show me the money!

It has been amazing to watch our country go into PANIC mode about the economy. All of us who lead and work in non profits feel the pinch. Yes, we are in an economic slow down. Yes, these are difficult times for many people around the world. But, do we have to stay in panic mode? The question we have here on our team is how will we react? In staff meeting this morning we talked about the economy, how it is effecting giving at Grace Community, and how we will move forward from this time. Yes we are planning on moving forward. We do not have the option of PANIC mode when we serve the God who holds it all in His hand. We must move forward, make wise choices, and trust God to accomplish His plans here through GCC. I have fallen in love with Google Reader. I wanted to post what the campus pastor at Buckhead Church in Atlanta shared on the Buckhead Church blog today. Yes, this came through the glory of GOOGLE READER, google is taking over, WOW! Anyway, I think this sums it up...

The economy has generated a lot of concern among businesses, families and non-profit organizations. And understandably so.

At Buckhead, we want to lead very well during this season. Last week, I shared with our leadership team that I want us as a church to “respond but not retreat.”

This simply means that I want us to respond to the situation by continuing to use the financial systems we have in place allowing us to make wise stewardship decisions. At the same time, I do not want us retreating at all from the mission God has placed before us.

We will continue to do our very best to be wise stewards of the resources entrusted to us. And we will also move with confidence and faith that God is with us.

As your campus pastor, I greatly value your continued confidence and support which allows us to respond wisely to the current economic situation but not retreat one inch from leading people into a growing relationship with Christ.

Jeff

Churched by Matthew Paul Truner

Started reading this book last Thursday and just have not been able to put it down. Matthew Paul Turner ( http://www.matthewpaulturner.com) is a writer, blogger, thinker, follower of Christ. The book i simply his story of growing up in a fundamentalist church in the 80's. As I read I just could not stop laughing. The book is an honest on open look at life in his church growing up. I have not connected with a book like this since Blue Like Jazz, and I fully recommend it for all of you out there trying to get over your churched upbringing.

I am so thankful that my parents were Christ followers but the with my church experience it was difficult to connect church and the teachings of Jesus. It was almost like we believed we could never be like Jesus because He was perfect so we need all these rules and this institution to keep us all on track. The amazing thing is that I became a follower of Jesus at a young age but even then I wondered why church had to be so boring and non- Jesus like. Jesus was amazing, the churches in our town really were not.

I think I connected with the book because it is my story. So many of the stories in the book were situations I lived out and experienced. The difference for me was that my Dad as the pastor. I was able to see God change my Dad's view of FAITH as He changed me personally. By the time I was in college I began to see the possibility of church. I felt called to the movement of church not the institution. Now I serve at a church where we are striving to recreate church as a movement and not an institution. We are striving to create a place where we can remove distractions and allow people to gather, commit to community, and serve each other each week. We hope to create a space where people can be honest about their broken lives and the pastors do not have to pretend to be spiritual superheroes that have it all together. We are just a group of people trying to think, live, parent, work, and serve like Jesus Christ. So I thought today I would just make a list of some of the funny things I learned in my days of being a kid and teen in church. Yes these are funny but sad at the same time, this is what I had to GET OVER...

1. Revelation movies about the rapture are VERY SCARY! I had many nightmares!
2. You should always dress up for church because God expects that we give our best. We need to look, PROPER, at church. (in middle school my parents started to let us wear Air Jordans to church, I told my Sunday School teachers when they complained that my shoes cost more than their whole outfit!)
   
3. Southern Gospel is God's kind of music.
4. Rock and Roll is devil music. (this one ticked me off then BAD, I remember hiding my tapes of ACDC and early rap music, NWA, go Easy E)
   
5. Only sinners go see movies rated other than G.
   
6. It is ok to call out from the "pulpit" people who smoke, gamble, drink alcohol,lie, steal, are homosexual, or have had any moral failure.
7. If you are not a Christian then you are "stupid".
   
8. Christians are Republicans.
9. When you are at camp you have to wear pants to the worship service at night because that is what God wants and the best way to be respectful and NO GIRLS can ever go swimming with a 2 piece bathing suit.
   
10. Handing our tracks and carrying your Bible to school or work are the best way to tell people about Jesus. If they do not accept Christ, then oh well, they are going to Hell and they deserve it.
11. You cannot be friends with people who are not Christians because they will WRECK your life and THEY ARE DANGEROUS.
    
12. The goal for kids it to get them saved so they will not burn in Hell. After salvation we can make them good "church" people.
13. You always have to go to church 3 times a week on Sunday morning, night and Wed night!
14. Revivals that last 7 days are awesome. The longer it goes the better it is!

So there are some of the wild things I heard and picked up at church growing up. I am just glad my kids will have a different experience! What are some of your crazy "growing up at church" memories?

innovation...

I love innovation. I love seeing things get better. One of the cool tings about Apple as a company is with all their products they are on a mission to make them better. They never arrive, they are always trying to make the products and services they have better. The environment I work and strive in is a church. In my day to day life at GCC I have a passion to see our team make this local church the best it can be. I love that we have the freedom to innovate, create, start, quit, and dream. When we meet as a staff we are always asking ourselves how we make things better. Part of innovation is simply exploring new ideas. The idea of the Internet being our second campus here at GCC is not a new idea but the idea of "Internet church" or "Internet campus" where people can connect with each other and with God is new. Imagine someone claiming to go to Grace Community totally by an online experience. That would be very new for us but the reality is that we have hundreds of soldiers doing this every week overseas. If you have time check out Pete Wilson's post about Internet church. Check out the comments posted and think about it. Goof stuff Pete!

mind dump...

Just got home from GCC today and I was just blown away with all God impressed on my heart. It was a great day. I just wanted to get some thoughts out from the morning...

• Grace Acres and Cross Street (our kids ministry www.gcomkids.com) were both amazing this morning. I got to hear both groups in their music time and those kids were singing to God.
• In Cross Street the kids are singing Broadcast by Steve Fee! Man I wish I had music like that when i was a kid. Broadcast is an amazing song for kids to grab hold of. Go check that song out.
• Dr. Kent Hughes (Kent as I like to call him) spoke today in our gathering about communication in marriage. It was a great talk, go get the podcast. In tough time Satan attacks marriages. we just want to everything we ca do to help families thrive.
• Grateful for my wife today, she is amazing! Love ya baby! (got to get that in after that talk on communication)
  
• In our gathering the band led Everlasting God, love that verse saying that "strength will rise when we wait upon the Lord", WOW...just a reminder that I am always in process and always in need of His strength!
• With the end of fall break we had an amazing crowd, I was just reminded how much I love the people God is bringing to GCC. There is an amazing vibe and it is great to see people connect before and after service.
• Got to have lunch with a group of high school and college students who feel called to ministry. What a blessing, God is calling out incredible people to serve Him.
  
• I am a better person when the Vols win! Now I am going to watch the Titan game on DVR and spend the evening with my family. Go Titans!
  

winning is just better, go vols!

I may have been the one guy in Clarksville who paid the cash to watch the Vols play tonight against Mississippi State. I just can not give up. I know the season is a train wreck but I am hooked. I love my Vols. The offense is still a work in progress but once again our D showed up ready to play. In the picture above, that guy is praising God for a touchdown, YES God loves the Vols. Honestly I am just a better person when the Vos win...I am learning a ton about losing this year. I will take the win this week. Thrilled I got to see it. Love that the undefeated Crimson tide get to come to Neyland Stadium ths week. Go Vols!

CRAVE is coming...

At relevant (www.relevantstudents.com) we do one fall and one spring retreat. Crave is our fall retreat and of course like everything else around here we try to do the retreat a little different. Instead is going to the woods or mountains we go to a major city. This year we are hitting downtown Chattanooga. We wanted to make a little promo video for this amazing weekend so here goes the LO -RES version, enjoy...this may win an Oscar!

candy corn? why do I love it...

I took a picture of this delightful treat right before I ate them. Yes, I ate them. I admit this is one of my favorite things about fall. Candy Corn is amazing. I am not sure why I love it so much. Add peanuts and hang on to your seat. Today I salute you candy corn for all your greatness. Bring on fall. This week it finally felt like fall. I just had to pay tribute. Here is my favorite things about fall list...

1. the weather, wow - what more can I say
2. the Tennessee Vols
3. the Tennessee Titans
4. like I said candy corn!
5. seeing my kids have a blast during Halloween
6. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. I love what is stands for and the fact that you actually get to rest and connect with family!
7. There is an excitement in the air about things going on at GCC, REMIX, Operation Serve, a new school year - it is just good.
8. did I say football???

What are some things you love about fall?

relationships

One of my greatest assets in ministry is a wife who has a passion for the ministry I lead. Yes, Chelsea is amazing! My wife is a lifegroup leader for us in relevant student ministry and leads a great group of high school girls each week at REMIX. Tonight she has a few of them coming over to hang out. Yes I get to take care of Kozbi and Kelyn then go hide so they can have fun and watch movies that do not interest me at all. This weekend another leader (Becky Edwards!) is having a bunch of girls over and in September two middle school group leaders (Jeremy and Nate) did a laser tag event. Here is the point. RELATIONSHIPS MATTER more than my weekly talk or what songs the band leads at REMIX. If relationships are going to become the focus of our ministry then it is so important to empower my youth volunteers to become investors and not just task people. If you are a student pastor you will never be able to connect with all your kids. I promise if you surround yourself with 10 other leaders who care and invest into teens the ministry you lead will thrive. Why? Because teens need to be known and cared for if they are going to begin to live out what God wants for them. Teens need relationships that matter in their life. They need to see what following Christ looks like. They need to be mentored. When we free up our volunteers to become youth ministers with us we can do this. Thanks to all our lifegroup leaders for going the extra mile. Thanks for investing into the students you lead!

follow through...

We have a retreat called CRAVE in 2 weeks. Do you know why we are staying the hotel we are using (the Marriott downtown)? Because Emad from sales followed through and contacted me back the week I made a request. 4 hotels in Chattanooga contacted and one followed through. They have been great to work with and they got our attention because they did their job and contacted me back with an offer. Today in the church and business world if you want to be amazing...just do the basics well! There are so many churches and businesses doing terrible jobs at the basics that the basics now stand out. Is your team following through with people? We are asking that question here and trying to get better at simply following through. I think it will stand out!

If you need a hotel in Chattanooga, check out the Marriott Downtown...
(http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/chadt-chattanooga-marriott-at-the-convention-center/)

Thanks to Emad for following through and doing a great job for us at Grace Community!

hard work...

Yea that picture is my back yard. It is fall break here so Chelsea and I got tired of looking at our backyard with no grass and decided to do something about it. The previous owners had dogs. They destroyed our yard. Right now I wish I could strangle those dogs, but that is another post. We started Monday and we finally got finished Wednesday night. Digging, raking, picking up rocks, seeding, fertilizing, and straw are killing me. I am way over it but as I took that picture I could not help but think about how things that matter are filed with hard work. I promise if it is worth doing it will be hard. If a cause is worth working for it will be filled with challenges and struggle. In the end the hard work leads to payoff, the promise, the goal. For my backyard the payoff is grass. I hope we get grass. In the middle of this project I was ready to quit. I know in next spring I will be glad I did not. What are you in the middle of that is hard? If it is worth fighting for it will be hard. Just get ready and put on some gloves (if you are in the back yard with NO GRASS!)