FaithEngineer

At the Unleash Conference yesterday, which was absolutely amazing, the team at NewSpring announced a new one-day leadership conference this fall. Mark your calendars for September 16th and make plans to drive down to Anderson, South Carolina. They’ve lined up an awesome group of pastors who are passionate about sharing the gospel.  Can you imagine hearing from Francis Chan, Mark Driscoll, and Perry Noble all in one day. It will definitely be powerful. Here’s the info from their website

The NewSpring Leadership Conference is a full day of teaching and worship focused on influence and how it affects our preaching of the Gospel. We’re passionate about the local church, and we believe in the power of the preached Gospel to show how Jesus Christ changes lives. There is no better goal to spend your influence on.

Join us in Anderson, SC on Thursday, September 16th to hear unique perspectives from our 6 speakers on leadership and influence. The event will run from 9:00am until your brain can’t process any more. Your ticket includes admission to the conference, all conference materials, a tasty lunch and plenty of southern hospitality.

Over the past several years, I have had the opportunity to help organize several community church events and help with several others. It’s not always easy, but I want to be part of a church that takes the prayer of Jesus in John 17 seriously. That we would be one. Our church wants to be a resource to other churches by planning events and hosting conferences. We want to bring local Christians together and to reach out to those in our community who are lost and hurting. We have been able to break through some racial and denominational boundaries, but we still have a long ways to go. In our efforts, I have noticed two huge enemies of cooperation between churches.

Fear & Pride

For many churches, fear is a way of life. The pastor is afraid of helping another church because they might have a different style of music or be from a different denomination. Worse yet, the leadership can become paranoid about losing members to another church, so they work hard at keeping people involved only in their own activities.

For other churches, pride can prevent them from working with other churches. Some churches reach a point where they don’t think they need any help. They believe their efforts are better than anybody else and it’s just too much of a hassle to work with others. I have seen churches that constantly make fun of the efforts of others and refuse to be part of any community activities.

I pray that I will be a pastor that is not afraid to cooperate and work together with other churches. I pray that fear and pride would not control the decisions in our church. In the New Testament, we see churches referred to by their city. We read passages about the church of Ephesus, the church of Corinth, the church of Jerusalem, the church at Antioch, and many more. Now, local believers are fragmented a million different ways by denominations and egos. Let me challenge you to reach across denominational lines and join forces with other believers in your community. You will be amazed at the impact it will have in your community, and don’t be surprised if people see the truth of John 17:21 become a reality.

I read a great leadership post by Mac Lake this week and he made the statement:

“Spiritual leadership isn’t just about accomplishing God given results, it’s also about caring for the souls of those we lead along the way.”

And then while reading through John Ortberg’s latest book, The Me I Want to Be: Becoming God’s Best Version of You, I came across two powerful questions. I think God is trying to tell me something. So listen and think about the well-being of your soul and ask yourselves these questions often. Many times we are so busy doing and serving, that we don’t let God work in us.

I asked a wise man, “How do you assess the well-being of your soul?”

He immediately said, “I ask myself two questions”:

• Am I growing more easily discouraged these day?
• Am I growing more easily irritated these days?

At the core of a flourishing soul are the love of God and the peace of God. If peace is growing in me, I am less easily discouraged. If love is  growing, I am less easily irritated. It was a brilliantly helpful diagnostic to assess the health of my soul.

How would you answer those two questions?

For me, the answer is not always good.  When I am stressed, these are my biggest two problems. And if you ask my wife, I’m afraid that she would easily be able to confirm my struggles. So let me ask you, are you becoming the person that God wants you to be?

If you haven’t noticed, my blog has been pretty quiet for the past few weeks. It’s been a busy time with all the excitement of the Christmas season, and I have definitely been doing a lot of planning and thinking. For the first time in my life, I’m thinking through some long term goals. In order for me to be the best husband, father, and pastor that I can be, I am making some changes.

One of the biggest changes is the amount of time I use the computer in the evenings.  While it may seem minor, I am making sure I am fully present for my family. That means I am disconnecting from much of the tech world after I get home until the kids go to bed. Although, I’ve had much less time to work on the blog, there is no doubt that I am making the right decision. I will continue posting to the blog, but it will not be as frequent as in the past. My goal is 3 high quality posts per week. I simply don’t have the time to do more than that right now with the demands of a growing church and a busy family.  I will still be on twitter for other day-to-day thoughts, so you can follow me there.

I am also making changes in the way I take care of myself. I want to finish strong and I want to finish healthy.  That means I will be working out and eating healthier and taking more time off. I’ll share some more of my goals for the next few years in a future post. I am excited about the changes and I want you, my blog readers, to know that this site will continue to have great information about church technology, about ministry in a small town, and about the lessons I learn along the way.

I wanted to share a couple of memorable moments from Catalyst. One was crazy and the other was powerful.

Professor Splash set a new world record high dive. He dove from a tower over 35 feet high into a pool with only 12 inches of water. Check out the video below. It’s another crazy world record from the Catalyst Conference.

Professor Splash Breaks World Record! from Catalyst on Vimeo.

The second video literally brought me to tears. It was a powerful moment when Jimmy Wambua met Mark, his Compassion Sponsor of 19 years, for the 1st time. Our family has sponsored a little girl in Indonesia for the last three years through Compassion and I hope that it makes the same kind of impact in her life. The video is a little long, but it is definitely worth it. Skip to about the 9 minute mark if you just want to see his reaction when he finds out that the man who had sponsored him was there to meet him.

Catalyst 2009 Compassion Moment from Catalyst on Vimeo.

If you are a leader, then let me share with you a great source of free leadership lessons.   Andy Stanley’s Leadership Podcast is great for both those in the business world and in the church world.  Each month a new 20 to 30 minute lesson is posted and every single one of them has been exceptional.  Click here to subscribe to this podcast in iTunes.

If you’re not familiar with podcasts, let me share a little instruction.  You don’t have to even have an iPod, but you will need to have iTunes installed on your computer.  If the links in this post don’t work, it probably means that you don’t have iTunes installed.  It is a great free program for managing your music, and there are thousands of great Christian podcasts that you can subscribe to for free. While you’re there, you’ll want to check out our sermon podcast for Cornerstone as well.

While on vacation, we spent several afternoons in Barnes & Noble cooling down, enjoying the Starbucks and air conditioning.  I saw a huge display of twilight books, and it made me do some thinking.  I know many people who have read through the entire series in a very short amount of time, typically in under a month.   I did a little research and found that the total number of words in the twilight series is very close to the total number of words in the Bible.  You can do the math, most people don’t read through the Bible every month.  So why do people struggle to consistently read through the Bible?

Is it a lack of passion? of time? of ability?

I have been reading through my Bible using a one-year plan, and I find myself getting behind when things get crazy.  But in the last two days, I have read two complete books on my Kindle.  Again, I find that disturbing.

I think the real reason we don’t read the Bible passionately is that we lose perspective of the incredible story of God.

When reading a novel, it’s easy to get lost in the story, to get consumed with the suspense of what is going to happen next. But for some reason, when we read the Bible, we lose sight of the incredible story of God’s love for us. We have the story of how God created the world, how he set everything in motion, how Adam and Eve sin, how the nation of Israel is established, and the story of how God redeems His children through Jesus Christ.  The New Testament details the life of Jesus, his death, burial, and resurrection, the start of the early church, and how the Gospel message is spread throughout the world.  It’s the most incredible story ever told!  And yet I’ve heard people say that it’s boring and that it doesn’t relate to their life. When you see the Bible for what it really is, God’s love letter to mankind, it changes your perspective.  You develop a hunger and a desire to let it speak into your life and transform you.  And you can’t read it fast enough.

When I first started reading my Bible in college, I couldn’t put it down.  I was fascinated by the New Testament.  I had heard the stories as a child and as a teen, but I had never really applied them to my life.  Looking back, I think it was the most intense and fastest growth I have ever experienced as a follower of Christ.  I learned what it meant to follow Christ through reading the Bible.  I truly believe that you will not see spiritual growth in your life if you neglect the reading of God’s word.

Steven Furtick of Elevation Church in Charlotte has challenged his entire staff to read through the Bible in 90 days.  When I first saw his reading plan, I thought it was a little crazy. But now I’m starting to see wisdom in his challenge.  Yes, it is good to slowly read and meditate on scripture, but there is something about regaining our perspective of God’s compelling story.  And when we are fascinated by a story, we can’t put it down.

I have been meeting with a group of young pastors for the past several days.  We are part of a leadership development program called uptick and we are being coached and mentored by a pastor who has a huge heart for helping younger leaders.  Our topic this week has been accountability.   We all know the importance of friendship and accountability, but why don’t we make it more of a priority in our lives?

A pastor who has struggled with an addiction in his life came and shared with us today.  He shared the importance of finding at least one true friend who you can be open and honest with.  I don’t know about you, but for me, this thought was scary. Outside of my wife, I really don’t have anyone who I feel I can confide in.  That definitely needs to change.  I will be praying and working on developing more accountability in my life, and I challenge you to do the same.  In Hebrews, we are told we are naked and exposed before God.  You can’t hide before God, so why do we try to hide all the problems we face in life?

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable. Hebrews 4:13 NLT

The following is part of a devotion that Craig Groeschel used at Lifechurch during the Life Development series.  I was reminded of it during our talks this week, so I found it on my hard drive and decided to share it here on my blog. Accountability is so important in our life, so let’s commit together to taking it seriously.  This is powerful, so read it slowly.

When I was in school, one of the things I often wanted to know about an assignment was if it was going to be graded. If it was, then I’d put more into it. If it wasn’t going to be graded, then I didn’t work as hard.

My life today demonstrates this principle just as much as it did when I was in school.

Accountability closes the gap between intentions and actions.

Most people prefer not to be graded in life. We need to embrace the truth that life is graded. Hebrews 4:13 says that nothing is hidden from God’s sight. At the end of our life on earth, we’ll stand before God and give an account of what we’ve done—or haven’t done—in His name.

There are four common reasons that most people resist accountability:

• We fear failure. If we have accountability, then people will know when we fail.
• We don’t see the value of accountability. We think we can do it on our own, but the truth is, we probably haven’t and won’t.
• We’re rebellious. We don’t like having someone else hold us responsible for our actions.
• We’re full of pride. We think we don’t need others. But we weren’t created to accomplish things alone. God created us to need Him and to need each other.

The Bible teaches us that we must overcome these barriers to accountability. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man that falls and has no one to help him up!” The truth is that it’s very unlikely that you’ll accomplish God’s plan without correction. Isaiah 53:6 says, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way.” We’re prone to wander. We may start strong, but our attention quickly drifts.

I’ve found that I’m easily distracted from God’s plan by many of the cares of the world. That’s why I have people hold me accountable—they help me get back on track. When a rocket launches, headed for the moon, it’s only on track ten percent. Ninety percent of the time adjustments are being made, but in the end, they reach the goal. That’s what accountability does for us. We may start to drift off course, and then someone lovingly comes in to help us adjust. You cannot correct what you are unwilling to confront.

At our First Wednesday Service at Cornerstone last night, Sam shared about Christian leadership. He shared some examples from a blog post by Tony Morgan. I also talked about the importance of leadership development this past Sunday.   But you cannot talk about Christian leadership without talking about the character and integrity of the leader. We all have influence, how are we going to use it? Check out these passages that Sam shared last night.

Leadership is less about the words or actions of the leader and more about the character of the leader.
That’s the conclusion I’ve reached after revisiting what the Bible has to say about leadership within the Church. For example, we can look at a handful of passages and come to this “job description” for leaders:

• Encourage others. (Romans 14:19)
• Set an example with your speech, life and faith. (I Timothy 4:12)
• Remain pure. (I Timothy 4:12)
• Embrace humility and gentleness. (Ephesians 4:2)
• Promote peace and unity. (Ephesians 4:3)
• Avoid arguments and quarreling. (2 Timothy 2:24)
• Gently instruct others. (2 Timothy 2:25)
• Maintain emotional control. (Titus 2:6)
• Demonstrate integrity in your actions and speech. (Titus 2:7-8)
• Live your life above reproach. (I Timothy 3:2)

In some ways, looking back over the last 15 years, I realize that I have been a reluctant leader.  In 1 Timothy 4:14, Paul shares with Timothy this challenge, “Do not neglect the gift that is in you …”

Thanks to Tony Morgan for putting the Unleash Main Sessions on his blog at TonyMorganLive. Here are the two main sessions. You can see my notes for the morning session and the afternoon session.

In the afternoon main session, Perry spoke directly to leadership and pastors.  It was a time of encouragement and empowerment.  It was similar to his message at the Whiteboard Sessions last year, but I never grow tired of being encouraged in the ministry.  Perry shared 4 questions for all the pastors from the story of Moses in Exodus 33.

• Question 1 – Who is with me?
• Question 2 – Am I pleasing God?
  • Do I understand that ministry is received not achieved?
  • Am I placing limits on me that God hasn’t placed on me?
• Question 3 – Will we see God?
• Question 4 – What’s next?

Memorable Quotes

• your church leadership has to be on fire for Jesus
• there are days you will want to quit
• people in the church can be the meanest people on the planet
• average stay for a pastor is 22 months
• people won’t buy into you, until you buy into them
• Satan doesn’t want to split your church, he wants to split your staff
• pastors carry a heavy weight – all of these people are depending on me to not screw up
• Do you have your pastor’s back?
• God will continue to put you in uncomfortable situations
• If you have one more sermon to preach, what would you say? Do it every week
• don’t get paid by the church for a service that makes them feel good about God – don’t be a prostitute
• you might have to get out of church work to get into ministry – church work=pleasing people   ministry=pleasing God
• we depend too much on abilities instead of trusting God’s anointing – 2 Corinthians 4:1
• God most often puts his most powerful gift in his weakest vessel – Rick Warren
• you can do exactly what God has called you to do
• Can people still feel good about living a sinful life when they come to our church?
• Do you want attendance or repentance?
• talk about JESUS
• When was the last time you were desperate for the presence of God?
• we don’t want to build a monument or a museum, we want to be a movement of God
• be obsessed about what God is doing
• if you take God away, we suck and you do too!
• What does God want to do next in your church?
• #1 passion is simply the presence of God

And Perry finally shared his story of playing Rugby while at Hillsong church in Australia.   After several times of getting hit while having the ball, he decided it would be better to stay away from the ball and not get hit.   But he realized you can’t advance down the field if you don’t have the ball.  As pastors, do we want the ball?   Or are we so afraid of getting hurt that we stand on the sidelines, unwilling to advance the ball down the field.

I don’t know about you, but I WANT THE BALL!!!  God has called me to lead, to preach and teach, and I don’t want to coast through life just getting by!

I want to share a few of my notes and thoughts from the Unleash Conference. It was my third year in a row in attendance and it was a great time of encouragement and teaching.  Perry Noble is a passionate preacher and he was extremely bold and direct in his first message.  But he said some things that needed to be said.  He is able to speak with boldness because of the trust and the moral authority he has built in his ministry and in his life.

3 Questions to Get back to the church that Jesus wants (from 2 Kings 7)

• Question 1 -  Are we willing to embrace change?
• Question 2 – Are we willing to work?
  • Investigate the obvious
  • Ignore the Jackass (the Greek translation is BLOGGER)
• Question 3 -  Are we serious about reaching the world?

Perry also shared four terms that are overplayed in the church.  I agree completely.  We have become defined by our terminology, not by our love.  While there are good things about some of these terms, we can’t become so caught up in them that we forget our mission.

• contemporary – our pastor wears a sweater-vest and we treat Jesus like our boyfriend instead of King
• blended – no one in our church will proclaim where we stand – instead they reach no one in an effort to keep everyone happy
• missional -  nobody is showing up, so we made a term to explain our dysfunction – not doing the Great Commission
• emergent – we’re a bunch of spoiled former church kids who have a problem with authority – including the authority of God’s word

Memorable Quotes

• there has been a communication breakdown in the church  – we’re trying to build our church, not God’s church
• churches have stripped the Church (the bride of Christ) of her wedding dress and made her look like a slut – it is His church
• every church in America is 1 or 2 changes away from doubling in size
• you have to start changing things that you thought were a good idea – things that you created
• if your church is manageable, God is not there – you can’t orchestrate or manage a move of God
• a move of God is messy
• most churches have more money in cemetery fund than in the youth ministry fund
• number of Christians in this country is declining – if it was your money declining you would do something about it.
• preach the word of God under the anointing of God
• only churches that numbers aren’t important are the ones who aren’t reaching people
• people that say I want to go deeper – You’re only as deep as the last person you served
• most people are educated way beyond their level of obedience
• we are not called to condemn the city, we are called to reach them
• churches should stop competing with one another and start completing one another
• you want more worship – you’ve got 6 other days
• If you want change in your church you have to do more than pray about it – don’t use  prayer as an excuse for inactivity
• we ask god for permission to do something in the church, instead of placing ourselves in submission to God
• don’t ever let the money drive the decision – let the voice of God guide you – God’s will is God’s bill
• there’s power under the hood, churches need to stomp it!!

I’m driving down to Anderson, South Carolina on Wednesday for the Unleash Conference at Newspring Church.  It’s a one-day conference on Thursday that has made a huge impact on me.  I’ve been the last two years and you can’t help but be challenged by their enthusiasm and passion.  It is amazing to see how God has grown their church and I can’t wait to hear what Perry has to share.  If you can’t make it, then check out the Unleash ‘09 webpage where you can watch the sessions streamed live on the internet.  Awesome use of technology.

We’re taking 20 people down from Cornerstone.  I can’t wait to see my wife after being gone the last 3 days.   I’m also exited that we are taking down several of our teens as well that help with technology and that play in the band.    They will be challenged to bring back that same enthusiasm for building God’s Kingdom.  I’m sure they will be surprised at the volume level as well

I’ll try to post updates and twitter during the sessions as well. Now if I can just figure out how to get from where I’m staying in the Smokies to Anderson …

I am excited about two things happening this week.  Tomorrow I leave for Gatlinburg, Tennessee to meet up with a group of young pastors from all over Southwest Virginia.  We are all part of a young leaders group and are meeting with pastor Allen Jessee from Community Heights Church in Richlands, Virginia.  Allen is passionate about helping and mentoring young leaders and has invited me to join their group this year.  We will meet four times this year, culminating in a trip to the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta.    Allen has been a huge help to Cornerstone over the past four years, meeting with us and helping us get organized and structured as we have grown.  I’m dreading being away from the family, but I’m excited about learning from some other great leaders.

I’ll be leaving this leadership group to head to another leadership conference.  We are taking around 20 people from Cornerstone to the one-day Unleash Conference held at Newspring Church in Anderson, South Carolina.  This will be my third year in a row in attendance, and I have been waiting for this for months.  God has done some incredible things at Newspring and I can’t wait to see our group from Cornerstone learn from them.  Their passion for serving Christ is contagious.

I’m not sure how much internet access I’ll have over the next few days, but hopefully I can provide some insights from what we are learning.   If you don’t see updates on my blog, then check out my twitter status in the sidebar or at my twitter page here.