Are we having fun yet?
This summer has passed way to quickly. The new year of CP classes is beginning in a couple of weeks and I’m behind. You’ve heard the old saying, “The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.” Well that’s me the last couple of weeks.
Looks like a good bunch of guys attending the class this year. Can’t wait to see what God will do this year.
I hope I haven’t lost my vast following. 
It is good to be home. Baltimore is a great city! Ellis and Ginger and the team are working hard in a hard city to break into. But people recognized our blue shirts everywhere we went or they were asking questions.
A few years you couldn’t get anyone to move into the city. Church Planters wanted to go where the money was. Now the cities are hot. It’s about time. Church after church and denomination after denomination has abandoned the city. Let’s trust that God is raising up an army to retake the city. It is there where America will experience a renewal not in the burbs. (now I’m a prophet)
Good to be home in the burbs. I know I’m hypocritical. A few years ago Tanya and I prayed about moving into the city. The call and the opportunity just never presented itself. I learned a long time ago, be where God plants you, He’ll take care of the ministry for you. Anyway we will soon be working with 3 churches in downtown areas. Looking forward to that new challenge.
Leading a small team up to Baltimore (Gallery Church, Baltimore) for the week. Leaving Saturday. We’ll be doing some community service type work, prayer walking, and hanging out and meeting people. Matt Evans’ youth, Rockbridge Church in Dalton, went up earlier this summer and made over 2000 contacts in one week.
Ellis and Ginger are already making an impact. The service of the youth teams were written up in the Baltimore Sun on July 4. Advertising campaign underway across the city: Together: What if we decided that everyone matters?
That’s a good question. The VAST majority of our churches have left the city. I think truthfully we wish the problems of the city would disappear. That won’t happen apart from life change, and Jesus brings life change. If we want to change the city then we must pray for others like Ellis and Ginger who will be called to reach our cities. Too many of our acitivities in the cities turn into social services (not bad) and fail to present the gospel. Cities will change when people change, people will change when their hearts are changed. Jesus is in the business of changing hearts. Pray for us this week as we travel and pray that God uses us to impact someone’s life with the good news of Jesus.
I am probably going to show my ignorance but I don’t know what “spam” stands for. But here is what I have decided:
Stupid Pitiful Attempts (at) Marketing. Who falls for this stuff? It is such a nuisance. Some gets through the filter no matter what I do.
Just an encouragement. When you do marketing, however you do marketing, make sure it is “SEE” worthy. Don’t put out some lame, half baked idea just to have your name out there. It is embarrassing to the church and to God. I think the Bible says, “Whatever you do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord.” Would you give the Lord junk? Then don’t advertise God’s ideas, plans, with junk.
This afternoon I’m in a meeting and the phone rings and it is someone important so I excuse myself and answer the call. Well I hear my friend in line at what sounded like a movie theater, amusement park, shopping center check out cashier, or something. I yelled out his name but I didn’t get a response. That has happened to me a few times. One time was fairly late in the evening for me and I called back because I wondered if my friend was in trouble.
Anyway this is one of those little pet peeves that I have with technology. I hate accidental calls. I don’t know whether to call the person back and confirm that the call was a mistake or whether to let it go. Most of the time now I let it go, but what if someone was having a legitimate emergency? I finally learned how to lock the keyboard on my phone so I don’t call others accidentally.
So, no church planting lesson today. Just a shout out: Lock your phone.
At the end of May I decided that I did not want to look like a blimp at my daughter’s wedding in October so I started a diet. I am doing Weight Watchers. My wife started the program a few years ago so we had the stuff at the house and I didn’t have to go to any meetings.
Anyway…I am doing the point system. I have a book that tells me what every food point value is. So my wife and I no longer eat food, we eat points. For instance today I am eating five points for lunch (a subway sandwich worth five points). The good news is, I have lost 28 pounds so far, the bad news is that I’m feeling somewhat like a rabbit (salad veggies are almost all you can eat for no points).
The other good news is that I can have some sweets (snickers - 7 points), oatmeal raisin cookie ( 3 points), or even chocolate cake (12 points) but then I blow dinner. Another good deal is that I have cut my insulin shots by more than half. I have to make a church planting point out of this so here goes. I tried counting calories, ate so many I couldn’t keep up. And Lord, the fat grams were ridiculous to try to keep up with. Points are pretty easy to track. So what about church planting. Find the system that works for you and use it. Don’t try to be somebody else. Keep score for yourself, not for someone else. And that is why I am eating points now instead of food.
As usual WRC shined today. The Resnik funeral was completed this morning. Paul did a great job. The family was phenomenal in their comments. Geoff told about how Cari led him (raised a Jew) to Christ. What a testimony of God’s grace in this family. We need 100’s more like the Resnik family.
Two comments. One of the funeral directors last night said to me he appreciated working with WRC because we made it so easy. Creating a straight path for people in the community to have a great experience is something that every church should learn, whether you are hosting a graduation or a funeral, do it well. Brian says to us as a staff as much as possible our response to “can we do something” should be ”yes.” People you serve will remember and they will come back when they have a need.
Geoff expressed his appreciation for what the church has done. I told Geoff that’s the way church is supposed to be. Walking with each other, supporting one another, and making sure when one has a need it is met to the best of our ability. I think there was a church in the book of Acts of which everyone in the town said, “See how they love one another.” That’s church. Do it.
Tired today. We’ve been dealing with a family that has seen death strike quickly. Six weeks ago this lady was healthy, vibrant, a runner, swimmer, servant at church and in the community. At 46 she is gone because of cancer. Just a few days before prayed with another family that lost their 70 something year old mother.
It is both invigorating to be part of the care team and draining at the same time. We were up with them until 2 a.m. one night and a couple of nights later at the home at 4 a.m. after her death. I don’t recover from these things like I used to. But I wouldn’t miss being with a family that is struggling with life and death issues.
If you are a lead pastor you should have a staff of people or at least a volunteer team that can walk with a family through tragedies such as these. The more you are tied to being “THE” caretaker you will have a difficult time growing a large church. Rick Warren used to tell people “when you see me at the hospital, you know your time is about up.” As the church grows the ministers that minister to that person, the ministry in which they are serving, or the small group to which they belong should take the lead. The lead pastor should be about leading and caring for staff and elders and leaders of major ministries. That doesn’t mean the lead pastor doesn’t care. It simply means that the people who know you best care for you. I’d much rather have someone who KNOWS me do my funeral than someone who just knows me by sight.
If the church is to be the church then those who know the people best need to be the responders. We have a great gentleman in our church that just loves people. He sent a message to us in the midst of this families crisis and offered his services to go with pastors or others when a death or other tragedy happens in a families life. This ladies and gentlemen is the church being the church. Educate people to be the church. When it works its an amazing thing.
I’m not combining the last two topics because they are less important, but because honestly I’m bored with the topic and want to move on. Now if you would like for me to address these with you or a leadership team sometime…I’m available.
The last two characteristics of a healthy church: NEED ORIENTED EVANGELISM AND LOVING RELATIONSHIPS. I’ll address evangelism first.
I remember the day as a child that we would hang a sign out in front of our church in Smyrna and announce a revival. The church would hire some pompador wearing, red faced, slobbering guy who would scream and try to scare everyone about hell and we’d call that evangelism. Then there were the days of the Four Spiritual Laws and my I share with you.
I am sure there is still a place for both of these methods, but I think if you want to make a difference you will meet people where they are at their point of need. I think most people today have no understanding that they are going to hell because they think it is about their works and they feel pretty good about themselves when they compare themselves to say Saddam Hussein, Hitler, or Jeffrey Dahlmer. So how do you create a need. I think it begins with SERVICE. Serve them, they’ll wonder why. That opens the door to the gospel. I had a friend that told me, “I want to preach and make them feel so good they wonder why it feels so bad on Monday.” Find a way to serve the people in your community and people will beat down the door to find out why. Then tell them about Jesus.
Finally, LOVING RELATIONSHIPS. This is not about hugging each other at church. It’s about doing life together. When was the last time you ate with a family from the church not someone you were kin to. It’s about bringing food in crisis. It’s about childcare when a couple needs to get away. It’s about the willingness to say “hey, I’m hurting, can you pray for me.” And then helping.
Are you healthy?