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!