works and sticking with it long after it has ceased to work. Flannel board was all the rage and the newest and coolest way to reach people with the love of Jesus about 40 years ago. Fanny Crosby wrote incredible hymns that were put to the popular music of her day in the later half of the 1800's. Overhead projectors shining the lyrics to "Majesty" up on the front wall of the church were great in the 1980's! None of those things are bad. None of them will send anyone to hell. So why wouldn't we keep using them in church? (Some churches still do.)The sinner on the street wouldn't connect with the method in which the message was portrayed. Fanny Crosby herself said that her songs were written to speak to the man on the street, not to the highbrow church person. I am not just writing about music. Fellowship is meant to be relational. We can worship together in a large church, but fellowship only happens in small groups. How do we as a church, unless your church is only 10-15 people, continue to reach out to people while also creating environments in which small groups can assemble and spend time getting to know each other in very real relationships? At our church, we use a small group model that we call "Home TEAMs". They are great! The problem is that less than 25% of our congregation are actively involved in one. That means that 75% basically show up on Sunday for a worship service and never experience the meaningful relationships that Christ meant for His Body - The church, to share.
Going back to the idea of rethinking business. Often 80% of your customers only account for 20% of your profit/income. In the church, we often say that 20% of the people do 80% of the work. Nice to see that isn't only a church problem, but is it possible to get the other 80% actively involved in the work of the Lord? Yes it is! Here is my "Rethinking church" idea. We often refer to certain organizations as "para-church organizations" or "faith based organizations" I would propose that maybe some of these are really undercover churches. An example: I used to work as a volunteer with a group of theaters in the Midwest called Stained Glass Theatre. They put on plays using volunteer actors. All the shows contained a strong salvation message, but were not "Bible stories". (Except for very few.) This group of stage hands/script writers/actors/editors/...were a fellowship of people who loved the Lord and loved theatre. Through that ministry and its offshoots, thousands of people have come to know Jesus as their Savior. Thousands more have had their walk with the Lord strengthened, and I am only referring to the spectators! The people who were in the theatre, were all working toward a common goal. Some had big jobs, others little ones, but all were involved with a purpose. When one is sick or hurting all are their to comfort and help. When one rejoices, all rejoice. Is SGT perfect? No! But were real meaningful relationships build every day? Yes! People found fellowship with other Christians and with God there. So is it a church? You can decide that one...maybe we should look at that model though, and see how it can affect our church. Having a common goal and purpose, and each person having his or her role in carrying out that goal can cause a revolution in Christendom. Sorry this one is so long. Have an awesome day! Hopefully you are thinking a bit.

Snowballs

Yesterday, there actually was a short snow fall here in South Carolina in April,but that isn't what I am talking about today. If you have followed this blog or my Home TEAM blog, you know that our church just put together an Egg Drop event in Easley, SC. It was a great success...which means we are already working on the next events. Yes Plural. Next year, we will be doing a bigger, better Egg Drop on March 27th! Mark your calendar! Currently, though other than having reserved the field for next March, I am working on some smaller events. May 17th is Tennis Shoe Sunday! May 24th is our Outdoor Baptism! We are planning for a big day there! July 4th is a big block party event in the parking lot at 5 Point Fellowship! It takes time to put together a great event! If you are a leader in your church, you will quickly find out that those events that you just "throw together" look like exactly that. Spend the time and money to do everything your church does with excellence! Oh, and if you are wondering why a church is involved in city event planning...Sunday morning about 10 people gave their hearts to the Lord! Many new visitors have come because they attended one of our community events. Have fun in your community showing people the love of Jesus Christ and then see what happens!

Friday Morning

It is the day before the big event! The egg drop you have been reading about for the last month or so. All has come together wonderfully! Of course the next 36 hours or so will be very busy, but it is great to see it all working! Hundreds of awesome volunteers have come together to accomplish vast quantities of work that I could never have gotten done alone! This morning, a man who used to go to our church delivered over 2000 hotdog buns! It is great to see even people who aren't going to 5 Point Fellowship getting involved in reaching out to the community! Do something different to reach your city or community for Christ this year! Love on people outside the walls of your church and see how God will work!

A Wednesday Night

Last night, we celebrated the Lord's Supper at church. That in and of itself is always an amazing event as we remember the sacrifice that Jesus made of Himself for us. This one was special. Almost all of the 100+ people in attendance had spent the day fasting for our egg drop event that is coming up on Saturday. Having over a hundred people, who have spent the day praying, come together for a time of worship and sharing in communion was an incredible way to break the fast! The idea of corporate fasting is honestly new to me. I am sure many other churches have times when they fast. The Roman Catholics give up stuff for Lent which is sort of like fasting. But having a large crowd of people who show up ready to worship the Lord, and who are already focused on God made the worship time something extra special last night. Hopefully this encourages you!

Easter Egg Drop

In case you read this blog, and not my Home TEAM blog, I want you to be in prayer for our April 4th Easter Egg Drop. It will be a huge event for our church. (If you don't know about it, we are dropping a bunch of plastic eggs onto the soccer fields at the J.B. "Red" Owens fields in Easley, SC on April 4th between 3 and 6 PM.) We need volunteers! If you can come help either before that date or on that date, your help would be greatly appreciated. We currently have about 100,000 eggs that need to have a piece of candy put in each one, and then the seam taped so that the egg doesn't come apart when dropped. Please pray for me, as I am the one putting it together. There is much more to "Event Planning" than I ever dreamed possible. Here is a link to the sign up sheet: http://files.me.com/ttimw/s52sly We will be passing them out in church, but feel free to download it and hand it in to Ann or Burl on Sunday at 5 Point Fellowship. It is going to be a great time!

Missioneeds

I know I already posted today, but I was reading my friend Travis'blog and he mentioned a site developed by Cody Thomas that helps churches get rid of stuff that they have outgrown and helps church plants get stuff free/cheap that they really need. The site is called Missioneeds If you are a church pastor that has a closet full of cool stuff that a church plant could use, but you have upgraded to the newest and best, then check out Cody's site!

Praise in Sorrow

If you read my last post about the accident, it turned out that the fatality was a student from our school. A young lady named Tiffany lost her life which causes many of her friends and her family to be in mourning. There is a silver lining. I looked up her facebook picture just to see if she was who I thought she was. (Not someone I knew well, she was a name and face I recognized on campus.) Her "Status" was that she was praising God that her father had finally accepted the Lord Jesus Christ into his heart as his Savior. For those unfamiliar with facebook, "Status" is a one line post about you that comes up on your profile page. It is updated often by users. This particular status post was from the night before her accident. The great news here is that she will see her father again in eternity now!

This Morning

This morning on my way to work, I heard the news pop in at the top of the hour on my favorite radio station. One ten second news blurb suddenly caught my attention. It was a fatal car wreck, but the part that grabbed my attention was that it is the street corner by the school where I teach. I still don't know who died, but it made me think. People die every minute in this world, but it often isn't until we are or, like in the case of the wreck this morning, could be affected by an event that we really take notice. That hit me like a ton of bricks! How often do we overlook people who represent souls going to hell just because they don't directly affect our lives? Those people are somebody to someone, and God's will is that none should perish! Let us get the blinders off and reach out to people beyond our circle of friends and family. (In this blog, I am mostly preaching to myself...if you are along for the ride, bless you!)

Why use small groups?

For those who follow my blog, you know that I work with the small group ministry at my church. We call them Home TEAMs, but the name doesn't matter much. What is important is that people's lives are being changed. People are getting involved with other people in meaningful relationships and growing in their relationships with God as they work together. If your church is growing beyond the 60-100 size, you are probably starting to see that you no longer know everyone. There are two solutions. One is to not invite any more people to your church and thus keep it small so that you can continue to have great relationships with all the members. The other option is to be excited about the growth of the church and all the people's lives that are being changed by the Lord and at the same time create environments in which people can connect on a more personal level. There isn't one perfect model. In my own church, we have multiple types of small groups. Some are ladies only, some are men only, some are couples, some meet every week, some twice a month, some once a quarter, some are related to a theme like "the band" which plays music every Sunday for our worship service, some are classes like the one we currently have going which is a Marriage Enrichment class based on the movie and curriculum from Fireproof. All of these groups have different purposes, but all meet the need of helping people connect in a smaller group setting where they can build friendships and relationships with others. There are many other options, in a traditional church, there are Sunday school classes, or the choir. These can be excellent if opportunity is given for those relationships to be built. There is no need to suddenly stop what you are doing now, but you might look and see if there are opportunities to help people build meaningful relationships in your church to help combat the busy American lifestyle that doesn't lend itself well to having close friends.

Connections!

This is an incredibly busy week! And that is AWESOME! The part of my job that I absolutely love is helping people connect to God and to each other. The busy part of this week is that tonight, the men of the church are getting together to meet with a missionary and investigate helping out with his mission next summer. So Connection will happen there! Then tomorrow night is a Home TEAM meeting which is temporarily at my house. Connections again! Thursday night is nothing, and my wife works, so the dog and I can just veg out! Friday night is the start of a brand new Home TEAM for young couples! Connections will be started there! Saturday night is date night with my wife! Definite connection possibility there! Sunday night, I am teaching the New Believer's class. Connections again! Monday night, we are having a leadership/vision casting meeting with the church staff and some of the lay leaders in the church. Connections will be made there! As you can see, it is a busy week, but I am jacked up! People will be connecting with God and with each other at each of these events! God is awesome! When we seek Him, He gives us the desires of our hearts! As I see people draw closer to God and grow in their relationship with Him, the desire of my heart is fulfilled! When I see people loving each other in community and not just "doing church", it thrills me! In your church, are you helping people to connect to God and to each other?

Reflections on Sunday.

This week, we had a wonderful Sunday! The morning services went well with a decent attendance. Then Sunday evening, we were offering a free showing of the movie Fireproof. It is a great movie and I was excited to see a packed house! Our church is an old movie theater, so it makes sense for us to use movies to reach out to our community. The great thing was that as I welcomed people in, only about 1/2 of them were people who go to our church. The rest were a mix of church people who just wanted to go out to a good clean movie, and unsaved people who were just there for something free to do and had heard it was a good movie. We used it as a kick off for a new Sunday evening series on marriage improvement using the curriculum designed to go with the Fireproof movie. The point of this blog is to share with you some success, but more importantly, to challenge your church to use its facilities in a way that makes sense in your community. Not everyone is meeting in an old theater...(Which is a good thing.) Take a new look at what your church has to offer the community. Take a bold step and see if the "if you build it they will come" principle will work. Also, if you haven't seen the movie Fireproof, it has a great salvation message and a wonderful message of redeeming a seemingly hopeless marriage. I highly recommend it. If you have a young couples group in your church, it could be a great activity to get together at someone's house and show it. Have an awesome day! I hope you have some new thoughts for your ministry.

Next Generation Leader by Andy Stanley

I just started reading Next Generation Leader by Andy Stanley. It has been an interesting read as someone who is not a senior pastor. The biggest truth I have gleaned so far from this read is to manage the time I have rather than letting it manage me. If I do everything rather than getting people to help me do it, then not only am I robbing others of a chance to do what they are good at, but I am adding stress to my own life that doesn't need to be there. An example from my own life: Last year, my wife and I decorated the platform at church for Christmas. It took the two of us about five hours lugging out the huge Christmas tree and putting up all the decorations. This year, a team of people came to help and it only took about an hour. Another team came to tear it down and again it only took about an hour! Not only did I save my time and walk away with out sore muscles, but it became an enjoyable experience for a whole team! As a normal American guy, I have a tendency toward self-sufficiency and have trouble asking others for help. As I learn to do so, I am finding that the benefits aren't just for me, but also help to create a sense of community for those who use their own talents to help me, and the results are much better! I may post again on this book as I have more thoughts on it. So far, I recommend the read.