Recent Articles
second site, plant or second service?
Feb 26, 2010 Uncategorized 3 Comments
…if discipleship and leadership development are core functions of the church…we’re slowly coming to the realization that a second site or church plant might have greater potential to perpetuate those basic church building blocks. in my experience of multiplying services (i’ve added five in my church leadership life) it seems clear that more more than half of the “new” load falls on “old” volunteers and leaders. in other words, added services typically results in added loads rather than distributed loads. whereas a plant or second site require new roles to be filled resulting in old roles being vacated and back-filled. i can get pretty excited, pretty quick, thinking about outlining 50 new leadership roles and 100 new volunteer roles for a plant/second site for people to step up and in to… those new servants would all spend 6 to 12 months being trained and developed by existing servants, leaders and staff, while recruiting and training new servants to fill the vacated spots. your thoughts? stay tuned for the next blog…”second site or church plant?”
4o days kick-off…
Feb 23, 2010 Uncategorized 1 Comment
Well, we’re officially off and running. The clock is counting down… T minus 39 days until the big celebration – Easter! And for those of you that have accepted the challenge, the Inward Journey has begun. Here are some of the resources we’ve suggested. For those of you that picked up Willard’s Spirit of the Disciplines and are looking for a daily read, I’d suggest a few pages each day from Chapter 9 to start – that is where he outlines some of the disciplines. For those of you still considering a daily devotional…you cannot fail with Oswald Chambers‘.
One final warning and encouragement: Expect to be opposed. When you decide, in any discipline, to step up there is an opposing force ready to knock you down…to keep you from the goal. In this case, to keep yo from knowing Jesus more. Truth be told, we’ve all thought things and done things that, maybe rightly so, should keep us from God, but Paul reminds us, “...that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.” What separates you from the love of God? Nothing. What?? Nothing. Enjoy his mercy as you spend time with him this week…
the inward journey and free throws
Feb 17, 2010 Uncategorized 1 Comment
One of our Vista elders, Paul, encouraged and reminded us of our identity in Christ using and excerpt from one of Tam’s books. I thought it served not only as a great reminder, but also as a good intro to some of what we hope for on our Inward Journey over the next 40 days…
“Just like basketball players must practice free throws over and over daily in order for them to become the most natural motion they possess on the court, we, too must wake up daily and have these foul shots of faith in our consciousness. Think of how much different each day would go for you if you held these truths right in front of your face every minute – that you are loved without regard for your performance, totally forgiven, wrapped up in the faithfulness of a God who won’t ever let you go, and given undeserved gifts and privileges. It’s not hard to see how our daily interactions are radically different when we build the rest of the life upon this foundation.”
“Which one of the four free throws of faith is the most challenging for you to hold onto?
- God is unconditionally loving.
- God is always faithful.
- God gives complete forgiveness.
- God is full of grace and mercy.”
“Holding onto such life–altering truth with fervor is enough to bring healing to our lives. However, we are also brought deeper into God’s restorative process when we rest our identity solely on God. So often, we look for our definition of who we are in other people, in circumstances, in possessions, and in performance, wondering why we feel so out of sorts so often.”
“If you recall reading the children’s book Are You My Mother?, you remember that the little birdie is roving around, desperately asking everyone and everything if it is his mother. From a cow to a crane in a junkyard, the poor tiny thing is never at rest until it finally encounters the one who birthed him. It’s the same with us. Until we rest our identity squarely on what the one who created us says we are, we will simply be on a fruitless search, constantly discomfited by our lack of security.”
(Soul Healing Forever, An Interactive Study Guide for Life Change in Christ, Tammy Smith, PhD, p. 23, 2009)
