Category Archives: LifeSpring Church

Church planting, LifeSpring Church, Missional, People

Table Talk

Eucharist 02At LifeSpring Church we believe that everybody should be able to participate as fully as they would like.  So we give people ample opportunity to volunteer to lead congregational prayers, read scripture, and provide the Lord’s Supper meditation, which we call the “table talk.” 

When we started doing this over a year ago, you could see some awkwardness.  We didn’t know each other that well at that point.  Folks didn’t know what was expected of them.  Most of us had grown up believing that such involvements should be reserved for an elite group of leaders.

But now our church community has grown comfortable with our egalitarian approach to worship and participation.  Everyone feels included and appreciated.  We are often blown away by the profundity of what is shared in communion mediations, or we’re moved by the skillful reading of a text.  It’s a really neat process in which to participate.

Yesterday Sean told us about the changes he has experienced in the last two years of his life.  He said that the Lord’s Supper is like a “pit stop” on the Amazing Race television show.  It has served to slow him down and make him think about what is happening in his life and the Lord’s relationship to that.  I was thankful for Sean’s transparency as well as for the eloquence of what he shared with us.  He made the Lord’s sacrifice real for us.

I am glad that LifeSpring recognizes the strength of everyone sharing.  By getting to hear what was on Sean’s heart, my life was improved.  Now I can’t wait to hear what the next LifeSpringer shares.

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Church planting, Life in general, LifeSpring Church

New Barna Book

UnChristianI just bought a new book called unChristian.  I found out about it through an electronic newsletter and was intrigued by the premise of the book.  Author David Kinnaman works for The Barna Group, an organization that provides primary research and tools for churches and parachurch organizations.

My interest in the book began because of a resonance I have with the author’s thesis.  “Our research shows that many of those outside of Christianity, especially younger adults, have little trust in the Christian faith, and esteem for the lifestyle of Christ followers is quickly fading among outsiders.”

I just started the book.  More about it in a later blog.  However, below is a CNN interview with Gabe Lyons, one of the writers of the book.  You may also enjoy looking at a site designed to create dialogue about relevance to culture. 

 

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Church planting, Leadership, Life in general, LifeSpring Church

Teamwork

Teamwork 01One of the greatest sins a “leader” can commit is to work alone.  Good leadership equips, empowers, trusts, and releases.  The best way to do this is through teams, and this is a good definition of team.  “A team is a group organized to work together to accomplish a set of objectives that cannot be achieved effectively by individuals.” 

Teamwork is the wisest means by which to contribute to an organization.  An organization that does not use teams is limited by the capabilities of its weakest or most fearful leader. 

Weak leaders function like log jams that slow everyone else down or even prevent forward motion.  Fears, vested interests, ego, or prejudices can hamper the health and effectiveness of an organization.

That’s why teams are important.  In teams, everyone has a vital role to play, everyone is empowered to contribute, and every opinion is important in the formation of direction.  Teams also require humility to function correctly.  A “leader” with huge ego issues will not be able to function in a team setting; it will be too threatening.

The same article about teams, quoted above, has a set of guidelines for team membership.  The whole list is not printed here, but note the emphasis on individual contribution in the items listed.

  • Contribute ideas and solutions
  • Recognize and respect differences in others
  • Value the ideas and contributions of others
  • Listen and share information
  • Be flexible and respect the partnership created by a team — strive for the “win-win”

Autocratic and egotistic leaders are only able to reach to their personal limits.  In team work, individual commitment usually transcends the team. A team outperforms an individual and all reasonable expectations given to its individual members. That is, a team has a synergistic effect…one plus one equals a lot more than two.

Jesus understood the importance of “team” and its ability to transform individuals.  He took 12 men who, individually, could never have accomplished what they did as a team in a few short years.  During his three years with them, he empowered them, allowed them to fail, and when needed, supplied specific teaching.

Teamwork is vital to healthy organizations, business or religious.  An individual that tries to “lead” by himself is a danger to progress and growth, because he will function like a governor on a motor and slow the organization to his own limitations.

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Life in general, LifeSpring Church, Missional, People

“Church” Jargon

HomileticsBob Kaylor, senior writer for Homiletics Magazine, has gotten me to thinking about my vocabulary, particularly in regard to people who are not currently part of a church community.  I’ve struggled with what name to use to refer to this rather large group.  Sadly, I’ve resorted to the all-too-common term, “unchurched.”

Kaylor writes that being “churched” is not necessarily a good thing and “being in church doesn’t make you a Christian anymore than being in a garage makes you a car.”  I like that.  It reminds me that I need to be more concerned about a person’s proximity to Jesus.

Plus, you wouldn’t necessarily want a new believer to look like some of the “churched” folks.  Kaylor has an 11–person playlist of people that you might want to avoid looking like in church.  They include the following six:

  • De-churched people populate the church rolls but don’t attend anymore.
  • Roto-churched people drift from church to church based on whose youth/children/music program is “hot.”
  • Mega-churched people can only engage in worship with a praise band, video screens, and Starbucks in the foyer.
  • Casual-churched people drop by when they have nothing better to do.
  • Mal-churched people never miss church services, sit in the same pew, and never, ever smile.
  • H2O-churched people – that’s “Holidays, 2 Only.”

LifeSpring wants to attract people who have no current relationship with Jesus and/or with disciples of Jesus.  That can be very different from people who simply “go to church.”  There’s far too many of that kind of person.

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Church planting, LifeSpring Church

SermonSpice dot com

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Sermon Spice 02One of my favorite sermon resource sites is SermonSpice dot com.  I have been using them for a few years now, and I never cease to be amazed at the wonderful variety that I find at the site.

What’s neat is that SermonSpice is located just down the around about 60 miles in Fresno.  That really makes no difference in the service however.  They are always helpful and effective.

I would not hesitate to recommend them for someone looking for the right video idea to illustrate a sermon or some other spot in the worship.  Check them out.

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LifeSpring Church, Missional

Marketing

Marketing 01Marketing is a huge puzzle to me.  Classic church planting models often employ heavy use of direct mail and other forms of mass advertising.  But LifeSpring didn’t have anywhere close to the amount of money that approach would take.  Later we got a one time infusion of $4000 cash that was earmarked specifically for marketing.  We gave direct mail a try, but it was very costly and a poor method.

Since that time we’ve tried other things:  pens with our logo and URL on them, cotton tote bags with our logo and URL, printed invitation materials, small posters, etc.  We’ve given goody bags to teachers at their beginning of the year reception, provided advertising materials to a real estate mortgage person to use in a promotion she had going, and provided items for a golf tournament that the Chamber of Commerce was sponsoring.

The results have been the same in every case; the items are good for branding, but they don’t build relationships.  We have found that nothing substitutes for being personally present in the lives of people.

Today I went to a presentation by a local radio station.  The station was offering a nice advertising package to small businesses.  It is a very tempting offer because it would double the number of spots that we currently have on the radio, and it would spread them across 4 radio stations rather than just 1 as we presently do. 

I hate decisions like this.  We’ll be spending about $250 more a month than we currently do.  However we currently believe that a sustained and long term advertising presence is necessary in order to make people aware you exist.  Since we can’t see the future, it is always a “gamble,” or uncertainty.  But we believe God is at work.  So we’ll buy the advertising and leave the outcome to God.

If you want to help us financially with this marketing, go to our Donation Site and send us some help.  It is well needed and enormously helpful to this work. 

LifeSpring Church

Serendipity

Calendar 01On Monday my Friday was wide open.  The only thing I had scheduled was a hair cutting appointment at 11 AM.  But that was five days ago.

But lots can change in five days, and they did.  At 7:15 am I called to set up the first meeting of the day.  I had my first appointment at 8:30 and got back to my home office at 10:30.  By that time I had four conversations including two at Starbucks and two at the Chamber of Commerce.

My next appointment was at 11:00–-a haircut.  Then I had a lunch appointment that was probably the highlight of the day.  The two afternoon appointments fell out.  One cancelled due to illness, and I assume the other was overwhelmed with work. 

I look back on days like today with utter awe. First, I am amazed when a day fills up so quickly.  It reminds me of how much serendipity there is in life.  Things you never expect, happen.  People you never expect, show up.  When you thought you were going to be alone, conversations occur.

I greatly enjoyed the day.  It’s Sunday night, and I am wondering what surprises are in store for this week.

Life in general, LifeSpring Church, People

Monday

Monday_morning_bluesIt’s Monday morning, and I’m planning my day.

Pastor’s often take Monday as their day off because they feel so toasted after a full day of Sunday preaching and activities.  It has been documented that the adrenaline rush that comes with preaching results in a “crash” after the adrenaline subsides.

I can testify that the adrenaline crash really does happen.  However, I still don’t take Monday off.  As a friend of mine once said, “Why would I want to use a day when I feel exhausted as my day off?”  So I use Monday to write, think, rest, have lunch with folks, etc.  It’s my all purpose day.

Today’s weariness was not improved by the fact that I read in today’s paper about a friend’s arrest on DUI.  It is dismaying to me that the newspaper feels compelled to write so publicly about people’s failures.  I’m gonna pray that my friend will do well in rehab, and come back better than ever.

I got my office cleaned up last week, except for a table sitting in the hallway with a stack of stuff on it.  I bought a chrome organizer to store stuff in, however, I can’t find a place to put it.  Bev appropriately summarized it by asking, “What are you going to do with that?”  Amen.

It’s Monday all day.  Whoopee!

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LifeSpring Church, theology

New Book

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Fabricating JesusA few months ago I bought a book on a whim from InterVarsity Press.  IVP is a really great publishing company, and they consistently print thought provoking and balanced books on a variety of subjects.  Fabricating Jesus is no exception to this.

The author, Craig Evans, is Payzant Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Acadia Divinity College in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.  In Fabricating Jesus he takes to task the narrow, brittle point of view of fundamentalism. 

I grew up in a fundamentalist culture, so what he writes strikes home with me.  I’ve heard the same phrases that Evans cites, and I’ve seen some of my friends leave faith, God, and church because of the untenable positions they accepted. 

Evans calls fundamentalism’s point of view “cramped starting points, which often are little more than presuppositions and not documented and argued conclusions,” page 34.  He says, “I have heard fundamentalists say, “Show me one mistake in the Bible and I will throw out the whole thing,” page 31.  The problem with this is that the moment a person discovers something they didn’t expect, their faith is at great risk.

I think a similar risk exists with those who allow bad theology to govern their thinking about God.  So, based on that theology, when God disappoints them, they abandon their faith.

One of my favorite quotes is Evans’ assertion that “The truth of the Christian message hinges not on the inerrancy of Scripture or on our ability to harmonize the four Gospels but on the resurrection of Jesus,” page 31.  This is certainly what Paul the apostle declared to the Christians at Corinth. 

I handed on to you as of first importance, what I in turn had received:that Christ died for our sins…that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day… 1 Corinthians 15:3,4.

Truly.

 

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Church planting, Life in general, LifeSpring Church

Four Weddings and a Funeral

WeddingLast November I met a pastor from Chicago’s Willow Creek Church.  We were both at a conference in Seattle.  He told me about a project he had started called “Wedding Pastors USA dot org.”  He also invited me to put my own page up on the site.

The impetus for Wedding Pastors is that many pastors are unwilling to do weddings for people who are not members of their own church.  Therefore Wedding Pastors offers this service to people who would like to have a pastor help them through this important moment.  I now have a page at that website, and people looking for a pastor in the Merced area can find me.

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