I got to have lunch with three guys I really appreciate today. It was convened by Roger Gibson who does Church planter care for Stadia: New Church Strategies. Roger likes to get guys together periodically for no other reason than to just encourage each other. He’s one of the most mature Christian men I know.
Category Archives: Church planting
Reputation
I had lunch with friends today. I met them months ago through business connections, but the relationship grew beyond that to friendly regard. We don’t get together very often, so it was pleasant to do so today.
Website
Adam Moore has been really busy making additions and changes to the LifeSpring Church website. And the site is becoming much more dynamic and interesting.
The newest change is the addition of an archive and subscription section where you can download recent editions of our Sunday newsletter, Currents. If you want to be on the e-mailing list for Currents, use the subscription menu. You’ll then be automatically added to our weekly mailing.
Coming soon is a podcasting link where sermon audio will be stored. You’ll be able to find the last month’s sermons for downloading to your iPod.
We think these additions will give guests to our site a good sampling of what LifeSpring is like. On the site guests may get our newsletter, hear the sermons, or even read what other LifeSpringers are saying. It’s a good introduction.
New Year Prayer Requests
It’s hard to believe that 2007 is now a scant 5 days away. We’re planning a New Year’s Eve party at our house to welcome in the new year. However, we’re also planning the next steps that LifeSpring will be taking in order make more Mercedians aware of us and our mission.
So as we near the end of this year, I have some prayer requests that affect the outcome of what we do. The first is that we get 501(c)(3) approval very soon. In order to get the non-profit status you have to complete a 50-page packet of information and exhibits which are sent to the IRS along with $750. And then you wait. Please pray that they will expedite our application and get us past this hurdle quickly.
The second request is that I (Bruce) be able to find a good, dependable car soon. I have been grateful for the little Honda that I have been driving, however, it has reached the tipping point of becoming too expensive to maintain. I need something dependable. Soon.
The third request is that LifeSpring turn the corner and begin to see guests in large numbers come to our services. Guests that are in our target, that is. A friend of mine (in our target audience of 20-39) was commenting recently that he doesn’t read the paper, listen to the radio, or do some of the other traditional things that people of the Boomer generation do. So we’re looking for that magic combination of things that gets the attention and curiosity of the people we’re looking for.
The final request is that we be able to replace the salary we’ve lost due to the depletion of support funds. Please pray that financial support for LifeSpring comes soon. This is urgent.
We expect that 2007 will be a wonderful year of growth. We love the progress we see in our team of people, both as a community of friends and also as people who are grasping the importance and scope of what we are doing.
Please pray for us. Blessings to you in 2007.
Broke!
I feel like paraphrasing Dickens. “It was the best of weeks; it was the worst of weeks.”
It was the best because of the continued growth in community spirit that we’re seeing at LifeSpring. Last weekend we had a pot luck, and our house was filled with laughter and converstion. A nice sound.
It was the best of weekends because we had visitors from Stadia. Our long distance from Rocklin, home of Stadia West, makes it difficult for such visits. It was good for LifeSpringers to meet the folks that have been praying for them and supplying resources for this plant.
It was the worst of weeks because we found out our support funds were gone. Actually they were gone back in April, but we were not aware of that. We lived off of the accumulated support we had been getting from outside sources, but time finally consumed that as well.
Stadia has resourced us again. The monies will be prorated over two years. We’re thankful for that, but again, best and worst. Best because of their generosity and care about this work. Worst because of the huge salary hit we’ve experienced.
It’s so hard to be full of faith at moments like this. The mind floods with “what ifs.” Experience so far has shown God’s influence and guidance in this church plant. I could write a book about that.
There are moments when I’m tempted to work out an internet scheme to raise money. Sorta like the guy that sold a $1 million worth of ads on his one page website.
But then, I’d be placing the trust in myself. “Lord, send us the resources we need to carry on with this. So that we can continue to do the things that we’ve been doing. Please don’t let this momentary crisis consume what we’ve worked hard to gain. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Christmas Child Boxes
Last night (Friday) a group of us got together to assemble Christmas boxes for Samaritan’s Purse. These boxes will go to children in Third World countries, and will bless them with little things they would not normally have.
We decided that six boxes was a reasonable goal to set, so we divided up the contents and each of the five families attending brought assigned items: toothbrushes, wash clothes, small toys, soap, etc.
One of our four major values is service. Assembling these Christmas Child boxes gave attention to this value, and will be a continuing part of our DNA as a church.
To God be the glory.
Revolution
I’m recovering from a flying trip to Seattle to attend the Revolution conference. Keynote speakers were Brian McLaren and George Barna. The attendees were pierced, tattooed, old, young, dreadlocked, coiffed, white, brown, black, doubting, and certain.
I have never attended a conference where there was such wide disparity in belief and experience, yet where faith was freely discussed and upheld. The theme of the event and all Off the Map events was that dialogue is permitted and encouraged. Not argumentation–dialogue.
One of the highlights for me was hearing the story of the Loyds who went to downtown Portland to start a church, undergoing voluntary poverty in order to do so. The church they started is prospering, and their church is filled with every sort of person imaginable.
I am happy I’ve gotten to know Jim Henderson who is the mind behind all of this. It is abundantly clear that he loves people and risks everything to show them the love of Jesus. Amen.
Church and life….
In my pre-planter life, I didn’t have a lot of opportunities to be involved in community life. At least not to a large degree.
Most of my time was spent in the church community, doing office time, going to church functions, etc. I’m not knocking that life, but it is a fact that most of my energy was spent on church folk.
By now that the tether is cut and I am “out here,” it doesn’t feel or look a lot different that at church. Interesting, huh?
Every group of people I belong to has the same dynamic problems as I saw at church: hurt feelings, politics, gossip, inertia, and pride. Though this is not always true, I find that help is more often appreciated “out here.”
Even though you have to deal with the same human condition “out here,” some of the veneers or facades that you see in church are missing. So you can actually see people processing what you say–if you don’t preach at them. And they don’t seem particularly interested in impressing you with how religious they are.
This week I told a business group I belong to that church folk sometime respond to our Playhouse Merced meeting place by saying, “When you grow up you can get a real church building.”
Actually, I think the advantages of our location far outweigh the disadvantages. The biggest is that we are “out here” and the minute we go into a traditional church setting we lose our credibility and our current audience.
The Buzz
We’ve hoped and prayed that the networking we’ve been doing here in Merced would eventually convert into self-perpetuating momentum. We envisioned LifeSpring becoming such a well known church that people talk about it, not because of marketing, but because of it’s good reputation.
This week we’ve had two encouraging things happen that make us think that is beginning to happen, at least in a small way.
Earlier this week one of our launch team people was talking to a new friend. Because of the newness of the relationship, they had never talked about LifeSpring. Without prompting, the friend mentioned LifeSpring and said she had heard good things.
Recently we got an e-mail inquiry that said, “We’re new to Merced, and we heard about you through the grapevine.” That’s where we want to be–on the grapevine.
Jim Collins, author of Good to Great wrote about the flywheel. He said the flywheel is difficult to move in the early stages of motion, but as more and more movement occurs, the energy you have to expend to keep it moving becomes less and less.
We’re praying for that to happen at LifeSpring.
Networking
Today our BNI meeting was cancelled due to a regional meeting in Turlock. Chapter members from Modesto to Merced were invited to hear presenters from the Los Angeles area talk about networking. It was well worth the 30 minute drive.
I was the first pastor to join BNI in this region. So from Sacramento to Fresno, I was the only pastor in any chapter. “What do you gain from your BNI membership?” is a common question.
I heard recently that another pastor had joined. I didn’t know where or what chapter. But today I found him. He showed up at the Turlock meeting I attended. His name is Brian, and he is planting a church as well. I was amazed at how many things we had in common in terms of cultural understandings, methodology, etc.
The more I attend these BNI meetings, the more convinced I am that this is the best way to do evangelism. Just showing up, being a friend, and listening. It’s amazing what happens then.
MonoLogue 