FusionLife

On December 7th-8th, I traveled to Knoxville, TN to attend a gathering of church planters, potential church planters, and church interested in partnering with the New Thing Network to plant reproducing churches. The whole team from New Thing, Community Christian Chicago and all the New Thing Affilate churches were great hosts. They were so interested in hearing your story, your dreams and also shared theirs with anyone who’d take the time to listen. Everyone was great and so easy to talk with it was like talking people you had known most of your life. It was really great to connect Eric Metcalf, director of New Thing, Pat Masek, Dave Ferguson, Lead Pastor at Community Christian in Chicago, Aaron Mounts, who just planted Ikon Christian Community in San Francisco, Matt Larson who just planted Anthem Church in Thousand Oaks, CA and Nate Bush who I went to college with who is launching New City Church in Albuquerque next year plus so many other guys and gals.

If you are thinking about starting a church you have got to check out New Thing to see if partnering with them might be right for you.

About New Thing
from a talk by Dave Ferguson

New Thing is a transdenominational catalyst for a movement of reproducing churches relentlessly dedicated to helping people find their way back to God.

Values: Reproducing, Relationships, Residencies, Resources

Their Goals: 1. Restore the foundation and acknowledgement of apostolic leadership. Ephesians 4:11
2. Develop apprenticeships for emerging apostolic leaders.

How: Infrastructure of a Movement

Apostolic Leadership
This was a very interesting discussion. In the past many have shied away from the word because of past abuses in the church. But in doing so we have lost visionary/ entrepreneurial leaders out of the church and in most church lack the gifts, talents and passions they bring to the table. Those gifted in these ways are able to see the future clearly, desire to start new communities of faith and embed and guard the truth. Dave said most of the time when we talk about apostolic leaders we talk about big names in big churches but he said every church needs leaders with these gifts and talents.

Shared Dream
There is a vision behind the movement that stirs in us and gives us a dream for tomorrow. We’ve heard it said people don’t give to an organization they give to a cause, well people won’t get behind a movement because of their mission statement but because they can see tomorrow through the vision being shared and they have a dream to cling to.

Common Ideology
“Our dream comes from Jesus Acts 1:8, and our ideology comes from the Apostle Paul. Paul is explaining to a young church planter, Timothy how to accomplish this big dream and he says, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others” II Timothy 2:2. He explains that the strategy for accomplish Jesus big dream is to start small by continually reproducing. Paul lays out multiple generations of reproduction: 1. Paul – Timothy; 2. Timothy – reliable men; 3. reliable men – others. So the common ideology we share is helping people find their way back to God by reproducing at all levels.” -Dave Ferguson

Genuine Community
“These communities of Christ Followers will not be merely lifestyle enclaves that exist to further the betterment of the life of the community and their own lives. These communities will be a “communitas” (community with a cause); a coming together of Christ Followers who are willing to trade their life to accomplish the dream of God by following Jesus.” – Dave Ferguson.

A diagram Dave drew:

Community
+Trust
Communitas

Decentralized Reproduction
This is all about setting boundaries and letting go capable leaders to reproduce churches. We have to model it, give permission to these leader to reproduce, set expectation and hold them accountable. Dave talked about the difference between a spider and a starfish. Cut the head off a spider and it dies, cut a piece of a starfish and it reproduces.

When we align these things the result we get is: Reproducing Leaders, who reproduce churches, who reproduce networks all who impact the world.

Leadership Residencies

New Thing knows that reproducing successful leaders that are helping people find their way back to God through reproducing churches takes trained leaders who understand their values, their DNA and has time to experience leaders who are getting it done. So they have developed leadership residencies (like medical residences) 12 to 18 months in length to shadow and learn from New Thing Network pastors prior to launching their new church. Eric Metcalf spoke about how more and more church planting organization are coming to see the great benefit of church planters doing leadership residencies first and how the failure rate among churches where the lead guy went through a residency is substantial lower than those who do not. They know that a movement of reproducing churches cannot occur without more leaders being trained, they are seeing it makes the church planters residents serve under are better because the resident is there and with a much resources as it take to launch a new church it is more responsible for the church planter to participate in a residency program. Would you want a doctor fresh out of medical school operating and prescribing you medicine, no we know they go through residency programs to learn under great doctors and we to empower and offer opportunities to church planters for these kinds of leadership residencies.

I first heard about this small band of churches that were thinking about Christmas differently a few years back. This group had come together to rethink the modern day Christian response to December 25th, the day we celebrate Jesus Christ’s birth. What a novel concept I thought as I browsed through their website, intrigued, but at the not much else. Some thing sat with me since that time as I look around at “Christmas” spending, splurging and indebtedness that has come to be a regular part of the holidays and as is normal, the Christian way is the same as the non-Christian way. But for us that was about to change.

I have been fortunate enough to be changed by two short-term trips to Haiti that were way more beneficial to me that the Haitian people. Seeing extreme poverty up close and personal will not leave you the same person. Interacting with the people, learning about their culture and heritage and also seeing the destructiveness of greed and corruption had upon them as a people. Walking away I knew that my selfish, materialistic behaviors were not right and had to change. Honestly I still struggle with those demons most days as I click on the Charity Water picture of the day from my iPhone. But today hundreds of churches are banding together to as the book explains to “remain in the gospel of Jesus and worship Him- no matter how strongly the cultural demands of Christmas pull at us”. Calling God’s people to give relationally to those around us (family and friends) the gifts that really matter so we can send the money we spend on people who have most everything already, to those who need it for the basic needs, like clean water.

Advent Conspiracy is more than an idea, concept or book it’s a movement of Christ following people who are using a time of year set aside for receiving, to give like they see the example Jesus left for us through coming to earth that night and giving us what we could never have on our own, a relationship with God. If we allow the hustle and bustle of this time of year to distract us from it’s real meaning we have lost more than a month out of the year we have lost an opportunity share with others the whole reason Jesus came to earth in the form of a baby to unlikely parents, announced by angels to lowly shepards 2000 some odd years ago.

Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More and Love All

A few of my favorite quotes.

“Our worship has to be reborn. The wise men show us what happens when someone glimpses the true worthiness of Christ. We will travel around the world to meet Him, confront dominant world systems and give our King, our all.”

“What transformation would occur as God’s people moved across the globe loving Jesus with our time, attention and money?”

“We spend less at Christmas, except when we should spend more.”

Quoted of C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity, “There ought to be things we would like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditures exclude them.”

“The conscious giving of our time and presence to another is not a new concept, but a neglected one.”

“We cannot allow the broken and vulnerable to become invisible.”

“When God’s people serve the poor in humble, generous ways, the story of Jesus is told again and again. The poor in our world will be touched by God through how we choose to celebrate Christmas.”

“Clean water for every person in the world. That is our dream, and, yes it’s a big one.”

This is a must read for every person who longs to celebrate Christmas in meaningful and long lasting ways. Which is all of us, who have started a the new year after celebrating Christmas wishing it had be different and meant more.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/2

Have you seen the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently issued revised Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising to include blog posts, word of mouth campaigns and even twitter messages? Starting December 1st, 2009 all materials and/ or gifts received that we review need to be disclosed in a simple and straight forward way.

Enter CMP.ly.

CMP.ly is a website that offers four different disclosures that you can use to describe your relationship to the company or product that you are reviewing.

The bottom line for us Youth Ministry bloggers is that we like free stuff, we like give our two cents and most of us don’t have $11,000 dollars to give the FTC for not being in compliance. Figure out a compliance plan that works best for you and use it.

Posted via web from benboles’s posterous

The Word of Promise Next Generation New Testament MP3 Set is a great resource for any youth or children’s ministry but also for parents. This CD uses the voices of a Hollywood-level young cast (Cody Linley (Hanna Montana, Dancing with the Stars) as Jesus, AnnaSophia Robb (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) as Mary Magdalene, Jordin Sparks (American Idol Winner) as Elizabeth, Cobin Bleu (High School Musical) as Peter, Alyson Stoner (Cheaper by the Dozen) as Martha, and narrated by Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings) to bring to life the Gospel in a way that will resonate with children and teens.

One of passions is to help young people become followers of Christ. The younger we reach them and equip them with tools that will engage them the better chance we have of them staying focused on Christ through college and the years after. There are lots of ways for churches to use this CD in services, promotional videos, programs and discussions. Parents can use this CD in the home while the kids play in stead of watching TV, put on the kids ipod or other MP3 player, and playing it in the car. In either case this CD has the potential to raise the exposure to New Testament as a supplement to their time in the Bible. If exposure is our goal then this resource is it for kids and teenagers.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/2

If you take a step back and look at student ministry from the prospective of all the ways to impact your ministry you know how much stuff there is out there. Conferences (for you, you and your volunteers and the teens in your ministry), one day events, retreats, camps, missions and service project opportunities, books, magazines, curriculum and the likes. With all this stuff it is easy to create a monster of complexity that keeps students busy and changed on the surface. But ask yourself: how many teens that graduate from our ministries graduate from church in college or after? If you’re like me this question has plagued you from your first days in youth ministry.

The time has past, the stakes are too high in youth & children’s ministry to go on any long fooling ourselves that more is better. We must focus our ministries back on Matthew 28: 19-20 & Acts 2: 42-47, it’s time to get back to making disciples who not only know God but obey His Word.

In Simple Student Ministry Geiger & Borton have brought the importance of discipleship back to the forefront of student ministry in a encouraging, stretching and dare I say simple book that will knock your socks off and really convict you. Simple Student Ministry gives you the means of how to turn your ministry around and impact not only the lives of the students in your ministry now but the lives of their friends and your community. Simple Student Ministry isn’t another model or books telling you to do ministry the way they do, in fact the talk about lots of student ministries across the country in case studies and examples. It is going back to the call of the church to make disciples and helps you in your struggle through connecting with God to find the process for making disciples that best fits the context of your ministry environment. They work through the fact that the “process should be crystal clear (clarity) and move students to great levels of spiritual commitment (movement), all of your programs and leaders should be aligned (alignment) to the process God gives you and should leverage (focus) all your energy and resources on your discipleship process.”

Simply put this book brings us back to the early days of our dreaming when God called us to impact the lives of the teens He would put in our lives. I couldn’t stop underlining and writing notes in the margin, the authors write in such a way that allows you envision your ministry along the way. They have struggled through designing their own process and have great insight that will be so helpful with the transition from complex to simple. I really encourage to make this book a priority read for this summer and pray that the call to a simple process for making disciples will shape the future of you ministry that it has for me.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/2

You know when you read through a book you’ve read before and something jumps out at you that hasn’t before. I know I’m not alone, especially when reading the Bible. I’ve been reading Acts since Easter and trying to pay attention specifically to what was happening in and among the early church. As I got to Acts 9 and through Acts 11, the Holy Spirit made two verse jump out at me like never before.

Acts 9:31

Acts 11:23

To me it’s pretty clear what help spread the gospel in the first century: focus on God. Today (and no different in the past) we allow the busyness of our lives to clutter out God and we slow the growth of Kingdom, seeing fewer people transformed from the work of God in their lives and even fewer on mission and loading there squirt guns and charging the gates of hell (thanks Mark Driscoll).

I’m guilty of it.

I let the internet (twitter, facebook, blogs, and just surfing), books, and not getting enough sleep get in the way of quality time with God. I actually go through cycles of this where I do well and then fall off (or is the new saying “fail whale”). I’ve let myself become undisciplined in this and know that something has to be done.

I want to look back on my life and see that I didn’t remove the clutter of the unnecessary and neglect my relationship with God and miss out on opportunities to impact the people around me and those God has allowed me to minister to. I don’t want to miss out on connecting with God so that I miss opportunities to change my life and allow Him to continue to transform me into the man He has called me to be.

You couldn’t miss the Ashton Kutcher vs. CNN twitter race to 1,000,000 followers for a good cause. It was all over Twitter, CNN and digial billboards all across the country. While lots of money was raised for Malaria Nets for Africa some are questioning it’s effectiveness and whether or not this form of fundraising and giving is what the African continent needs. My good friend and Missions Innovator Tony Sheng twittered a link to a post on ProjectDiaspora.org about this very matter.

Celebrity stunts of altruism are killing livelihoods in Africa is an interesting article (as are the comments) to help us start thinking of better ways to use the money the God has blessed us with and find more helpful ways to bless others with (which of course was at least part of the idea of the race and what millions of others are doing each year regardless of any attention).

In the past I’ve given to organizations that give micro loans which is a great way to not only infuse money into poor area and to people who cannot get credit through traditional loans but is it also bring business education and accountability to people who have never been taught to make money work for them. Everybody, obviously has opinion, but getting educated about what ways are effectively making positive influences in 3rd World Countries but we also need to make sure that the organizations that we are supporting are being good stewards of the money entrusted to them. Take sometime to read the post linked above. Also spend some time reading International Development: lessons learned from ‘Women of Kireka’ project.

Then join the conversation! Let us know what you are doing in these areas and which ways you are finding to be most effective.

I’ve been learning (not a new way to lead) but a different approach to leadership from the business world and I’d like to share some it with you. We have all had experiences with or in leadership at different times in our lives. Some very positive others not so. Some with great vision and direction from the top but not implemented very well on our level. The other day I was reading a list of CEO’s first job, their current job and the advice for those working their first job where Herman Cain, CEO of consulting company The New Voice, said, “Don’t be picky. Experience is cumulative.”. That’s where I am at this point in my life and learning some new things and seeing it implemented differently than in other places in giving me some insight on leadership, work flow and systems that I’d like to share with you.

Great Leaders Serve
-You hear this a lot but rarely see it played out. Most of the time we are handed orders either in the form of job descriptions or memo’s in the form of to do lists but I’ve only been in a few places where the leaders were in the trenches getting wet and dirty with me. This has to change, no matter whether you are over volunteers, a committee or at the top of it all, we have get down and show we are as invested as we are asking them to be. Service minded leaders produce buy in, which leads to better work performance and efficiency, not to mention it’s humbling affect.

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
-Choosing to communicate clearly is more important than the task, idea or statement you are trying to get across. If it’s not communicated clearly chances are very high that what needs to be done won’t happen. Find ways to communicate clearly, communicate to leaders the expectations of clear communication down the line and make sure to talk about it frequently.

Performance Indicators
-Where I’m at now we have very bright performance indicators and the ability to track them daily. This is not as easy in every sector (whether business or ministry) but some guidelines for performance needs to be established and ways to track it so we can see if expectations are met or we are dropping the ball. Which leads to the next topic.

Right People in the Right Places
-One of the biggest lessons I’m learning right now is about having the right people in the right places. There are sophisticated methods to figure this out (Myers Briggs, DiSC, Church Planter Assessments, and the likes) or more low key methods like trial and error. For some error or failure is to big a risk and way to much is placed on assessments when they are not really needed, while in so cases, trial & error and failure are not big deals and while that’s ok, how much (productivity, profit, fill in the _______ ) was lost or burnout occurred because we didn’t have the right people in the right places. Finding a way to get your spots filled so that your expectations are met and the level of performance is reached requires leaders taking time to understand the jobs under them and what the right person looks like to fill that spot and then training them so that they know what needs to happen and what success in that position looks like. I recently talked with a guy who gave me this acrostic D.I.R.- demonstrate, imitate, and replicate. Finding the right person and training them is of highest importance.

Goal Sheets (glorified to do lists)
-So much talk goes on everyday in businesses, churches, on blogs, twitter and the likes about GETTING THINGS DONE. Whether you subscribe to David Allen’s philosophy about “Getting Things Done” or you have found a system that works for you, we know how important it is to know what needs to be done and have a way to get it out of our head and onto paper. I know it semantics but when I think of ToDo lists my mind and body is less enthused to get through them. But for some reason I have become more ok with calling them “Goal Sheets” (wheather daily, monthly, quartly or yearly). Maybe it’s the word “goal” as in something I want to achieve. Whatever you call them everyone in your organization needs to have them and understand what needs to be accomplished for you all to succeed.

Maintenance Schedules
-The idea of maintenance schedules may seem more mechanical in nature but if we were to start thinking of all the things that need to be done but slip through the cracks because we have no where else to put them a maintenance schedule begins to make sense. You need to restock your office supplies, renew your magazine or website subscriptions, clean and restock your Nursery Sign-In kiosk, whatever it is. Whatever maintenance needs to occur (mechanical or not) it could be put into this new category, place on a calendar and reviewed to make sure these like things do not fall through the cracks anymore.

These are just somethings I’m learning about leadership, leading, work flow and systems and I wanted to share them with you.

What are you learning about in these areas now? What do you have to share with us as we work at becoming better in these areas? Can you shed any light on what I was talking about to help me?

Come on and join the conversation!

A couple weeks back Mars Hill Church in Seattle was in a message series on 1 Peter and did two weeks on Peter’s teaching on the biblical call to wives and the next week husbands. I saw on Twitter all the buzz this sermon was making and had been look for some new resources on marriage (guys, we all need to look for ways to be better husbands and dads for that matter).

First off the scripture:

1 Peter 3:7 “Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.”

Now I want to share this with you not only as a resource for yourself and your marriage or future marriage (though not marring isn’t a bad thing) but also as a resource to pass along to your friends who may also need to hear this. But it comes with a few warnings. This massage isn’t for the faint of heart. Not only does he touch on verbal and physical abuse in marriage but he yells a lot and it escalates through to the end of it where he gets really angry.

These notes are from the Mars Hill Church Blog:

Your father: Adam (Genesis 1–3)
-Marriage is a covenant (Prov. 2:16; Mal. 2:14).
-Men are the covenant head, responsible for their wife and family (Genesis 2:18; 5:2; 1 Cor. 11:2–16, 14:33–34; Eph. 5:21–33; Col. 3:18; Titus 2:3–5; 1 Pet. 3:1).
-Adam and Eve both sinned, both are at fault, and both are cursed, but God held Adam responsible (Gen. 3:9).
-Marriage is cursed (Gen. 3:16). Work is cursed (Gen. 3:17–19). Jesus is the only hope (Gen. 3:15).

Your Manhood
Like Adam, the sins of men fall into two general categories: sins of comission (doing what you’re not supposed to do) and sins of omission (not doing what you’re supposed to do). This leads chauvinistic or cowardly tendencies:

Chauvinism
-No Sissy Stuff Sam: whatever women do, do the opposite
-Success and Status Stewart: masculinity = material success
-Give’em Hell Hank: angry and abusive
-I’m the Boss Bob: domineering and controlling; in authority, not under authority

Cowardice
-Little Boy Larry: never grew up, disorganized, lives with his mother, etc.
-Sturdy Oak Owen: absolutely dependable but emotionally absent
-Hyper-Spiritual Henry: Hides behind religious behavior and “God talk.” Talks at you but not to you.
-Good Time Gary: irresponsible life of the party

Your Savior: Jesus Christ (the Last Adam, 1 Cor. 15:45)
Ephesians 5:25 calls men to love their wives as Christ loves the Church. Men are not ready to be good husbands until they are a part of the Church and understand how Christ loves the Church by taking responsibility for her and sacrificing himself for her.

The essence of true masculinity is taking responsibility.

Your Wife
Understand that a wife’s fears (1 Pet. 3:6) are legitimate; men dominate the lives of women and children, for good or for evil. Honor your wife:

-Honor her maritally. Take a wife honorably. Establish right priorities, and be a one woman man–absolutely faithful to your wife.
-Honor her physically. Be strong for your wife, not against her. Be protective of her and present with her.
-Honor her emotionally. Be emotionally present and intimate. Take her on dates.
-Honor her verbally. Speak honorably to her. Speak honorably of her, when she is present and absent.
-Honor her financially. Provide for the financial needs of your family, organize your budget, and be generous towards your wife.
-Honor her practically. Consider her needs and how you can serve her.
-Honor her parentally. Be “Pastor Dad” by shepherding your children (praying with them, teaching them about Jesus, reading the Bible with them, etc.).
-Honor her spiritually. You initiate and lead prayer, Bible, chats, church attendance, etc. Take responsibility for your church.

What happens when you fail to honor your wife? God ignores you (1 Pet. 3:7). Repent.

Further Study:
Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood by Wayne Grudem and John Piper
God, Marriage, and the Family by Andreas Kostenberger
New Men, Soft Patriarchs: How Christianity Shapes Fathers and Husbands by W. Bradford Wilcox

//end of MHC notes

I really appreciated this message and apologized to God and my wife for areas where I have not been the husband I am called to be.

You can download the message here.

I have been really convicted lately that we as church leaders are not (and our thoughts on our blogs don’t count) providing enough resources for those under our care. Not that we need to over load them but we need to be recommending books, articles, podcast and blog posts.

What do you think?