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We have our staff meeting every Monday morning in a sterile room on the near wing of the children’s facility. This meeting can last anywhere from one to three hours, depending on the topics of discussion. This week, it was on the short side; an hour and a half.
Amongst all the discussions about ministry, stories of people’s lives being changes, upcoming events, evaluation of recent events, etc, I realized something about our church culture. Thanks to our pastor’s leadership, we’re quickly becoming a two-stage church.
For the record, this is my interpretation of how this concept works.
A two-stage church is a church whose members/attenders fit in one of two stages.
People who are visiting, seeking, (maybe) non-believers, who are actively looking for a church, but want to stay in the shadows until they find a place to land. These are the folks that we might get a Connection Card from, but not necessarily ever find out who they are. We encourage these folks to attend, enjoy, and find out what God has planned for their lives and where they need to put down roots. These folks will not be asked to serve until they decided where they’ll be making their home.
People who are here. These folks have made the decision to make our church their home. These are regular attenders who are in a relationship with the Lord and know that they are staying here. While there are different levels of commitment in stage 2, the general idea is that they are here and ready to give their resources (time, money, passion, commitment) to accomplish the vision that God has given us.
The gist is this: if you’re looking for a church home, you won’t be asked to serve. If you’ve decided that this is your home, you will be asked to serve (assuming that you’re spiritually, physically, emotionally, etc able to do so - if you’ve just begun to overcome a major sin in your life, we’ll give you the appropriate time to heal).
If you should be in the second group (rooted here), but you’re unwilling to serve, then this might not be the right place for you. If you’re in the first group (seeking), but you’re unwilling to serve in the future, then this might not be the right place for you.
In any case, we love you, but God’s mission is too critical to allow folks who never intend to serve to suck up resources.
Since I’ve been using Twitter (mini-blog thingy for you non-techies), I’ve noticed that my link-loving has subsided drastically. Sorry about that.
This is a great chance to bring back the linkage. This link will take you to a great post by 37Signals, one of the best small businesses in the country. It’s a company of less than ten people that’s worth millions and millions. Although they’re an “internet business”, they’re not normal. Unlike others in the same category, they actually sell products. Their false counterparts simple opt for traffic and try to sell ads.
Anyway, here’s the best excerpt from the post, but you should definitely read the rest.
There are some crazy things going on at our church. And by crazy, I mean God is changing lives faster than we can tell the stories. In fact, this weekend we’re showing two videos of testimonies encompassing about ten families whose lives have been serisouly affected by the ministry of our church.
Can I just say that I’m not worthy? I wrote a post a few months ago (that attracted some blog-bashers) about Wayne’s World and the (stretched) similarities that they share with ministry. You might remember that every show had them repeating the phrase, “We’re not worthy!” Boy, can I relate to that sentiment.
In the case of Wayne and Garth, they felt unworhty of the presence of some rockstart musician. In my case, I very aware of my unworthiness in the presence of a miracle-working God. How is it possible, with so many capable, Godly church leaders in the world that are struggling in a ministry that’s bearing so little fruit, that I have this opportunity to be where God is moving. AND IN MY FIRST CHURCH?!?! It’s absurd. It’s almost more than I can bear.
The Aliph Jawbone 2 is definitely on my birthday list. Follow this link to find out why I want this little (very little) piece of tech. Remember, I drive a Jeep that doesn’t have a top.
If you’ve been reading here for long, you know that I’m not big on re-posting other bloggers’ articles. I just feel like it’s sort of cheating. I really have to make an exception for this one. It’s not a personal article. It’s a leadership article and it’s spot-on in my opinion.
Tony Morgan wrote about the “9 Do’s and Don’ts for Ministry Growth” and I just have to say that it’s incredibly accurate and thoughtful. Please go read it, even if you’re not sure that you even care about church leadership.
We went for a boat ride last Saturday and I caught a quick video of my beautiful wife, Erica, before we left. If it seems like I’m bragging about the fact that my wife is so awesome, I am.
I’m a huge fan of online videos. Although you have to sift through a bunch of rubbish, there are still some gems out there. This one’s famous, but you might not have seen it. It’s been viewed over 35 million times on YouTube.
This is the first of many video posts you’ll be seeing here. I won’t promise to post videos daily (I’m not nearly that consistent.), but I will do my best to bring you lots of great videos.
By the way, don’t forget to the read the post below this one. I kind of buried it.
Steven Furtick (and others like him) always talk about God taking them further than their own ability, dreams, ambition, or vision. I always thought that it would be cool to one day feel like God is blessing me to the point where I’m unsure if I can really handle the blessing. I’ve thought that it would be incredible if, one day, I woke up and God was doing more in my life than I dreamed.
Today was that day.
It hit me today that God is starting to overwhelm me with blessings in ministry, family, business, and personally. Let’s get more specific:
* My wife rocks. She’s beautiful, smart, funny, and makes my day-to-day life about 1,000 times better.
* My church is full of amazing people. They love God and love to serve. Worship this morning was phenomenal. It seems like the singing gets louder from week to week. This morning felt like the room was vibrating with voices.
* My pastor is the man. He preaches like a man. He leads like a diplomat. Very cool to learn from him.
* I’ve got some seriously talented musicians on my team. It’s like every single one of them was born for the sole purpose of playing their instrument. It’s insane.
* Updatable is moving along nicely. Couple strong clients. Had a conversation with a sharp guy last week who might be interested in coming along as a partner for the purpose of business development. Exciting possibilities.
* I’m really starting to love surf-kayaking. Last week I went to the beach 4 times. It was a good week.
* I’m starting to finally feel like I’m getting my feet under me in my ministry. Planning is several weeks ahead. The musicians are feeling more comfortable with my leadership style. The church is getting used to the way I lead worship, which is very different from all previous worship leaders. (Did I mention I’m the youngest ministerial staff member our church has ever had? They’re really stepping out in faith to give me the responsibility for the worship ministry.)
* To top all this off, there are changes on the horizon on many fronts that will take these blessings to a whole new level.
For a long time, this age was a futuristic, never-gonna-happen dream that companies like Digg, Facebook, Twitter, and AOL hoped would materialize. Well, it did and it’s not as dreamy as some expected. Actually, it’s a little creepy and a little awkward. Here are two examples:
I love my plant and my plant loves me.
This is a real commercial for a real toy in Japan. Is it me, or does Japan try to create the creepiest toys in the world; remember Furby?
If you’ve been reading here for long, you know that I’m not big on re-posting other bloggers’ articles. I just feel like it’s sort of cheating. I really have to make an exception for this one. It’s not a personal article. It’s a leadership article and it’s spot-on in my opinion.
