Planting a New Seed

Today is the final service at my home church in Boise. I fondly remember the years growing up, and all the  teachers who invested in me: Steve and Becky Overlin, Nick and Lindale Adams, Dave and Eileen Benton, Paxton Tupper, Nadine Mack, Joel Rice and so many more. I remember falling asleep on my parents laps during the sermon and getting woken up by one of the elders in the church week after week. I know I probably shouldn't tell a story about falling asleep in church, but I experienced the love of Christ when Steve Altman took the time to wake me up and talk to me for a few minutes after church.

The church is doing something incredible in my mind. They care so much about the mission Christ has set upon them to reach the world, they are closing their doors. At first glance this may seem like giving up, but it is quite the opposite, they are sacrificing their own pride, name, rituals and traditions and are giving their building and other resources to help plant a new church. The church and its leaders have the insight to see how they have been ineffective in reaching a growing community. They want to see a church in Southwest Boise who is effectively reaching those who don't know the love of Christ.

In my mind they are planting a seed for the Kingdom. Jesus often used farming illustrations when he spoke, and one commonality in all farming illustrations is the care it takes for a seed to grow. Someone must take the effort to plant the seed in fertile soil and tend to that seed. Without the seed being planted the Kingdom would not grow. Today my church is planting a seed that will grow, it will start small, but with the proper care it will grow to effect the world.

Thank you to the people and leaders at Desert's Edge Christian Church for being people who are selflessly looking to better the world and their community and I look forward to seeing the fruit of this seed in Contact Christian Church led by Daro Thol.

Reading for pleasure

I am entering the first year of my adult life outside of school, and after 7 years of college it is nice to read a book that I chose to read. I have joined in on a mens study group that is reading based. The first book we are discussing is "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. I have had the opportunity to read Chan's Forgotten God (see video The Big Red Tractor) and have had the opportunity to hear him speak, but this is my first time through Crazy Love.

Today we looked at the second chapter of Crazy Love. The title is "You may not make it through this Chapter." The big idea Chan gets at is that our lives should be entirely focused on God. He points out that our worry and stress show our reliance on our own efforts and energy. Worry proves our distrust of God and his path for our lives and the stress of our busy schedules gives us the excuse to let the world revolve around us and our priorities instead of the priorities of God. This chapter takes me back to what Jesus told us in Matthew 6:33, to seek the Kingdom first and when we do that the rest of our life will be ordered by God. I am cut to the core when I realize how far I still must grow to truly be singularly focused on the Kingdom. I realized that this week when I we fasted as a church, cutting food from my life showed the other distractions I have that keep me from seeking God. I look forward to continuing Crazy Love in the weeks to come, check it out www.crazylovebook.com.

Today in our staff meeting we looked at the spheres of influence in a growing church. The premise is that there is always a core group of people who start a church. That core group sets the "DNA" (The DNA of a church is the culture, vision and mission) of the church.  The core group then influences those who have not bought into the vision and mission of the church ( or the periphery). A growing church will grow its core of people who believe in the DNA of that particular church. The aim is to maintain two spheres of influence, which means there are always people who have already bought into the mission of the church influencing those who have not yet bought into the mission of the church. 

One pitfall in a fast-growing church is the possibility of having 3 or 4 rings of influence within the church. This means people are inviting new people at such a rapid level that those who are on the periphery are the primary influencers of others who are on the periphery, rather than those who are already sold out to the DNA. When this occurs there can be an unhealthy DNA spreading throughout the church. 

This happens when the core stops influencing the periphery. When spheres of influence are added the DNA of the church is diluted, and ultimately unhealthy DNA is spread through the church, which ultimately impacts the effectiveness of the church in the community. 

The best way to combat the addition of unhealthy layers of influence is maintaining focus on relational discipleship, which means all those who have bought into the DNA must be encouraged to influence the periphery and in turn, grow the core. As the core grows so does the capacity for creating a healthy church environment.

This idea connected with me because I believe passion transfers primarily through relationship. In order to create disciples who are able to create disciples there are no short cuts, it takes time. It takes investing in people. The problem is most ministers spend far more time away from people than they spend with people. This is an area where I personally need to grow, it is easy to get wrapped up in the tasks that need accomplished and forget the most important aspect of church...PEOPLE!

First Post on the New Blog

Many people have asked how our move went. Well we made it, and we are making it. All I have to say is our life is an adventure. We arrived in town on Friday the 27th of August. I started at Real Life on Saturday morning with CPR training! Sunday was a big surprise, coming from a church of about 50 people we walked straight into the lobby of a church with over 900 in attendance. Actually before the 900 people arrived we were there at 7 a.m. with a crew of about 50 setting up the building that the church rents out for Sunday service. The service was great. Aaron talked about how we as Christians are meant not only to be disciples of Jesus, but we are meant to make disciples as well. To sum it up, he was saying church is not a spectator sport.

I found out Monday that I would be in charge of the Corn Maze the church is holding this year. I asked Aaron what was done, he replied "the corn is cut, the rest is up to you." before I got too overwhelmed he gave me a lesson about how work is done at RLM. He said "This is a huge project, and you are going to have to use the team to make it happen." I have been working with the team for more than two weeks now and I love working with other people. It may take more time in the short run, but in the long run I believe collaboration is more effective. A philosophy Real Life has is that a win for an the individual is a loss for the team.

I have a bunch to say about the corn maze, but I will wait until other posts. The biggest thing happening in my life and in the church right now is a week long fast. Today is day 4, and the fast will break on Saturday night. This fast is a not just for the staff, but for the entire church. The better part of 900 people on the Palouse are praying for guidance and direction from God and are giving up something in their lives that has distracted them from God. The church has a blog they are keeping for the week for people from the church to post what they are hearing from God (http://rlotpfast.blogspot.com/)

Pray for the Kingdom and for Bri and I. We are mighty hungry and looking forward to Saturday Night.

We love you guys. Thank you for your support and making this possible.