Is Bigger Better #OC12

Is bigger better? Sometimes yes and sometimes no. I know that it's hard for all next generation leaders to deal with because we are addicted to growth. We find joy in growth. We find our identity in growth. We find affirmation in growth. Sometimes we love bigger more than Jesus. I know that because I have experienced it. I have found more joy in growing numbers than my relationship with Jesus. Today Doug Fields helped us process how many times we are blinded by growth, blinded by our pace, and blinded by comparison. Here are his thoughts from the session...

Many time we focus on the wrong things. Here are some spotlights that blind us...

Numbers / when bigger is better you feel the pressure to feed the beast

Pace of life / ministry becomes a sprint, you skim on relationships

Constant comparison / outside the church, inside the church, how we speak, how they speak

When you focus on these things too much you get burned and drained. The majority of us focus on these way too much.

With healed / corrected vision...

Bigger is NOT better, better is better / people do not want to be a number they want to be known, people want to be a part of a thriving organization not a big organization,

Hurry is the enemy of depth / business comes with a price tag, depth of people, myself, and Jesus comes when we slow down

Replace comparison with effectiveness / we need to stop comparing and start abiding in Jesus, effectiveness helps us find peace in giving our all

We need Jesus to open our eyes. He is the real light of life not artificial light.

Just a few more ideas Doug through out...
When people talk about how busy they are something is broken.
Every leader, ministry, and church looks better from a distance than is in reality.
When you look to the future do you like the kind of leader you are becoming.

Making Exponential Change #OC12

Leading change is one of the hardest things any leader has to do. Most next generation leaders love change. We love change because we know it will help the ministry grow. The people you lead are not always as excited about change because you are changing their routine. Our team at Grace Community Church understand this process because we are a little addicted to change. We also have experienced the pain of change when the people resisted the process. Today at The Orange Conference Carey Nieuwhof talked us through the process of making exponential change in our church culture. Check out these 5 steps to take and look for his ebook on this process summer of 2012.

1. Start by casting a vision bigger than yourself (your organization)
Outward vision attracts people.
A bigger vision implies bigger change.
Plot and share trajectory. Reveal where we are doing and what happens if there is no change.

2. Focus on the why behind the what.
Why is the best question a leader can answer.
Why unites.
How and what divides.

3. Set realistic expectation for everyone
Understand but don't be deterred by the cost.
People will leave.
Change before decline. Courageous leaders ask questions in their best days.
Changing what's working can create greater long term success.
Asking questions early leads to a season of conflict.
Conflict is not fun but you will have to make change before others see the need.
The greatest threat to your future success is your current success.

4. Communicate in concentric circles.
Make sure the people most invested have the most information.
Dialog with the core. / Don't make changes in isolation.
Get input from the committed. / Many times people don't want to make decisions they just want input.
Get information to the congregation.
Vision to the crowd.
Invitation to the community.

5. Be prepared to change again. You are never done.
Don't rest on your success. Don't trust in your success more than the need to change.
Stay committed to the vision but not nessesarily to the methods.
Hold your model loosely and your mission tightly.

What kind of kids are we raising? #OC12

What kind of kids are we raising? That's a question every parent, educator, and next generation pastor asks often. This morning we started the day off at the Orange Conference with Craig Groechel asking us that question. I know if you have kids or you serve kids then you probably have a few thoughts about the question. Here are the notes from today's talk!

As parents and as leaders what is success for the next generation?
Culture says: success is raising well rounded well educated happy kids
Jesus said: what good is it for a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul

We are called by God to release single minded, biblically anchored, Christ centered, kids who are world changers.
The quickest way to move off track in life is to be more concerned with what people think of us over what God thinks about us.

How do we raise kids that are single minded, christ centered, biblically anchored kids...

Enlist supporting voices. / the parents voice is always the most important voice but it can't be the only voice.

Raise the expectation / we reduce following Jesus to loving God with some of our heart and not all. We have to raise the standard. What are our standards for teens? Stay out of trouble. We have a generation we are raising who have low standards. Teens believe they can do what they are told they can do. They will rise to the standard we set.

When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. (1 Corinthians 13:11, 12 NLT)

Keep it real / make sure faith is real and consistent in all areas of life. This generation can sense fake. They will do what they see is real.

Get Messy #OC12

Tonight Reggie Joiner opened up the Orange Conference and even as I type this I am trying to wrap my mind around he full weight of his talk tonight. The truth is that what we do in family ministry is messy because the Gospel is messy. You can't serve teens, kids, college students, preschoolers, or parents and led them to Jesus and not get messy. Some of us have spent so much time eliminating the mess from our life and our ministry that we forgot the gospel is messy. Tonight we processed the idea of living in the mess and helping families learn to live their faith in a messy messy world. Jesus lives in the mess...why are we not joining Him there. I'm just gonna share these thoughts and let you process it with us here at the conference. Here are my notes...I'm still processing...

The gospel is messy. // Sometimes God places messy people in our lives to remind us that the gospel is messy!

There is no way to do what we do in ministry without getting messy

There was no way for Jesus to do what He did without getting messy. // Jesus did not die to make you happy just to make you forgiven.

There is no way to make disciples without getting messy. //The disciples were willing to get messy because they watched Jesus for three years do ministry in the mess. The gospel is not just about creating environments where Christians can become more Christian. The gospel is about stepping into the mess with the message of hope and salvation. This is not something we sign up for. We are called to this. Times are changing but we stand strong because we serve a Savior that understands messy.

There is no way to make disciples without them getting messy. // We must invite this generation into the process and get messy doing ministry so they are equipped to do ministry in a messy world when they leave. The gospel transcends culture. What would happen if the world around us actually believed we loved them. We raise kids who have faith in a God bigger than our church and our theology.

#Fammin events for churches who are in portable environments #OC12

At Grace Community Church we are a portable church. We rent 2 schools for our Sunday environments and we rent a local church on Wednesday nights for our student ministry. We live the portable idea every week. Sometimes we love it and sometimes we hate it. One thing we try to never do is allow our facility to limit our ministry possibilities. When God gives an idea we know He will make a way. I went to a great session today on how to do family ministry events even when you don't own your facility. Buildings don't do ministry, people do. In the portable church world we simply have to think outside the box. Here are some things we are doing at GCC and some ideas that I heard at the breakout today at the Orange Conference. Here are some ideas...

• Host a Preschool FX on Sunday mornings or after church at a local park.
• Have a Parade day in a neighborhood.
• Host a Live nativity at a park in December.
• At GCC we are renting out a skating rink for a skate night for families.
• Use a projector and screen and host a Movie night
• Host a easter event...call it something crazy like an eggstavaganza!
• Take your Preschool families to a local pumpkin patch during the week.
• Have Serve days at schools for parents and kids to serve together
• Have a Familt Experience for the community in a theatre or local park.
• Glow in the dark Easter egg hunt on Saturday night of Easter for the community!
• Karaoke night for families / dinner and dance!!
• Mother - daughter tea / Father daughter dance at a rented facility
• Have a Battle of the bands for teens with bands.
• Use the facility you rent to have a family experience after your last church service once a month.
• Chalk up the town / one street free chalk lots of art and yes get permission!

Ok, there ya go. Never let your facility determine how you serve families. Find a way, have fun, and go for it!

 

 

Understanding the middle school mind #OC12

My first breakout from Orange this morning was with Tom Shefchunas and we looked at how to understand the middle school mind. I'm pretty passionate about middle school ministry because I have seen it shape the lives of many great leaders over the years. Here is a thought I hope you will process that Tom reminded us this morning. When you don't understand where your kids are at physically and emotionally you begin to see them as problems to solve. The truth is that we are the last preventative ministry in the life of every teen. They are still forming their identity. They are in discovery mode and we get to invest in their lives. Here are a few things Shef reminded us about this time in the life of a middle school student...

A brain can only do what it is capable of doing.

For middle schoolers...Prefrontal cortex doesn't develop until people are 25 years old. It controls... Alertness and attention / Planning and forethought / Priority setting /Working memory / Multi-tasking / Regulating appropriate social behavior

For middle schoolers...theire Cerebellum is in a state of renovation.
Balance / Language / Motor coordination /Attention

Middle school students are experiencing synaptic pruning - the brain focuses on keeping what is repeated and getting rid of stuff that is not used. Ideas become hard wired by experiences and repetition. Extra info sometimes get lost! We have to teach less for more because the truth is that kids are only going to learn so much. You can't teach kids everything. You have to decide at the end of the day what is most important.

Middle school students are learning about this idea...Metacognition - the ability to have a conversation with yourself. / middle schoolers hear themselves for the first time.

They realize...
The world does not revolve around them.
Their parents are not perfect. They lose trust.
They are not perfect. They lose trust in themselves.
Others have ideas that are just as important as theirs.
They ask themselves for the first time. Do I believe in mom and dads god?

With middle school students we can expect...
A struggle with sense of identity
Moodiness
They are more likely to express feelings by actions and not words.
Close friendships gain importance.
Less affection shown to parents.
A tendency to return to childish behavior.
Developmental schizophrenia
Peer groups influence interests and clothing style.
A feeling of invincibility
Engagement in risky behaviorsPreference to be with friends over family.
Realize parents are not perfect and sometimes point that out.
A search for new adults to confide in other than parents.