Over the past few months, God's given me the priviledge of forming relationships and working with people that are connected in the business world, the academic world, and the government world. These are people of high intelligence and incredible insight. Our paths crossed through the common goal of obtaining a Master's Degree in Strategic Communication and Leadership. During the orientation meet and greet, we had to pair off and gain enough information about the person we were paired with to introduce him to the entire class. It was a lot of fun. When I was introduced by my friend Michael as a "pastor," there was this collective "hmm" that kind of went throughout the room. It wasn't really an intimidating thing, more of an inquisitive, "why is this guy here" kind of noise. In talking to people throughout that weekend and since then, I've gotten a good look into where that noise was stemming from. Basically, the majority of people don't associate pastors with leadership. They see the communication side, but not necessarily the leadership side of it. Pushing it further, the reason this is true is because they really haven't seen many (if any) churches that were on a streamlined, intentional mission. They see church as many people do as a building, a religious confine, or something good you're supposed to do on Sunday.
I'm wondering why though. I mean, why do churches fear declaring a mission, calling people to that mission, and maybe even calling people to change everything they're doing in order to fulfill the mission God is calling them to? Now, if you're a church person reading this, you already know the answer, as I do. We're afraid. We're afraid the congregation will leave, we're afraid the board will ask us to leave, we're afraid of rejection, we're afraid of failure.
A couple weeks back we started a series at BridgeWay called "One Prayer." This is a series that's put on by Craig Groeschel out of Lifechurch.tv. This series is designed to unite churches across denominational lines in an effort to unify Christ's body, for at least a month. The premise here is this: if you had one prayer for the church as a whole, what would it be? "Lord, make us ________." Check out the One Prayer website for a number of different video teachings done by some real quality teachers. Dale opened the series here with "Lord, make us courageous." It's an awesome message speaking to this issue of mission.
But that's what it's going to take. We have to be courageous through the Holy Spirit to see anything of value happen in our churches. The fear should never really go away, because frankly if you're not at least a little afraid, you're probably working in your own strength and not God's. Courage through the promises of God will allow God's church to do amazing things.
The creativity is kind of gone this week - it's been a really weird week. I think that's the best way to describe it. It's been a week of seepy basement walls, ripping out drywall, meeting after meeting, school work that is driving me bananas, a clogged drain in the basement, and on and on we go.
In spite of all that, it's also been pretty cool. I got to celebrate 4 years of marriage with my beautiful wife, my wife and I celebrated with my family the anticipated arrival of the newest Robinson (Brooke's pregnant), I got to see my little brother get married, spend time with family that I haven't seen in about a decade (or longer), went fishing with my dad, made dinner with my mom, hung out with my sister and her husband, had a rediculous pain filled paintball bachelor party, and just had an awesome time overall.
I wasn't at BridgeWay on Sunday, and truthfully, I really missed it. I missed the people, the music, the preaching - even the 6:30 am set up! I was gone and we had one of the largest attendances ever for a regular Sunday and more than that saw 7 people give their lives to the Lord. I told Dale that I'll be gone every week if we're guaranteed that result!
I guess the point of my rambling here is just to pause and thank God for how incredibly good He is to me. I can't thank him enough for anything I mentioned above, even the fact that I would be allowed to own a house that had a leaky basement. God rocks, and I thank Him for all of you who are reading this. Thanks for being part of my life.
In spite of all that, it's also been pretty cool. I got to celebrate 4 years of marriage with my beautiful wife, my wife and I celebrated with my family the anticipated arrival of the newest Robinson (Brooke's pregnant), I got to see my little brother get married, spend time with family that I haven't seen in about a decade (or longer), went fishing with my dad, made dinner with my mom, hung out with my sister and her husband, had a rediculous pain filled paintball bachelor party, and just had an awesome time overall.
I wasn't at BridgeWay on Sunday, and truthfully, I really missed it. I missed the people, the music, the preaching - even the 6:30 am set up! I was gone and we had one of the largest attendances ever for a regular Sunday and more than that saw 7 people give their lives to the Lord. I told Dale that I'll be gone every week if we're guaranteed that result!
I guess the point of my rambling here is just to pause and thank God for how incredibly good He is to me. I can't thank him enough for anything I mentioned above, even the fact that I would be allowed to own a house that had a leaky basement. God rocks, and I thank Him for all of you who are reading this. Thanks for being part of my life.
Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the idea of freedom in Christ. I think it's such an awesome concept and so true. I was reminded of this yesterday when meeting with a guy in our church. He had been radically saved in October. He had been freed from all kinds of worldly things and seen his marriage that was hanging by a thread become completely reconciled. It was an awesome meeting.
He shared a story with me that was pretty cool. He told me that to get a job at his current place of employment that he lied and said that he had a four year degree, while he only had a two year degree. He said that a couple months after being saved, he felt really convicted to tell his boss and those around him that he had lied, knowing that he could lose his job. He said the conviction was so strong he couldn't sleep for a whole night, he just laid in bed and sweat. The next day he went in and started telling people, working his way up to his boss. Everyone's response was "It's ok, everyone lies." When he got to his boss, his boss said, "Why are you telling me this?" He said that he was a Christian and he knew he had to tell him. The boss said, "Yeah but why?" My friend said, "Well, I don't know if you know about the Holy Spirit, but He's on my heart telling me that I have to tell you." His boss responded, "This is weird. I've been thinking about faith in God and didn't know if it was real or not. Now I know that it is real."
Only Jesus can take something like that and turn it into a positive. He used something that should have been disaster for His glory. Freedom in Christ. How cool is that?
He shared a story with me that was pretty cool. He told me that to get a job at his current place of employment that he lied and said that he had a four year degree, while he only had a two year degree. He said that a couple months after being saved, he felt really convicted to tell his boss and those around him that he had lied, knowing that he could lose his job. He said the conviction was so strong he couldn't sleep for a whole night, he just laid in bed and sweat. The next day he went in and started telling people, working his way up to his boss. Everyone's response was "It's ok, everyone lies." When he got to his boss, his boss said, "Why are you telling me this?" He said that he was a Christian and he knew he had to tell him. The boss said, "Yeah but why?" My friend said, "Well, I don't know if you know about the Holy Spirit, but He's on my heart telling me that I have to tell you." His boss responded, "This is weird. I've been thinking about faith in God and didn't know if it was real or not. Now I know that it is real."
Only Jesus can take something like that and turn it into a positive. He used something that should have been disaster for His glory. Freedom in Christ. How cool is that?
Recently, I've been thinking a lot about vision. It seems as though I've been hearing about it from everyone - the folks at school, the folks at church, our staff here, in the books I've been reading, and so on. I've always been a big proponent of a vision, especially for a church. God has a plan and a design for every church, and it's up to the leadership to get alone with him and determine what it is. At BridgeWay, the vision is "to connect people to God, each other, and His plan for their lives."
Over the past few months, God has blessed this church with great growth. In September BridgeWay had 160 attenders every Sunday (average). In April, we had 270 attenders average weekly. It's pretty awesome when you think about it. God's incredible! Along with that though, there becomes this reaction from leadership and the congregation to begin adding ministries. "We need to do a ministry that does ______________" or "there's a lot of people who want to do _____________." Usually the suggestions are good things that come out of the hearts of good people. But the bottom line is we can't do everything. A church is like any organization; it has limited time, resources, money, and people. We can't do everything people suggest.
So how do we determine what to do? In thinking about this dilemma, I came up with a document that should help as a filter in this arena. It's nothing really impressive, it's just putting all of the things we talk about as a staff down on paper. Here it is:
BridgeWay Preliminary Objective Rubric
Level I
1. Does this line up with our mission?
a. BridgeWay Community Church exists to connect people to God, each other, and God's
plan for their lives.
2. Does this line up with the culture we are in?
a. Acts 17
b. Is this going to be culturally relevant?
3. Does this line up with the culture of BridgeWay?
a. “A church for people who don’t like church.”
b. Is this going to keep us on the cutting edge of 2008?
4. Is this going to keep us faithful and effective to the mission God has called us to?
a. Faithful – staying true to whom God has called us to be while reaching lost people for
Christ.
b. Effective – using the limited money, time, people, and resources that God has
entrusted us with in the best way possible.
c. The question is not “Is this a good use of our _______?” The question is, “Is this
the best use of our ________________?”
Level II
1. What is the win (desired outcome)?
2. Is this a logical next step for people? How?
3. Is in line with keeping a narrowed focus? How?
4. Does this help us teach less for more? How?
5. Does this help us listen to those we are trying to reach and reach them more effectively? How?
6. Will this help increase (eventually or immediately) our volunteer base? How?
7. Will this help us to improve how we do things at BridgeWay? Will BridgeWay be a better place because of this undertaking?
I'll expand on it in future posts. The first level is the "will this think fly here" level. Level 2 is based on "The 7 Practices of Effective Ministry" by Andy Stanley, Lane Jones, and Reggie Joiner. (p.s. PHENOMENAL READ!)
As always, all comments/suggestions are appreciated.
Over the past few months, God has blessed this church with great growth. In September BridgeWay had 160 attenders every Sunday (average). In April, we had 270 attenders average weekly. It's pretty awesome when you think about it. God's incredible! Along with that though, there becomes this reaction from leadership and the congregation to begin adding ministries. "We need to do a ministry that does ______________" or "there's a lot of people who want to do _____________." Usually the suggestions are good things that come out of the hearts of good people. But the bottom line is we can't do everything. A church is like any organization; it has limited time, resources, money, and people. We can't do everything people suggest.
So how do we determine what to do? In thinking about this dilemma, I came up with a document that should help as a filter in this arena. It's nothing really impressive, it's just putting all of the things we talk about as a staff down on paper. Here it is:
BridgeWay Preliminary Objective Rubric
Level I
1. Does this line up with our mission?
a. BridgeWay Community Church exists to connect people to God, each other, and God's
plan for their lives.
2. Does this line up with the culture we are in?
a. Acts 17
b. Is this going to be culturally relevant?
3. Does this line up with the culture of BridgeWay?
a. “A church for people who don’t like church.”
b. Is this going to keep us on the cutting edge of 2008?
4. Is this going to keep us faithful and effective to the mission God has called us to?
a. Faithful – staying true to whom God has called us to be while reaching lost people for
Christ.
b. Effective – using the limited money, time, people, and resources that God has
entrusted us with in the best way possible.
c. The question is not “Is this a good use of our _______?” The question is, “Is this
the best use of our ________________?”
Level II
1. What is the win (desired outcome)?
2. Is this a logical next step for people? How?
3. Is in line with keeping a narrowed focus? How?
4. Does this help us teach less for more? How?
5. Does this help us listen to those we are trying to reach and reach them more effectively? How?
6. Will this help increase (eventually or immediately) our volunteer base? How?
7. Will this help us to improve how we do things at BridgeWay? Will BridgeWay be a better place because of this undertaking?
I'll expand on it in future posts. The first level is the "will this think fly here" level. Level 2 is based on "The 7 Practices of Effective Ministry" by Andy Stanley, Lane Jones, and Reggie Joiner. (p.s. PHENOMENAL READ!)
As always, all comments/suggestions are appreciated.
I love to pray. In fact over the past few years, God has taught me a lot about prayer. I have seen incredible things happen through prayer. I have grown personally by leaps and bounds through prayer. Prayer is great.
However, I do have a contention with a prayer breakfast. I love to pray - but I also love to eat. I love breakfast, especially when it involves a buffet with and endless supply of bacon. So when those two things combine you would think it would be good, but it turns out it's not. In fact, my thesis is that combining these two elements is downright cruel. Why would you force someone to drop their bacon to pray? God does trump pork, but don't miss the point. It's like when rescue missions make homeless people go to church before they can eat dinner. You can't make God a chore or punishment. It's just not right!
One more note - this breakfast was at 6:30. Seriously people. 6:30. A.M. In the morning. I get up at 6:30. It's not right.
However, I do have a contention with a prayer breakfast. I love to pray - but I also love to eat. I love breakfast, especially when it involves a buffet with and endless supply of bacon. So when those two things combine you would think it would be good, but it turns out it's not. In fact, my thesis is that combining these two elements is downright cruel. Why would you force someone to drop their bacon to pray? God does trump pork, but don't miss the point. It's like when rescue missions make homeless people go to church before they can eat dinner. You can't make God a chore or punishment. It's just not right!
One more note - this breakfast was at 6:30. Seriously people. 6:30. A.M. In the morning. I get up at 6:30. It's not right.
My mom's been a minister of music at the same church now for about 18 years. That's a long time if you didn't know that. When I was a kid, we would go with her to church during the week when we didn't have school. She would find stuff for us to do, or my sister, brother, and I would usually find a way to kill each other during the workday. One day our church decided to go big or go home and bought new hymnals. So it became the duty of my sister, brother, and me to collect all of the old hymnals, stamp the new hymnals with our church name (hymnal theft was a major issue at the time) and put out the new ones. I don't remember how many hymnals there were, but I remember that the sanctuary sat about 1200 people, and for a 10 year old kid, that's a lot of hymnals. It took my siblings and I the better part of a week to get those things in, but the following Sunday we knew that it would be worth it because of all of the sweet attention we would get for "serving" the Lord so graciously.
Sunday comes around and the place is a buzz with all of the new hymnals that have been put in the beautiful orange pews. The pastor got up to make his announcements and my siblings and I made eye contact with that look that says, "here it comes, let's get ready to become heros." The pastor got up and made several comments about the beautiful new hymnals and people clapped because of the new hymnals and their excitement surrounding them, but neither my name nor my siblings were ever mentioned. Of course, I was outraged by this development. I went to my mom and demanded a reason for this short-sighted gratitude. My mom, full of the Holy Spirit, (if the guys in the Bible can say that, so can I because it's true) looks at me and says, "sometimes we do things because they need to be done and God wants us to, not because we'll get credit for it."
That was the first time that the message of serving others really stuck with me. That's when I began to realize that credit is one of the worse things you can get, because it can go straight to your head. One of my biggest fears is that I will have faith in myself and forget about God. I never want that to happen, and I thank God for a mother who didn't want to see that happen either. And you thought hymnals were irrelevant...
Sunday comes around and the place is a buzz with all of the new hymnals that have been put in the beautiful orange pews. The pastor got up to make his announcements and my siblings and I made eye contact with that look that says, "here it comes, let's get ready to become heros." The pastor got up and made several comments about the beautiful new hymnals and people clapped because of the new hymnals and their excitement surrounding them, but neither my name nor my siblings were ever mentioned. Of course, I was outraged by this development. I went to my mom and demanded a reason for this short-sighted gratitude. My mom, full of the Holy Spirit, (if the guys in the Bible can say that, so can I because it's true) looks at me and says, "sometimes we do things because they need to be done and God wants us to, not because we'll get credit for it."
That was the first time that the message of serving others really stuck with me. That's when I began to realize that credit is one of the worse things you can get, because it can go straight to your head. One of my biggest fears is that I will have faith in myself and forget about God. I never want that to happen, and I thank God for a mother who didn't want to see that happen either. And you thought hymnals were irrelevant...
Well, I figured I'd post this before Dale did. (See the "Let Me Drive" link to the right to get to Dale's blog.) We're up in Wisconsin for a District Pastor and Spouse Retreat (Brooke couldn't come, sad face). It's at a beautiful resort right on Lake Michigan, which might as well be an ocean. We have a free afternoon so we decide to go kayaking. I've gone kayaking about 128 times (roughly) at my parents house since they own two kayaks. So I'm down and ready to show my stuff. We get ready to launch the kayaks and the guy we rented from is explaining how to get in. I'm all like "yeah whatever" in my head and head on down to get in. I inexplicably break every rule of getting into a kayak at once (somehow knowingly in my head) and as I go to enter the kayak, the whole thing flips me over and I'm swimming in the Sheboygan river, right next to Lake Michigan. This part is rather embarrassing, however, the water temperature is 45 degrees and it literally takes my breath away. I was gasping for air when I hit the surface because I literally couldn't breathe. Not my proudest moment.
I finally get out and everyone has a good laugh (myself included) and I have a choice to make: do I try to get back in or do I call it a day? Both options crossed my mind, but I was reminded of a story I had heard the night before. Dr. John Bowling (in all seriousness - a man I have an unbelievable amount of respect for), the president of Olivet Nazarene University had spoken to our group the night before about climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa. Yeah, seriously. So as I was standing there soaking wet, I thought, "If a 62 year old man can climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, I can kayak in the Sheboygan River." AND I DID!!!!! (cue theme from "Rocky")
I finally get out and everyone has a good laugh (myself included) and I have a choice to make: do I try to get back in or do I call it a day? Both options crossed my mind, but I was reminded of a story I had heard the night before. Dr. John Bowling (in all seriousness - a man I have an unbelievable amount of respect for), the president of Olivet Nazarene University had spoken to our group the night before about climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa. Yeah, seriously. So as I was standing there soaking wet, I thought, "If a 62 year old man can climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, I can kayak in the Sheboygan River." AND I DID!!!!! (cue theme from "Rocky")
