For all of you who took in the I-Heart Revolution movie, I love hearing how God stirs hearts. Please write down your thoughts.
This should get you started:
As you took it all in, how would describe what God was stirring in your heart to DO?
Tag Archive for 'direction'
http://www.vimeo.com/5789336
In thinking about what we want to accomplish in the next year and our vision for the church, we’re reminded of the importance of prayer.
It is a faith-building blast to find myself in very serious discussions about opening our church in Washington Square Mall. Our trustees gathered last night to discuss it again. The consensus has been that the idea makes sense. Beginning years ago, I remember asking God to do a work in our church where something like Washington Square Mall made sense. That’s what I am still praying. And, honestly, my prayer has been that we, as a church would grow so much, moving to the mall was and obvious, matter of fact solution. All that seems to be happening now. It’s fun to watch a prayer enter the “seen” realm.
Continue reading ‘The Mall Process’
Keep in mind, there is much more to say but I’m trying to boil it down as much as possible.
Our Senior Leadership Team took a couple of days this week to attempt a final wrestling with the Edge / Summit debate. We knew we needed to make a decision and move forward. And we have.
Here is a “Top 10″ list of things to keep in mind about our proposed solution:
PROBLEM. We have an undeniable problem. We have never attempted to ignore, hide or NOT be proactive about solving it. The problem is that the Edge is growing and needs more space to continue to grow, while the Summit is declining.
Continue reading ‘The Summit-Edge solution’
We told everyone to watch my blog for updates on what is happening in the Edge-Summit discussion. In this post, I want to give you a peek into why the question doesn’t have an easy answer and has not finally and fully been answered. We are committed to resolving the issues and coming down on a plan within the next week. In the meantime, here’s a glance at a principle that keeps the discussion lively to say the least.
I’ll begin with a story from Jesus life:
Continue reading ‘More Summit-Edge discussion.’
We might as well say it: we’re in a weird spot with more questions than answers at this point.
Edge growth at 11 is stuck for the time being. It’s prime time and we have filled it. Edge 9 has enabled us to move more people in and we should continue to do what we can do to fill it too. Then what? Where do we go in the short term? Do we invest in setting up another site even before the mall? The mall is currently beyond our reach financially. We have to grow into it.
And, it’s no secret – the Summit is in decline.
Continue reading ‘Summit-Edge Vision Questions’
My Leadership “Signposts”
I’m not sure why I decided to call them by that name, but I have for the last several years. I counsel people all the time: when confused or in need of direction from God, always look BACK to the “signposts” –those times when you WERE clear and had direction from the Lord in a special way. I maintain that most of us have had moments when the sense of being directed is very strong and very clear. Sometimes prayer moments seem to “connect” on a special and memorable level. I’ve learned to make special note of those moments, especially when life crowds up with stresses and conflicting priorities. Although some days I do it much deeper than others, as a leader, I DAILY try to check my “guidance systems” for where the Lord not only wants me to go but where He is wanting to go with the church.
Tonight I decided to be more methodical and specific and write down, in a new format, all of those critical moments from the last few years. I highly recommend the practice. It was very helpful. It served to simplify matters in my mind. Church life in a place the size of BTCC can get pretty complicated. The problems and challenges can be overwhelming just in their dizzying variety. Honestly, from time to time it will make you want to go live in a van down by the river! But, as I looked back on those “signpost” moments, I was reminded of my big picture priorities.
I may tell the story around each one of them someday (if anyone cares). A couple of the stories I’ve told from the pulpit. The “pray until the lights come on” while in Kabul is an example. For now though, I am more interested in the result:
When I distilled the signposts down to the fundamentals, they all came down to 5 basic “callings” I am very confident should guide my leadership (each of them have details underneath the surface statement):
1) Make sure we pursue worship services that “inspire extravagant worship” and run that vision all the way to children’s ministry.
2) “Projects” – productions designed to “make the case for the faith” as if unbelievers are the only ones in the room.
3) Missions: the “one to one” relationship with the least reached countries of the world, especially partnering with the Chinese and their dream of taking the gospel Back to Jerusalem.
4) Doing it all, not only as a Lead Pastor, but with my family deeply engaged.
5) Honoring the heritage of our church –realizing I am of the generation that is living off of the generosity and faithfulness of others.
All of these are to be under-girded and guided by the values of: intellectual integrity, spiritual power & artistic sensibility.
Those are the biggies for me. As I lead, those are the guidance systems that will always be signs planted in the road to give perspective and direction no matter what comes.
