first day back in the office…if anyone cares…it is good to be back…although i’ve probably lost my huge following…:)

it is hard trying to catch up after being away for 30 days…i am such a dork…i didn’t open my computer but maybe 3 or 4 times in the entire month…i actually loved it…i know the computer makes life easier and communication simpler but…just but…

rested, a lot…communicated as little as possible with anyone not named akins or carver…i did meet a few people for consultation but not many…attended a few church plants…WRC church plants seem to be doing well based on the 3 i got to visit…all in different cities…all within the last 18 months…

went to Vegas…before anyone asks…yes i gambled…12 bucks…i am a high roller after all…just had to try it once…found it pretty boring…slot machines anyway…didn’t or wouldn’t spend the money to get on a poker table…i know i’m not that good to compete with those guys…i absolutely do not see what the attraction to slot machines are, but people sit there and spends 100’s of dollars and hours upon hours hitting a button and watching a wheel spin and stop and doing it again…there is absolutely no skill involved…just plain dumb luck…no thanks…we did see KA (cirque d soleil), blue man group (strange), tony and tina’s wedding, grand canyon, dude ranch, bodies, titanic, bellagio’s fountains, the eiffel tower, old las vegas, the tigers of siegfried and roy, the lions of MGM (a show in itself, if you saw my facebook), ate at Emeril’s, Smith and Wollensky (best steak ever), and Wolfgang Puck…learned that Vegas is the least handicapped friendly city in the USA that i have visited…108 is hot even if there is no humidity…there is no such thing as a cool wind when it’s 108…i got tired of the World Cup very quickly…it’s still soccer no matter what the rest of the world calls it…and it is still boring…USA won 1 game and won it’s group and scored like 5 goals in 1000 minutes of “football” booorrrriiiinnnngggg!..i know i just lost a few followers with those comments…bring on college football!

as for church planting…which i still do sometimes…the next class starts on Aug 14…if you know someone that may be interested have them get in contact with me …jima@westridge.com…

just finished my first week of sabbatical…this probably makes me a real loser but i did NOT turn on my computer the entire week!…if it couldn’t be done on the iphone…it didn’t get done…i survived…

first, i worked most of the week in my yard…i am not made for manual labor…too heavy…to lazy…not in shape…too hot…but we now have a rock and pine island in my front yard…the back yard will be fixed on the next sabbatical… just kidding wife of mine…

second…completed plans for our 30 year anniversary trip to Las Vegas…

third…visited one of our church plants in Chattanooga…they’re doing well…but the consultant in me has some observations…be talking to Shane soon…

fourth…30 year anniversary…went out to eat at a nice restaurant in Atlanta…they seat a couple behind us…late 40’s probably… attractive…then he started talking…for 1.5 hours he berated and threatened this woman…”you are stupid…incompetent…you don’t know what you’re doing…” loudly…incessantly…the entire restaurant could hear him…she at one point said he might be getting too loud at which time he only got worse in his criticism…he had this strange accent that told me he was not from around here…probably north of Philly I would say …i really wanted to shake the guy down, but we were in a nice restaurant on our anniversary and didn’t want to end up in a fight…two things…Tanya threatened to turn around and say, “honey i’ve been married for 30 years…you don’t have to put up with that.” and 2. it made me look really good as a man…good for a few more years….

fifth…i had to get out today and communicate with someone that wasn’t selling me pine straw or bricks…maybe i’ll update again next week….

got to lead the WRC staff in prayer this morning…i always love the opportunity to pray with folks…don’t know if the staff liked it, but it’s always fun for me…Daniel Henderson, Fresh Encounter, changed the way i do prayer with a group…

one thing Dr. Henderson says is that we don’t have conversations with God…we each pray our separate prayers, run through our lists and concerns and no one ever really talks to one another…Dr. Henderson suggests that when we pray we begin with God…that we pray scripture because when we pray scripture over someone or a situation we can be assured we are praying God’s will…and that we all focus on the same subject, agreeing together…and it may be what we know as prayer but we may read scripture, or we may sing a song that is related to the prayers being prayed…i love it when we are all praying the same prayers and agreeing together….makes prayer more real for me…

after a time of praying to God, thanksgiving, praise, worship then we focus on prayer requests…we take the prayer requests from Sunday’s communication cards and pray over them…then we pray over the staff, programs, for blessing and provision from God over what we do here at WRC…finally we pray for ourselves…

This is the promise we prayed this morning…Ph 4:6 Do not be anxious for anything but in prayer and petitions let your request be known to God…

if you would like the staff to pray for you…put it on a comment card and turn it in on Sunday…or i think there is now a place on the website…remember James says, The faithful and fervent prayer of the righteous man accomplishes much. surely when the whole staff prays God can find a righteous man in our midst each time…so we’ll accomplish much…let us know how we can pray for you…

church planters…how do you pray?

Brenton Lehman arrived today…he is not completely new to WRC as he interned last summer at church@theridge …brenton has had an interesting two weeks…graduated from Liberty U…got married…honeymooned…moved to GA from VA…anyway after last summer i immediately began to pursue him for a longer internship…he is a quality guy that will one day soon plant a church in a city that will impact a community  for Christ!

last night flipping through the channels decided to watch the guy who travels around eating all sorts of %*&@#$% …he was in TX…eating at the state fair…the fried food capital of the world…last nite he ate: a deep fried banana and peanut butter sandwich and fried coca-cola doughnuts served with coca-cola whipped cream and straight coca-cola syrup…how do these guys avoid heart attacks, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc, etc, etc…i have often said if the doctor ever tells me i’ve got six months to live…i am going to live at the Krispy Kreme and the Varsity and Baskin Robbins and i’ll end it all in three months…but i’ll die happy of course my pall bearers will regret it

gets me to thinking we become what we feed ourselves…which is why i’m diabetic, have stints, and take a ton of pills every day…it’s the same way in the church…we become who we listen to…where we get trained…what books we read…the old gigo saying works…what goes in – goes out…what are you self-feeding in your life that breeds health?…what are you reading that encourages you to be a better leader?…who do you spend time with that stretches you?…

bottom line…what are you feeding yourself that will make you healthier…financially, physically, emotionally, and spiritually?

so, last night not much on tv…never did get into LOST…not much of a cartoon fan for fox…didn’t like country music on cbs…don’t like ny mets or yankees on espn…flipping through the channels and found the fattest woman in the world and fattest man in the world on discovery…sad

both had pretty much eaten themselves into destruction…according to the “special” there are 2 million super morbidly obese people in the USA…the woman died 2 weeks after surgery…the guy was surviving at the end of his hour…it was like a car wreck i couldn’t stop watching…

here’s my take for you pastors, church planters…there are those of you that think that you can just keep feeding yourself and that you’ll grow and grow and that you will get more of God and that there is no end to your spiritual growth and that is how we should measure church health…NOT!…yes you should feed yourself and get healthy…but if you never “leave the house” and you don’t grow outside of your house you will soon die a very unhealthy death…these two people had not left their homes in over two years…they invited people in to feed them…

you gotta get outside yourself…touch the lives of others outside your flock..if you don’t you die an untimely death…i know it’s a bad example but i had to make some sense of my time from last night…

this just in…received a copy of an article from that great rag of information the Marietta Daily Journal about the changing demographics of America…in the May 9 edition of the MDJ…the Brookings Institute reports that from the year 2000 to the year 2008 that:

1. there is a trend for the multi-ethnic poor and younger generation to be moving to the suburbs, especially true in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Florida.

2. that there is a trend for whites to be moving back to the city…”Washington D.C. and Atlanta posted the largest increase in white share since 2000, each up 5 percentage points to 44% and 36% respectively. Other white gains were in New York, San Franciso, and Boston and seven other cities in the top 100 metro areas.”

the description of these people are generally upscale, knowledge based individuals seeking jobs and avoiding commutes…the next census data should be a very interesting read for church planters…in the last several years it has been pretty difficult finding church planters that had a heart for the city…let me tell you i’m preaching to the choir here…20 years ago i could not envision raising my children in the city…anyway…maybe with the “white, upscale, smart people” moving back to the city some young white dudes are now going to hear God’s call to reach the city…i hope so…it will be a different church from what people of my generation remember…but that’s okay…even different from today’s “contemporary” church…in fact we probably haven’t seen it yet…can’t wait to see who God will raise up…

anybody ready to go…i know some neighborhoods in the ATL that could use you…

i have received questions about WRC going multi-site soon…why?

1. an opportunity to minister and meet the spiritual needs of more people. 87% of people in Paulding County do not go to any church. if i can figure right that is around 128,700 people without a church home. we care that those people are not going to church. this is my promise that if they come to WRC and they don’t like how and what we do we will recommend they try your church out. i’ve done it and other staff have done it. i believe we all play on the same team.  if your competition is WRC then you are fighting the wrong battle. fight the devil, get in his backyard, see lives changed people will find you.

2. why not start a third service on campus. tried that and it wasn’t real successful. in fact we have no guarantee that multi-site will be successful but we’re willing to try because people need Jesus.

3. why not plant new churches…we do! lots of them. in our own county. we do encourage them to do something different than what WRC is doing. because we do what we do with excellence it will draw people. i don’t think it is wise to try to do things exactly like us.

4. why not build a bigger building…128000 people would require a building 1.5 times the size of the GA Dome. we ain’t got that kind of money (excuse me going all country on ya). and frankly neither do you. it takes multiple sites to reach multiple people. and it takes all kinds, baptist, methodist, presbyterian, assembly of God, church of God, nazarene, non-denom and interdenom, church of Christ, disciples of Christ, charismatic, hymn singing, feet washing, shoutin, country, modern, jeans wearing, suit wearing, King James only, NIV spoutin, churches (did i leave anyone out?) we’ll like you too if you think Jesus is the only way to heaven and forgiveness of sin and lives being changed and believe the Bible is God’s Holy Word for all ages.

5. we have people from all corners of the county. they are more likely to get more involved and grow in their faith and serve if they have a place closer to them. studies show that the further away a member is the less likely they are to get involved. we are offering our people a place to get involved nearer their homes. we are praying that it works. a place to hear the gospel, have their lives changed, and impact a community. sounds like kingdom stuff to me.

6. we offer partnership. everyone on our staff will meet with you and talk with you, or your leadership. we share all that we have with other churches. it doesn’t matter if you are a WRC church plant or not. if you grow the Kingdom grows. Brian is adamant that when another church calls that we answer. we want to help you.

we don’t know how big WRC will grow. honestly at some point we will probably stop growing. every church has a season. we are in ours. but i think i can promise you this, we will not stop trying as long as there are people out there hurting and needing Jesus. if God blesses us and we could build the GA Dome and fill it up we would. until then we intend to go to every nook and cranny, every hill and holler, and let people know that God loves them and so do we. i don’t understand how anyone can criticize that.

i heard on some sports show the other day that Atlanta was the second worst sports town in America behind Seattle…Atlanta can’t even win at being the worst.

got me to thinking about church planting…there is such a competitive atmosphere out there among church planters and churches in general i guess…we are always comparing numbers…and i’m not against numbers…numbers obviously identify how you are doing…whether in sports as Atlanta being the 2nd best of the worst or in church planting…

we talked about leadership in our church planting class this Saturday…Brian, Tony, Troy, and Chris did a great job in the areas of overall leadership, volunteers, staff, and creative arts…Tony used an illustration of what i’ve been trying to say for years…only he said it better…there are leaders who lead themselves…leaders who lead others…leaders who lead leaders…and leaders who lead through vision…what kind of leader you are determines the lid on your ministry…

i may be wrong but i believe this is like a pyramid…there are many who lead themselves well…that’s the reason there are a majority of churches in America running 75 – 100…there are a few who lead others and can build a team of followers…they build churches of 400 – 1000…there are those that lead leaders…they build churches of 1500 – 2000…and there are a very few visionaries that build mega-churches…this is not bad…God created you to be who you are…be it

but, learn from the guy ahead of you and you can move up the ladder…the guy who leads himself well may become a leader of others but likely will never be a “visionary” leader…

no matter what kind of lead of leader you are you are still charged with evangelism, discipleship, and mission…win others, teach others, and send them out…we can all be doing that and when the comparison’s start you will be be able to say, “i’m the best me God created…and i’m reaching my potential.” then when you go home, God will say, “well done.”

that is the goal…

http://vimeo.com/11501569

i think this is from the DRIVE conference this year. it is really funny because it is so true, yet sad that the “contempovant” church has become as “traditional” as the “traditional” church.

when i planted a church we made fun of being able to walk into any church in America on Sunday at 11 a.m. and know exactly w hat would happen when…you know announcements, first song (verses 1,2 and 4), prayer, second song (verses 1 and 3) offering, special music (choir or solo), sermon, invitation hymn, closing prayer (at which the pastor prayed for the meetings he forgot to announce in the announcements).

well, check out the video…it looks familiar.

last week i made a statement saying that i doubt the truthfulness of a pastor that says he wants to reach his community but doesn’t want to plant churches, as it’s the most effective evangelism tool there is. i stand by that…

i have been busy meeting with some groups that want to know what WRC does and how they can do it in their churches. first i would like to say that not all churches should do what WRC does. yes you should be involved in church planting. but some of you may need to partner instead of trying to do all of the six things i am about to list. you may have a church in your area that is doing church planting well, join with them, or join a network that is already planting churches.

anyway if you want to be a church planting center here are the six critical systems you need in place: 1. STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT; 2. ASSESSMENT PROCESS; 3. RECRUITING; 4. TRAINING; 5. COACHING; AND 6. VISION CASTING.

now here’s the truth, i do about 3 of these things really well…for some of the other things we partner…coaching for instance…we work with Michael Lukaszewski and Shawn Lovejoy are two guys we encourage our church planters to connect with…the other thing is that typically training is conducted by church planters or church planting consultants of some kind…i do a lot of teaching in our church planting classes but when we talk about specific areas of training and we want to teach systems i look for someone who is doing that thing well…for instance, i believe in small group ministry, have led small groups (not very well mind you) so why would i assume i could teach it…i bring in a pro, Rodney Hunt, who leads over 110 small groups at WRC, in evangelism we bring in church planters that are doing evangelism…pretty simple…so even though we lead the way…we still partner…

notice i left out financing…i talk about financing…and i don’t doubt it’s importance…but it’s not the most important that some guys think it is…if you have a church planter and they think finances are the most important…find another church planter.