How To look Good Naked, pt. 1

This week I feel like Connections has made another step forward. In the fall we were figuring things out. In January we focused on just getting services put together each week. This week we really started to PREPARE for our upcoming series.

Now I want you to know this is no small feat.
For one, I have the administrative skills of a mollusk. Getting things done with a staff is easy. Show up Monday morning, go over the plans, dream a little, get things done.

But Connections is 100% volunteer driven.

• Music- volunteers
• Media- volunteers
• Everything-volunteers

So on my part, the planning and putting together of a service the way we like to see it done is both frustrating and exhilarating.
Frustrating because we can just get the team together. It seems like endless calls, emails, and mini-meetings.
But it's so exhilarating because each week people passionately do what needs to be done. It is awesome to be a part of seeing it unfold.

This week I've watched things unfold- creativity in planning this series that one person just can't achieve- song ideas, video clips, dramas, improvements for our lighting and staging.

I'm so pumped about what God s going to do through this series. It's going to be beautiful...

Resolutions Worth Keeping: Know Jesus

January 27, 2008

...there is one aspect of resolutions that we haven’t addressed. And interestingly it’s the most obvious one. Missing the forest for the trees so to speak. At the heart of this word, of this whole concept of “resolution” is the search for a solution. To rediscover the solution to a problem. Going back again to some of the top ten resolutions that people make in North America- folks realize that being distant from family, smoking, drinking too much, over eating, and others things are problems. If you don’t get any exercise, that’s a problem. A resolution is simply a search for the solution to the problem. And most of the solutions are really very obvious- it really becomes a matter of application.

Simply put, today we are going straight to the Solution. That is, the capital “S” solution. The big solution to all the big problems. We are going straight to the answer to basically all the questions, and the dilemmas, all the issues we face in this world, in our lives.

Read the rest of the sermon here.

Resolutions Worth Keeping: Speak Well

...Our failure to keep resolutions, I’ve been arguing all along, doesn’t change the fact that nearly everyone makes and needs new resolutions. There is nearly a universal recognition that our lives are not perfect, that there are things we can improve, that there are goals we’d like to reach. In fact, we generally have a name for folks who think they have arrived at perfection, who think they have it all figured out, who think it’s their job to change everybody else, that they are God’s gift to the world- preachers. No really, we’d call that person delusional or narcissistic. These are folks that are so out of touch with their life that they can’t see room for growth and goals, or they are so in love with themselves that they think there’s no need to change and grow.

But for the rest of us, all of us who need resolve to grow and reach goals in life- for our families, our work, our hobbies, our golf game, whatever- are there any practical ways to beat the odds of failure? According to Richard Koestner, the odds aren’t in our favor (depressing, I know). Koestner, a researcher at McGill University who specializes in goal-setting and self-regulation, told CTV that people almost can't help but fail to keep resolutions because of three things:

Read the rest of the sermon here.

What Building?

I'm surprised how many times I've already been asked, "What are your plans for a permanent location?" I always want to answer with some hyper-Christian answer like, "Only when Jesus returns to establish the new heavens and new earth will we have a permanent facility!"

Luckily I still have enough of a social filter to resist this urge.
Unfortunately it means I stand there with a bit of a dumb look on my face.

What is most interesting is that this question comes from both "churched" and "unchurched" people. I expect this from churched folks- we've been conditioned to associate the church with a building and the programs that run out of it. We know in our heads, because we've been taught, that the church is much more mysterious than that- she is the bride of Christ, the gathering of the redeemed which cuts across space and time, she is the mission of God to a broken world. But for all practical purposes the church becomes the building and the thing we do Sunday morning. (FYI, the Sunday morning thing is worship, which itself should not be limited to one hour Sunday morning.)

What is a little more surprising to me is how folks that haven't spent much time with a church assume we have immediate plans to build. On one hand this is flattering. Apparently Connections already comes across, at some level, as a large enough, mature enough, active enough, resourced enough group of people that we should have a building. At least this is how I choose to interpret that question. It also tells me that the world too closely associates the church with our buildings.

Now I'm not knocking buildings. But I'm very happy to be at a time and place with Connections where our building, or lack-there-of, is equally as significant in communicating who we are and what we are about...

We are about going to where the people are- so we worship in a theatre. We are about people- so we gather in their homes. We are about community- so I meet with people at Starbucks more than my office.

Right now NOT having a facility, not even talking about having a facility, is essential to who we are and what we want to be. And right now, and always, we are foremost a mission to those who are far from God. We don't need a facility to do that. In fact, it would be a distraction.

Will we ever need a facility? I absolutely hope and pray that the time comes when we have to have an awesome, amazing, multi-functional venue of our own. But even when that day comes I pray we are still, at the heart of it, a mission to the lost.

________________

If you want to read more about facities, this is from a blog I read often...

When does the “church plant” meeting in a portable location make the jump to a permanent facility? Is there a certain attendance or financial goal that you have to reach before you “get your own place”?

I’m no expert but we’ve tried to learn from other churches that have made the transition both successfully and unsuccessfully. Unfortunately, I haven’t found any secret formula for transitioning to a permanent facility. But I can tell you the top priorities that drive Elevation Church’s decisions on facilities (in order of importance) and some important questions to ask yourself:

1. Vision- How big is your vision? It all starts here. It sounds basic but this drives the rest of the factors for us.
2. Goals- How big are your goals? Numeric goals, for us, drive the direction we look for facilities.
3. Density- How dense is the area you are looking at? How many current attendees are in that area?
4. Capacity- Pastor teaches this all the time. God is an unlimited God whose blessing never runs out. Our capacity to receive that blessing is the limiting factor. We love full rooms at Elevation but the goal is to have (some) empty seats. Empty seats means we have more capacity to reach people. Our facility decisions on adding capacity.
5. Access- You can only reach as many people on Sundays that can access your building at a given time. This requires some forward thinking. This is also a lot of the reason why a lot of churches do multi-site.
6. Money- Probably number one on a lot of church’s lists.

In the end, if money is the number one factor driving our facility decisions then I’ve just cut myself out of finding anything with good access in a dense location near our current attendees with more capacity to meet the goals that the vision drives. And I’ve also limited God from being able to do what only he can do.

Making the shift to a “permanent” location is a complicated process. Multiple campus strategies make it even more confusing. But I love it, I love thinking about it, and I love researching what’s out there. And if we don’t continue to factor in the above priorities and make facility changes, then we will stop growing which is not an option.

Gone Skiing

Our service this was awesome, again.
Everything came together great.
We may soon catch our stride.
We had more than 150 at the theatre.
The band kicked.
Two of our regulars brought some friends and they said the message was exactly what they needed to here- and that they'll be back!
God is good.

But it's winter.
I'm in Canada.
I'm going skiing!

This is by far the flattest part of the world I've ever lived in. Why didn't somebody tell me not all of Canada looks like the picture above? I guess I could have looked on a map.

It takes 3 hours to get to the first descent mountain around here, so it's kind of crazy to go for a day or evening, which I used to love doing.
So when I got the invitation to go for two days, I couldn't resist.

Pray for snow, pray for it to warm up a bit (-17 today, ouch), pray for Tim because when I ski, it's all business! He has no idea.

Resolutions Worth Keeping

Did I forget to publish this? I can't remember.
Anyways, thanks again to Ben and Jen for helping add some little extras to the service.

Path to Connecting

"Growth is often not an attraction issue- it's a connecting issue."

~ some guy I was talking to, I think Rob

When Rob said this it hit me renewed conviction for our mission. If we faithfully work to create a culture where people connect with God, with others, with the world, then attracting people to our church will not be an issue.
If we do this, we'll be fighting to keep up with the pace of growth!

I meet with a couple this week who reiterated this vision. We kept laughing at how many times the word connection came up in our discussion of what we want in our church, in our lives, in our families, in our community.

So, going back to my conversation with the guys on Tuesday, what are some lessons we've learned about getting folks connected (when I say we I mean "they"):
1. You have 9 months. Statistically folks will visit for up to 9 months, but if in that time they don't move to the next level of connection, they will drift away.
2. Create a starting point, or first step, or something "101" to give people a place to connect. Some one time gathering, that is itself a first step of connection, but very clearly lays out the path for continuing commitment to the church.
3. Do something Sunday morning. The folks you're attracting are already there- seize the moment.
4. Get their contact information.
5. Then contact them! Follow-up with everyone who actually volunteers their information is crucial. They are essentially opening the door.
6. "Shoulder tapping." Few things are as powerful as feeling wanted. To tap someone on the should, ask for their help, invite them to lunch, offer them a coffee, is a very "connecting" moment for people.

I just thought those ideas were worth sharing.
Tomorrow- the path of growth.

Path to Maturity

Yesterday I spent most of the day meeting with other pastors of new and growing churches.
First, it was an honor to be invited. With two weeks under our belt I was obviously the new guy. But the guys seemed to recognize that God is doing something with Connections.

We shared a lot about our stories- there is tons of wisdom in simply soaking up others experience. Then we had a brief discussion on leading our churches on path of maturity. I've read probably dozens of books and articles on the topic, but the discussion yesterday seemed refreshingly simply and insightful.

ENGAGING > CONNECTING > GROWING

That's what growing churches try to do.
So here's where we're at: statistically people will stick around a church as a visitor for 9 months. If they don't get connected in that period, they will drift off.

This means we have 81/2 months to get people connected! It turns out that this fits in exactly with our plan to formally launch our Connections (Home) Groups in the Fall of 2008. This also means that we can focus on Engaging for this season.

Our discussion lead to one definitive conclusion:
Nothing beats Word Of Mouth (WOM) to engage and attract people to church.
That said, there are some things we can do to try and promote our WOM factor:

1. Life-Change Stories. We have a few of these already. We've shared some in church, we've shared more in small groups. If you have a life-change story through Connections, we want to know, and with your permission, we want to celebrate!
2. Cool-Church Stories. All I can say here is that I think our church isn't just cool, but the coolest church ever! We meet in a theatre, the coffee is great, we give out popcorn. One guy came up to me after a service and said, "Any church that plays Linkin Park is the church for me!" How cool is that!
3. Advertising. This is a mystery, but just getting the word out that your church exists does create WOM. To this end we are hoping to create video spots that will actually be shown in the theatre before movies run.
4. Special Sundays. Two weeks in every service seems special. We celebrated our first service with an awesome lunch. We have a first communion service in the works. People have already asked about baptism. There will be special Sundays.
5. Program Buzz. Here we have nothing. The buzz is that we actually have a service going! Praise God.

Tomorrow- the path of Connecting.

Resolutions Worth Keeping: Stay Pure

January 13, 2008

Today we move to the next resolution worth every one of us keeping- STAY PURE. What we are going to discover is that this follows naturally on the heels of the first resolution- Seek God. In order for us to seek God with all of our heart, we must have a pure heart- a heart purely set on the things of God. And what we’ll discover is two things. First is the purity that can come only as a gift from God- the purity of freedom and salvation. Then second, the strength that comes from God to pursue purity in all areas of our lives. To receive the gift of purity, then to pursue purity...

Read the rest of the sermon here.

My Christmas

A picture is worth a thousand words.
My wife takes about a thousand pictures a day.
Just for fun, you can see our Christmas photos here.
My wife is awesome.

My Prayer Journey

Last week we quietly promoted a prayer vigil.*
"Quietly" because we didn't plan it too far in advance, so we just made the announcement, sent out the email, and signed folks up.

Which is OK. Prayer is one of those things that you don't really want to "sell."
You make the invitation, and see how folks respond. You encourage people, but you really can't twist their arm.

So last week I started praying at 6:33am each morning.
But I did one other thing- I went to the theatre to pray.
To my surprise I found out they opened the mall at 6:30am for walkers.

So there I was in the mornings, prayer-walking with the regulars at the Masonville Mall.
I brought down the average age by at least 30 years.

It was wonderful and awful...

Wonderful to march around the mall, feeling like mighty Joshua, praying the walls of separation fall down. I prayed that the masses would come to our service, meet Jesus, and experience changed lives in 2008.

But it was awfully hard. Is it OK to tell you that my mind tends to drift when I walk by lingerie shops, even when I'm praying? Or even more distracting for me, walking by the sports shop and seeing all the ski and snowboards on sale- very tempting. So tempting I did in fact buy new skis :)

If it's hard to pray in the mall when you go to the mall to pray, before the mall is open, how much harder to speak and listen to God when you go to shop, to eat, to see a movie? The environment of the mall is not designed for reflection and communion with God. It's set up for consumerism, and they do a fine job of it.

We've chosen a community hub to hold our worship service. If we can get them there on a Sunday, into the theatre, I know we can give them something the world can't- meaning, purpose, salvation, life, Jesus. The thing is going to be getting them past the distractions. This will only happen in the other 167 hours of the week.
_____

*We based our week of prayer on Matthew 6:33...

"Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

The things we are asking to be given in 2008...

• Growth- Fill the theatre 2x's over (that will require about 600 people)
• Volunteers- over 100 in rotation on our teams
• Connections Groups- a formal launch with over 200 participants in the Fall
• Commitments- 52 commitments to Christ, one for every week of the year

Resolutions Worth Keeping: Seek God

January 6, 2008

Here are the top ten resolutions in North America. See if you match up with any of these:

10. Get Organized
9. Help Others
8. Learn something new
7. Get out of Debt
6. Quit Drinking
5. Enjoy Life More
4. Quit Smoking
3. Lose Weight
2. Get Fit
1. Spend more time with Family

I find that list encouraging for the most part- all relatively good stuff. However, it’s sad that people get into such bad habits so that they must make resolutions to start good habits like spending time with family or getting in shape. Of course, it’s even sadder that most folks will break their resolutions before winter is over. Statistically, as we are nearly a week into January, a quarter of all New Year’s resolution have been broken or forgotten, more than half after three months. I saw this cartoon in Reader’s Digest the other day. Don’t ask why I was reading Readers Digest- I’m not retired yet.

Read the rest of the sermon here

"Resolutions Worth Keeping" Series Promo

A special thanks to Ben and Jen for putting this together. We had a blast talking to folks and inviting them to Connections. Getting a little video clip to use in the worship service was icing!

Just Ask

We meet for worship in a really cool theatre.
A really costly one.
$600 a service.

We paid the bills for our preview services and tried to make a good impression.

They sent us the 2008 contract to review.
Yesterday I wrote back, asking to discuss a proposition:

We'd sure like to pay less- how about $500 a week?

The rep wrote back today... said that sounded reasonable.
(I immediately thought of those Staples commercials with the "Easy" button.)

"Ask and you shall receive..." Jesus once said.

May this be the encouragement we all need to simply ask...

• Ask for the favor
• Ask for the gift
• Ask someone to come to worship with you
• Ask someone if they'd like to know Jesus

Just give them the opportunity.
They may say, "Sure."

Keeping Resolutions- Bible Reading Plans

Here's the first of several helps in keeping my resolutions...reading the Bible.
Nurturing the life of faith doesn't get any more fundamental than this. The simple discipline of reading scripture and praying. This is how a daily connection with God begins. So here are some great resources that I've used.

1. A Student Bible. They have numerous reading plans built in- one year plan, three year plan, and many two-week topical reading plans.

2. Online. You can't beat BibleGateway.com. This site has 4 different plans, numerous versions, and is very user-freindly in a nice layout.

3. Email. There are many ways to have your Bible reading plan emailed daily, or part of Google's Reader program. One very easy one is BiblePlan. You can pick several plans, versions, even languages.

NOTE: in regard to which of the many translations to pick from, here's my 2-cents: I've read the New International Version (NIV) for years. It's the classic "dynamic equivalent" translation. I have recently updated to the "Today's NIV" (TNIV), almost the same, but with a few nice changes in light of recent textual work.
As for a paraphrase, the new standard is "The Message." This makes the reading the bible like reading a novel.
Advantage- easy and fun to read.
Disadvantage- hard to memorize and remember locations of important passages.
Both of these versions are available at BibleGateway and BiblePlan.

4. Printed Reading Plan. Many options available. NAVPRESS has some good ones that come in trifold format which I like.

5. Finally, another option is to come to worship this Sunday and pick up a plan from our resource table! Stick it in the Bible you have and read away!

BONUS SECTION: Tips for reading the Bible from George.
1. Read a Gospel: Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. You can't beat the life of Jesus! Just keep reading about Him.
2. Read Romans: Martin Luther read it everyday. I don't, but I do read it a lot!
3. Read Proverbs: 31 chapters, 31 days in a month. Read a chapter a day each month. Billy Graham does this.
4. Read the Psalms. Many bible plans make a daily Psalm a part of the discipline, which is the perfect way to lead into prayer.

Now get into the Word of God! Blessed reading.

My Resolutions

I've been thinking about our sermon series starting this Sunday,

Resolutions Worth Keeping

I'll have a lot more to say for Sunday and the coming weeks, but for now, I want to be sure that this series starts with me- what are my resolutions?

Resolution is simply defined as

a "firm"decision to do or not do something.

Resolutions seem to have a bad rap these days. Perhaps I'm overly sensitive to the hype, but people seem to be making a point of not resolving anything. I guess our culture has a hard time making firm and lasting decisions.

I've decided that I'm not perfect, that I still want to grow, that I want to set goals for my life, my family and "my" church (it's Jesus' church, but he called me to be the pastor). The beginning of a new year is as great a place to take an inventory of my life and make some changes/decisions.
But I do understand the frustration of making outrageous or impossible goals, not achieving them, getting discouraged, and the downward spiral begins. I've certainly not kept or reached every resolutions I've ever made.
I still bite my fingernails.
I still struggle with budgeting money to the level I think God calls me.

So here we go. I have few categories, not because I like to compartmentalize my life, but because it does need some ordering for purely practical reasons.

Personal Resolutions:
1. Stop biting my fingernails (it will take a village)
2. Compete in an Olympic distance triathlon or marathon.

Family Resolutions:
1. Get on a budget (Not just tithing, saving and spending frugally, which has kept us out of debt, but actually spending on a budget so we can enjoy money more.)
2. Take each family member out for a "retreat"- Eden, Karis, Justin and Robin. I'm thinking of a night away camping or to an event that they would uniquely love. (While this may mean seeing High School Musical on Ice or something like that with Eden, it will also mean taking Justin to a Monster Truck Jam or something else that's awesome!)

"Spiritual" Resolutions:
1. Read through the Bible. I did this two years ago, then got sloppy this past year.
2. Monthly Prayer and Spiritual Reflection Retreats. I like being with my family too much to go for extended periods away. But a day each month, a night or two thrown in on occasion. This isn't for me personally, but primarily as the pastor of a new church. I need to guard this time to build into my relationship with God to be the leader He wants me to be.

Professional Resolutions:
I listed them before- but they bear repeating- 5 in all, one for each finger to remember in prayer. If we surpass them all, to God be the Glory. If we fall short, let us seriously evaluate our level of commitment to this mission...

1. Filling the 350 seat theatre this Winter/Spring.
2. 100 volunteers for our Ministry Teams: FAST, FIT, Family, Worship and Media.
3. Launching our Connections Groups with 200 participants Fall 2008.
4. Growing to two services (or two theatres) before Christmas 2008.
5. 52 decisions to follow Jesus (one for every week of the year).