Category: People

LEFTOVERS – Tuesday April 22ND 2008 – Thursday April 24TH 2008

1.  This is the 4TH and probably final edition of the ‘Tossed Salad’ from the Exponential Conference in Orlando this past week. It’s the ‘Leftovers’ edition where I highlight the top items and events that didn’t get covered in the first three editions – such as the brilliant 2|42 Community Church band that was the house band throughout the conference. The’re based out of Brighton Michigan (in the southeast portion of the state). I actually thought that ‘242’ was the area code that they were from. Not so. I should’ve known that ‘242’ is the area code for The Bahamas !  Acts 2:42 (NLT, 2ND Ed.) states as follows:  ‘All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.’

2.  In order for existing churches to be exponential and give birth to new churches there needs to be an active movement of disciples within the parent church as well as the child church. ‘NO’ / ‘GO’ / ‘EGO’ – You’ve got to say ‘NO’ when it is appropriate. When the answer is not ‘NO’ then get to it and ‘GO’. Do it with ‘NO EGO’. Philippians 2:5 states as follows:  ‘You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.’

3.  The residents of the surrounding neighbourhood and city and region of your church may freely attend your community events, but don’t expect them to all flock to your Sunday morning services en masse. Get your name out there. Get your face out there. Get your mission out there. Make sure that the community knows who you are and what you are all about. Your neighbours are more likely to check out your church if not sooner then later. Be patient, and let God recruit the unchurched in His time. They will come when they are ready.

4.  Rick Warren (author of ‘The Purpose Driven Life’) was the final speaker at the conference. Here are some miscellaneous takeaway statements from his session:

• God wants you to be you.
• Never compare yourself to anyone else.
• Never stop growing personally.
• Never stop creating new leaders and disciples within your church.
• A mature church is like an old oak tree and unlike mushrooms after showers. It takes years to get mature and healthy.
• Don’t allow an environment that is conducive of having your leaders flame out on you.
• Compliments and criticisms are there, but don’t put too much faith in them. We all serve Him. He owns our hearts.
• Build your family before you build your church.
• Love all believers. That’s what Heaven will be like.
• Jesus Christ is the King of the Kingdom of God.
• Focus on building people rather than churches.
• Churches should not be personality driven – but purpose driven.
• Don’t have huge eyes and a big mouth but tiny arms, hands, legs, and feet.

5.  At this time I am publicly thanking Pastor Travis and Pastor Paul for giving me this opportunity to spend 3 days with them and the rest of the staff and their families in Orlando to attend this fantastic conference of information, education, praise, worship, and fellowship. I’ve been to Orlando many times over the past 15 years, but I can honestly state that this was the most memorable and enjoyable of them all. I am so truly honoured to be part of the Life Pointe Church leadership team. The next adventure of a lifetime is just around the corner, and I am there alongside with you guys and gals. You can count on me to serve Our Lord Almighty enthusiastically.

DAY 3 – Thursday April 24TH 2008

1.  I attended Larry Osborne‘s session entitled ‘How To Grow A Church And Still Have A Life’. This guy was a fantastic speaker. I could have listened to him speak for hours on end. He spoke on the ‘sticky church’. In fact he’s got a book coming out later this year titled ‘Sticky Church‘. It’s all about slamming that back door (of the church) shut. It’s easy to get people in to church, but the goal is to keep them from leaving the church.

2.  It’s all about assimilation. It’s all about getting sticky relationships going within the church. It’s easy to withdraw from a program. It’s hard to leave a relationship. Churches should be relationship-driven ministries rather than program-driven ministries. Pastors are less needed and can concentrate on more important duties within the church when sticky relationships are at work. Acquaintances are not significant relationships. On Sunday mornings we meet a lot of acquaintances that we see on a regular basis, and we may know some of their names too. But unless we spend quality time with each other away from the corporate meeting of the church family on any given Sunday morning then it is not particularly relevant. A small group that meets sometime during the week builds and maintains those sticky relationships. Small groups effectively close that back door of the church.

3.  Patrick Dennis from Fairfax County Virginia (my original hometown county) spoke on ‘Branding, Marketing, And The Church – A Primer For Church Planters’. He is the President of Church Marketing Solutions. A personal invitation to our friends is by far the most effective means there is to get them to come to church with us. But there is some tough competition out there on Sunday mornings – such as the MASSIVE Sunday big city newspaper, ‘Meet The Press’ and ‘Face The Nation’ on TV, DVDs, and even sleeping off that hangover caused by that long Saturday night of partying. Churches should NEVER EVER compete against each other. If your marketing tools are sending unchurched people to church for the first time – but it’s not your church – then Praise The Lord !  It’s all about Jesus Christ and populating His Kingdom – not your specific church.

4.  Churches need to arm their guests, attenders, members, and leaders with effective marketing tools so that they can invite their friends and neighbours in unique and innovative ways. The marketing tools need to be authentic, realistic, surprising, strategic, and consistent. It all needs to be excellent and professional because you are representing the Kingdom with your advertising on behalf of Him. Every church has its own unique personality. If your church has decided to market itself as ‘that funny church’ then be funny in your ads and include responsible humour within all of your Sunday services. If you are ‘that church that ROCKS’ then be sure that it really does on Sunday morning. Don’t promise something on paper and then not deliver the goods. Don’t try to be ‘the everything church’.

5.  Tim Keller is the Founder and Lead Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan New York City. This guy was so intellectual mesmerizing that I wrote very few notes down while he spoke, so let me just leave you with this Scripture from 1 Corinthians 22-25 (NLT, 2ND Ed.):
22  It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom.
23  So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.
24  But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25  This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.

DAY 2 – Wednesday April 23RD 2008

1.  The First Baptist Church Orlando is laid out like a college campus – or at least my personal depiction of what a college campus would look like. I never attended college, so during these three days at the Exponential Conference I got to be the college kid that I never was as I walked to and from sessions in classrooms and portable buildings carrying books, folders, pens, and paper. As the ‘Professors’ talked I listened intently and took lots of notes, and when it was time for all of us to meet assembly-style en masse we all did so in the big auditorium. That’s right – for three days I felt like a 41-year-old college kid !  😎

2.  Dave Olson was my Professor for 3 hours today. He’s the Director of ‘The American Church Research Project‘, and he wrote the book ‘The American Church In Crisis‘. Dave highlighted a lot of negatively-trending statistics. On a typical weekend in 2006 only about 17% of adult Americans attended a church service. That percentage is expected to continue to drop ever so slightly (just as it has for the past 50 years), and it could be in the 14% to 15% range a decade from now. Overall church attendance (in raw numbers) is pretty much exactly the same as it was 15 years ago despite the fact that there are more than 50 million new U.S. residents today than there were back then.

3.  Small churches (less than 50 attenders) and large churches (more than 2,000 attenders) appear to be growing just fine (or at least keeping up with population growth). It’s the mid-size churches that appear to be declining and even dying. 1% of churches close annually. That’s about 3,700 churches that cease to operate every year. At the same time about 4,000 new churches are born every year, so that’s a net gain of about 300 churches every year. Older Pastors tend to attract older attenders. These are the churches that are typically in decline, as there is no biological growth (new babies in the family), there is little to no conversion growth (people being saved), and they are not birthing any new churches because they are very set in their old-fashioned ways. They tend to be older than the surrounding community that they are supposed to serve. They tend to be more closed than open to the general public.

4.  Is the American church an endangered species that is headed towards extinction ?  If you look at what it was during its peak in the mid-1950s versus what it is now then perhaps you may think that is the case. The church (in general) needs to figure out what century and what decade it is living in. ‘Where Are The People ?’ A slightly positive trend has developed since the catastrophic life-changing events of Tuesday September 11TH 2001. The bleeding may have stopped, and overall attendance appears to be headed back in a slightly positive direction. But a lot of churches are stubborn. They refuse to adapt and change with the times. The times are changing. Churches need to change the way that they do business in order to be alive and relevant.

5.  C3 Church in Orlando put on a really nice presentation for us at the Cinemark movie theatres at Festival Bay on International Drive. This is actually not where they set up their church every Sunday morning, but on this night they set up three theatres there to show us what church looks like in a typical movie theatre setting. They had a lot of nice features, gadgets, and storage units with their setup, but they also spent a lot of money for it all. The C3 ‘Praise & Worship’ band played on the main stage, and complimentary dinner and a movie was provided during and after the presentation. I think if I ever find myself in Orlando on a Sunday morning then I may just have to check out one of their church services and compare their movie theatre environment with our movie theatre environment at Life Pointe Church.

6.  One last notable item of interest here. I met up with this cool guy during Lunch on this day. I personally thanked him for what he did for me. When he was at Life Pointe Church back in early-March as a special guest speaker he did an assessment of our church and reported to Travis and Paul that I was being underutilized as a leader. Travis and Paul then delegated their authority and gave me a whole bunch of work to do every week. I was given the amusing title of ‘Director Of Cool’, and I was put in charge of the assimilation process at our church. Yes – It is a lot of work every week, but this work is God’s work. He put me in this place at this time to do this work, and there’s no denying Him. I serve Him enthusiastically.