Great Question

Jesus Made Me Do It

This entry are notes I took from a Main Session with Alan Hirsh entitled, Jesus made me do it. This may have been one of my favorite break out sessions. God really spoke to my heart through Alan's words. I want to go and read and reread the gospels. I want to get back to sharing Jesus and his life with people.

We have to become like Jesus. To become like a disciple is to become like Jesus.

Sinners love Jesus. Sinners didn't like Christian (ie Pharisees), but they loved Jesus. He was a friend of the outcast. The gift of Persecution on the church forces the people to find the true message. They discover their message. Simple Idea –That Jesus is Lord.

All great ideas spread like fire. This is how the N.T. spread. A simple message can spread fast.
Movements that changed the world did so very fast. The Jesus movement has to be completely focused on Christ.

Christianity minus Christ equals religion
Jesus becomes the doorway.
How do you start a people movement in the U.S.? We have to find our simple message!

If you ask anyone in the west who is the most important person-
Jesus will come up in the top three. He was the greatest person who ever lived.

At any point in the life of a church when we lose our way –and we need to find ourselves, where do we go to find the way-Jesus. Christology lies at the heart of the church. The door of the 21st century has to go back to Christ.

The church must do this on regular basis –we have to go back to Jesus.

Jesus was a great missionary he related to people very well. Jesus was a master of the question

Multiplying Churches

I took the following post from a Main Session with Ed Stetzer on Multiplying Churches.

It is going to take each of us to get our churches to plant churches.
How do we equip churches to plant churches?
-Teaming up with other churches
Fundamental to the living thing is reproduction. All healthy things reproduce. (OF ITSELF)
A lot of people are talking about c.p. but not all are sacrificing for c.p.

Definition of planting church means giving people away!
A church must be born pregnant. They eat and they reproduce.
We must reproduce in the beginning!

Leon Hyatt listed 5 common approaches in the relationship between the sponsoring church and the new church plant.
1) The Doting Grandparent Approach
2) The Rich Uncle Approach
3) Over-bearing Father Approach
4) Jealous Brother Approach
5) Bored Stepfather Approach –in name only
6) Concerned Parent-

I am proud to say that we have the best sending church. First BC of Inwood embodies everything Ed described in his session concerning the ideal situation between us as a new church plant and a sending church. After sitting in this class, Jason, Russell and myself where bragging on our pastor, Devin Ward and Sending Church. We are so blessed. If you are thinking about planting a church, make sure you and your sending church are on the same page! It can make or break your church plant. I am experiencing the best situation and I know a few men who have experienced the worst situation.

Creative DNA

Just wanted to post a session I sat it on from the Pre-Launch Track with Mark Batterson concerning creativity.

1000 species of walking sticks - 250000 species of beetles
The above stats demonstrate: Creativity is the nature of God

Creativity started in the beginning when God created the earth.
We are surrounded by creativity of God. Gen 1-and God saw it was good. He got to mankind and saw that it was very good. We are the pinnacle of God’s creativity.

God is infinitely creative.
The more we become like our creator the more creative we should be come. Creativity is not an option.

Matthew 23-Great Commandment-love God with all of your mind. Creativity is a stewardship issue.
Church ought to be the most creative place on the planet.

Five Keys to Creativity

1) Keep Learning
-Read Like Crazy
-Creativity is a direct reflection of what you are reading
-Kids ask 125 probing questions a day.
-Adults ask only 6 questions days
-Never lose a holy curiosity-Albert Einstein
-Every ology is a branch of Theology –God made it all
-Give our staff a reading budget
-Reading fuels creativity

2) Exegete Culture
-We know the bible but are out of touch with our times
-Core Value at NCC-Irrelevance is irreverent
-Every year they do two series –God at the box office and god in our ipod
-Blogging is digital discipleship
-Study your community-
-Coffee houses are post modern wells

3) Brand Sermons
-Check for details at evotional.com

4) Disrupt Routine
- Change of pace plus change of place equals change of perspective
- Geography has a lot to do with Spirituality
- This well help us grow personally and corporately
- Do a lot of offsite meetings
-Retreats
- Keep what is sacred from being routine

5) Keep experimenting
- Core Value –at NCC – everything is an experiment
- In a Church Plant you are in research and development
- We have to have an experimental approach
- If we aren’t making a mistake we are in trouble
- Discipleship Experiment, Evangelist Experiment, Sermon/Teaching Experiment

President Bush Grooving

Lost

I just had a very scarey moment. This afternoon, we went to Downtown Disney to buy our children something from our trip. After I made my purchase, I must have laid my wallet down on the counter. We were about 10 minutes from the airport and I felt for my wallet and it was not where it should be. I panicked. After much searching, we arrived here at the airport to see if I could board. I was stressed. I felt stupid and dumb all at the same time. Who loses their wallet. The gracious worker at South West gave me my boarding pass and sent me to security. Security searched me and sent me on my way. I have no debit or credit cards or license. The only thing I lost was my AAA card, social security card, license and PRIDE. I was a little stressed, but in an hour I will board a plane and arrive in Pittsburgh. Thank you GOD! I thought for a second that Andrew and I were road tripping to Washington. I think I will down size my wallet.

Do I look like a youth-pastor?

Today, Russell, Andrew and I were shopping for our wives at Ann Taylor's in the mall and we were kindly asked, are you guys youth pastors? My first thought was do I look like a youth-pastor? I just want to look like a church planter. I guess once a youth pastor always a youth pastor. Any suggestion on changing my look?

Florida

Just hangin in sunny Florida. This is our second day here and we have had a great day. I am actually at the Apple Store at the Mall of Millenia. I will post soon with some more details on how God has moved in my heart. Preview: Pray-Read the Word-Share Jesus. BASIC!

NNCC

I am really stoked about NNCC. We will heading to sunny Florida tomorrow. I am really excited to learn some new strategies from guys who are getting it done. Jason, Russell and David will be coming to hang out tonight at my house. I am looking forward to hanging with these guys. They are such an encouragement to me. I think I have said this a dozen times, but I never want to forget how God has used Jason and Russell to stir and prepare my heart for church planting. One thing I am really looking forward to concerning this conference is the fact that it is totally and completely focused on church planters. I love Catalyst, but I think this conference may have more of a direct influence on how we are planting a church.

Great Weekend

I have had a great yet quiet weekend. I spent Saturday morning doing fun stuff like spin race day and practicing softball. In the afternoon, I helped Allison and Andrew work on their landscaping. We then headed over to my new house to spruce it up. It was pretty awesome to finally have my own yard. Before getting into the ministry, I was hoping to one day run a golf course. I absolutely love turf and grass. On Sunday, our core group headed to Morgantown to join Stonebridge for their Friend Day. The David Story Band rocked. Our peeps from Washington loved the worship. Worshipping God in the theater in downtown MO-Town is one of my favorite things to do. Jason did an awesome job on Mark 2. Even though most of the sermon targeted unchurched/unsaved, the Holy Spirit screamed "STOP ALLOWING THINGS TO KEEP YOU FROM GETTING TO JESUS". It is so easy for me to allow THINGS to deter me from my fellowship with God. Mark 2 speaks of five men who were determined to get to Jesus. Major props to Jason & Russell for making friend day a plus. Looking forward to preaching there in May.

Bachelor Life

I will be bachelor this week. My family left for Arkansas today. Renee decided since I was headed to NNCC conference in Orlando this week that she would head home to see her family before Lily arrives. Please throw up some prayers for safe travel and sanity (15 hour drive)! I love the quite for about a day and then I begin to miss my family. Hope to get caught up on some reading and studying.

Happy Birthday

Just wanted to say happy birthday to my wife Renee. She is my partner, my friend and my biggest support. I love you baby!

Getting My Hands Dirty

Many of you probably know the one man in my life who has had the most influence on my life is my Dad. He is my hero and the guy I want to be like when I grow up (nope, not there yet). One thing he always taught me was never be afraid to get your hands dirty. I would never be the one to say that I am a good mechanic or know how to work on cars, but yesterday I changed the break pads on my wife's SUV. It was cool! No help from either one of my brothers, just me and my two sons. As I was getting my hands dirty, my two sons just wanted to help. They went through my tools asking, "what is this daddy?" This excites me, because some of the best lessons I ever learned was working with my dad. One exciting thing was I saved myself about $300 bucks. My dad would be proud of me. He always taught me also to do the work yourself and save yourself some cash. I am forever indebted to my pops for the things he taught me. Work hard and love God!

New Blogger

Wanted to give a huge shot out to my new blogging friend from Arkansas! Please welcome Nathan Rogers to the blogsphere. Welcome DUDE! Great to have another Razorback friend helping Scott and I out! Nathan brought his college students to Pittsburgh last summer. They did some great things for a couple of Habitat families.

Gifts

I love giving my wife gifts. Today, Jeremiah & Micah gave mom a gift (2 hour pedicure and manicure) for her upcoming birthday on Friday. We have some other great things planned for her leading up to Friday. This is a reminder to men, my self included that our wives are special and we need to show them how special they are by buying them gifts year round. Men out there, stop by the mall and pick something nice up for your wife. It will make her day.

A Must Read

Mark Batterson posted an entry yesterday dealing with Decoding Culture. Check it out! We must embrace this concept.

MABA Meeting

My family and I had a great time this past weekend in Gettysburg. We left Friday morning and arrived sometime that afternoon. It was just really good to hang out with the other men from the Mid Atlantic as well as Andrew, Jason, Russell & Scott. They are great guys whom I truly love. It was also great to spend some time with the staff of our sending church. I love Pastor Devin and Pastor Jim and appreciate all the support and encouragement they give to us as we plant this church. We also had a chance to drive through the battlefields of Gettysburg. This was the first time I had ever been there. It was pretty awesome to imagine what it was like when those men fought in that battle. It was also sobering to think of the thousands of people who died there as well.

Pics From Easter

Church Planter

One of my good friends, Ben Hightower is joining a team who is planting a new church in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He is an awesome guy and has a great wife. I met Ben & Brittney when I was working as student pastor in Batesville. I performed their wedding last December. God is going to use them to do some great things.

Arkansas Tight End/NFL Prospect

Check out this article great article about Jamaal Anderson who is man of intergrity. Hopefully he will the first D-lineman selected in the NFL draft.

Strategies

I had lunch with Ron Geisler, a friend of mine who is planting a church in Canonsburg which is a city about 20 minutes north of Washington. It was very productive meeting. We understand each other and seem to be facing the same struggles and difficulties. After the meeting one of the conclusions I came to was that planting a church in SW PA is completely different than planting a church in say AR, TX, NC, WV or FL. The strategies and methods that work in some places just will not work here. Maybe I should have come to that conclusion earlier, but I didn't. (Some of you guys have probably already told me that but I am a little hard headed). It was great to share my frustrations with him. As we swapped stories, we seemed to be going through the same things. I am glad to have met him six months ago and look forward to collaborating with him about c.p. in the future.

Johnson Tames Tiger

It was great to see Zach Johnson win the Masters and slip on the coveted green jacket. He has such a humble spirit. I have a lot of respect for anyone who will give credit to Jesus on National Television. I love golf and was able to watch about 3 hours worth yesterday. I have to say it was good to see a Johnson tame Tiger! We are probably related somewhere down the line.

Great Day

Yesterday was a great day. I have to brag on our team. They put in so much time and energy into planning and preparing for our Easter service. Everything was done with excellence from the decorations to the small group video to the worship. I am so glad Andrew is part of our team. His creation and talent are a huge asset to our team. We had a good number of people who showed up and I thank God for the new visitors. Thanks for all of those who prayed for our service. Our celebration of the resurrection of Christ was a great. We also had an opportunity to talk to the Manager of Wash Arts about the possibility of having a monthly service and she said they will take it to the board of directors. We are praying that this will work out!

The Masters

Thanks to ESPN I found a list of terms, phrases and story lines that will be drummed into your head over the next four days courtesy of the Masters. My wife loved the fact that she and Tiger's wife are due during the same month.

1. "A tradition unlike any other, the Masters on CBS"

2. "Amen Corner"

3. "The green jacket"

4. "No European has won the Masters in this century."

5. "The champions dinner"

6. "The Masters starts on the back nine on Sunday."

7. "Tiger and Phil have won five of the past six Masters and six of the past eight majors"

8. "You have to be long off the tee to win at Augusta."

9. "You have to keep the ball below the hole to win at Augusta."

10. "Billy Payne, the new chairman of Augusta National"

11. "The winner of the par-3 tournament has never gone on to win the Masters"

12. "Brett Quigley is a proud new father."

13. "Tiger's wife is expecting a baby in July."

14. "Gary Player is playing in his 50th Masters." (Play on, Player)

15. "Check out the outfit on Johan Edfors."

16. "Girls have cooties."

You can check out more of the list here.

I love the Masters!

Big East Meets SEC

Pumped to read there will be a Big East/SEC Invitational which will start in December with four games over two nights at two sites, all televised by either ESPN or ESPN2. Big East better bring their (or our) A game. Check out the line up here.

Snow???

Are you kidding me? I am going to try not to complain, but . . . it is snowing in PA in April. It is suppose to snow through Sunday. We are having a service on Sunday and I am not going to use the excuse, "it snowed so . . . . no one showed up." Things are definitely different in PA than AR.

Pick The Right Teams

I won my first ever NCAA Tourn. Bracket. I am an SEC man and loved rooting against the OHIO STATE! Thanks Gators for coming up with the win.

Final Touches

We gathered yesterday for our core group development time and put some last touches on our plans for our Easter Service. We mapped everything out so everyone knows exactly where to set up things and what will happen when. It was great to plan for our big event. The Wash Arts has graciously allowed us to come in on Saturday to set up and run through our service. This will allow us to focus more on meeting all the new people and worry less about set up. We have advertised via radio, newspaper & personal invites (invite cards). We are eagerly anticipating what God is going to do. Following our service, we will have an egg hunt and shoot pictures of each family. We have a guy coming in to take pictures. Our team is pumped about having another preview service. We love getting together for times of corporate celebration and worship. The countdown begins and we are stoked.

Top Ten ways a core group can kill a church

I love Ben Arment's post on the top ten ways a core group can kill a church. Very insightful!