That’s Why It’s Here

A person who has always intrigued me is Walt Disney.  When you think of vision you have to think of Walt Disney.  Here is a man who had a dream to build a world that would capture and engage the imagination.  What I didn’t know is that he died before the completion of the project.  Soon after the completion of The Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, someone said, “Isn’t it too bad Walt Disney didn’t live to see this?” Vance replied, “He did see it. That’s why it’s here.” Even after Walt Disney passed from this life, his vision for the future held strong. He had established firmly in the minds of all those he came in contact with the vision he held for the future. He had a passion and a desire and those things are contagious.  Because of that passion and desire people today plan their entire year around visiting the Magic Kingdom.

Walt once said, “As a leader you must live like everyone matters… too many leaders keep their distance from employees physically & emotionally.” Walt said, “The ability to relate with all types of people and backgrounds is not a gift, but a learned behavior.” Disney has learned that people will return on two things: 1.Satisfied with first visit. 2.The biggest return is positive interaction with Disney staff.

All that to say, for a vision to be complete and for it to last it has to be all about people.  Walt Disney was an example of connecting with people and connecting people with the vision.  Walt Disney World exists today because people bought into him as a leader because he lived out the vision in every area of his life.

What are you trying to sell?  What is your vision?  Are you fighting to be heard or do people listen because you care about people and your vision is compelling?

Rethink Possible

AT&T has a new marketing campaign titled “Rethink Possible”.  On their site is a little intro video type thing that explains this.  Here is what it says: Expand your boundaries of can.  See what’s on the other side of to far.  Play the angel’s advocate.  Outsmart can’t.  Put a restriction on your limits and expect to be wowed.  Explore.  Try.  Do.  Because before it could be done, it couldn’t.  These are indeed amazing times.  Rethink Possible. I love it.  We can argue all day long about what cell phone company has the best coverage, lowest rates and least dropped calls but that is not what this is about.  AT&T is trying to get the consumer to think outside the box and think about what can be.

The church is no different.  For years there was a certain way to do church.  Hymnals, KJV, Sunday’s best.  Long talks that lacked application but were full of information.  Then people started to “rethink possible.”  Churches started adding musicians and became relevant and progressive.  People wore whatever they wanted to church. Other versions of the Bible were taught. People started inviting their neighbors.  Talks were shortened and people were challenged.  Life groups and community began to happen.  People began to think missionally.   Satellite churches were launched and multi-site campuses became the norm.  Churches became portable and met in theaters, schools coffee shops and some churches actually double as a business.  Internet campuses were formed and community was developed through social networks like Twitter and facebook.

How we do things today will not be the way they are done in 5 years or even 3 years.  Culture is changing and the church must adapt without losing it’s true identity.  No it’s identity is not in song selections, clothing and versions but instead in what it is doing to connect people to the very core of it all…Jesus.  All the bells and whistles do not replace the work of the Holy Spirit in an individuals life.  So as culture moves so must the church and so must we as individuals who make up the church.  There are people who would be willing to listen if they could understand what we are saying, not in our words but in our actions.  Live out your faith today and “rethink possible.”

A Gathering Force

Francis Chan wrote an article back in 2008 titled, A Gathering Force for Catalyst.  I found what he wrote to be very exciting, alarming and unattainable, but is it?  Read part of this article and share with me your thoughts below.

“Is there any logic in believing that God started His church as a spirit-filled, loving body with the intention that it would evolve into entertaining, hour-long services?  Was He hoping that one day people would be attracted to the church not because they care for one another, not because they are devoted to Him, not because the supernatural occurs in their midst, but because of good music and entertainment?

Try to imagine what conclusions you would come to if you had no prior church experience.  The things in church services might make sense to the American church-attendee, but they don’t make sense biblically.

Picture yourself on an island with only a Bible.  You’ve never been to a church-you’ve never even heard of one.  The only ideas you have about church are what you’ve read in your Bible. Then you enter a building labeled “church” for the first time.  What would you expect to experience as you entered that building?  Now compare that to what you actually experience when you attend church.

What if the church looked like this?  ’They devoted themselves tot he apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.  Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.  All the believers were together and had everything in common.  Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.  Every day they continued to meet together int he temple courts.  They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.  And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.’ (Acts 2:42-47)

It describes what the world is looking for.  I used to look at this passage as something that was wonderful but could never happen int he twenty-first century.  There are just too many cultural obstacles for the Holy Spirit to overcome.  He is powerful enough to form a sharing and loving body in our individualistic society.  I doubted God’s ability to stir a body of believers to love tirelessly and give without restraint.  I reasoned that this type of fellowship was probably not intended for our time.  Besides, we don’t have time to love like this.

Looking back, I wonder if I came to those conclusions because there was a part of me that wasn’t sure I wanted it.  It’s interesting how much our theology is driven by desire.

Something real was happening in the early church.  It was something of the Spirit, too powerful to be replicated by human effort.  Imagine taking a friend to one of their church gatherings.  Your friend might not experience a smoothly run, professional service. But one thing he would experience: God.  Do we even need to ask which is better?  So much of church growth today has nothing to do with the Holy Spirit.  The right team of talented people can make any church grow.  When people sit through creative services, is it really God they’re experiencing?

Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying that we shouldn’t give our best to God.  If you’re a musician, work diligently are your music.  If your a teacher, labor intensely over your messages.  I’m just asking you to be willing to rethink what you’re doing and ask: How can we create a more biblical environment where people see and experience God?

May people see our churches and know that mere human beings could not have created what they experienced.  May we seek the priorities of the early church and trust God to once again produce the fruit of the early church.  ’And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.’ (Acts2:47″

Great reminder for me to not be performance based but Spirit based.

100 Day Prayer Challenge

Eric on Sunday challenged the church to 100 days of prayer.  I thought why not challenge everybody who reads this blog to jump on board and pray as well.  You pray for my church and I’ll pray for your church if you list your church below.  The only way we will see God move throughout is if people humble themselves and pray  for His will and not ours.  Below is what our church [Fellowship Church] is praying for and I believe it to be universal.

• Be unified and motivated to serve
• Grow as a community who love and accept each other and new people wherever they’re at
• Develop a heart for our local community, our schools, our neighbors, in demonstrating our love for them and meeting their needs, expecting nothing in return
• Become people who invest in our community and invite them into our church family

So how about it?  Can you commit the next 100 days to lift your church and mine up in prayer to God?

Discover God’s Heart from Fellowship Today on Vimeo.

Human Trafficking Awareness Day

In case you didn’t know, January 11th is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day.  To be honest with you a year ago I had no clue this existed.  I watched the movie Taken where Liam Neeson beat everyone down [I'm convinced he even took Jack Bauer over his knee in that movie] because his daughter was taken and sold into sex slavery in Europe.  I watched and something happened in me where I wondered if that really went on.  Over the last year I have heard more and more about it and God has really turned my heart towards these social justice causes.  Really God has opened my eyes up to many social justice issues such as: poverty, homelessness, slavery, clean water, free/fair trade products, all things that I didn’t even know were issues a year ago.

Today I want to focus on this Human Trafficking and want you to check out a 3 minute video to simply make you aware of the issue and cause you to ask yourself the question, what can I do?  The reality is this is a huge issue in the United States and affects so many woman and children.

Disclaimer:  This video is edgy and may be offensive to some and this video does not reflect Fellowship Church and anybody affiliated with Fellowship Church.  This is simply my attempt as an individual to get you thinking. This video is taken from the site Sexandmoneyfilm.com, which is one of several sites that brings to light the issues of Human Trafficking.

What are your thoughts?  Did you know this was an issue?  What are your thoughts on social justice issues?

Here is a link to a PDF, 11 Practical Ideas to Combat Slavery.

PDF was taken from Charles Lee blog that was promoted through Catalyst.

Servolution

I am reading a book called Servolution by Dino Rizzo and literally the first page got my attention which is not easy to do with my whole ADD (hey look a butterfly), what was I saying? The idea of the book is starting a revolution through serving. Serving others with no expectations of receiving anything in return. Here is a snippet from the book:

“This book is about revolution. But this is a different kind of revolution-not fueled by anger, violence, and revolt but one of compassion, love and service. This revolution has a clear mission to answer the cries of the poor, the hurting, and the forgotten and is made up of revolutionaries willing to lay down their lives to reach out to people in their cities, in their nations, and throughout the world. This is a revolution aimed at initiating change, but not by overthrowing a government; this change comes by bringing healing to a hurting world and by loving people to Christ. We call it servolution: a significant change in the course of history sparked by simple acts of kindness.”

I know for a fact that I can become a lot better in this area and I wonder could you? If so, what? What can be done to reach this community and serve this community? What ideas do you have? I have heard from some and they are amazing and I am sure I will get a chance to share those later.

Vision 2009

I love vision. I love leadership. I love seeing the local church step up and become what God created it to be. I can’t even begin to tell you how important this previous series we just did was. Gus did a great job communicating what the vision of Fellowship Church is. We are here to redefine church through relationships not religion.

As Gus said all of our resources, time and energy go into what we call the BIG 5: Sunday Morning, Life Groups, Children, Missions and Students…

Everything we do is focused around those five areas. The reality is we could do more, but to do more would cause us to a lot of stuff good but nothing great, we know what God has called us to do. The how is always evolving. That is why our six core values could change at any time as God changes our heart and our focus.

Our six core values are:
Embrace People
We welcome, include and love all people from all walks of life. We reach out to everyone without expecting anything in return.
Live Authentically
We are transparent and honest about who we are and where we’re at in our lives. We do not hide behind a spiritual mask.
Engage Culture
We value culture as a way to connect with people across generational and ethnic boundaries. We leverage culture to communicate our and God’s love for people.
Apply Truth
We seek to live out biblical truth instead of just gaining knowledge. We learn how to apply truth so it makes a difference in our everyday lives.
Empower People
We give everyone the opportunity to dream and be who they are, enabling you to participate in church life regardless of where you are at in your spiritual journey.
Building Bridges
We reach out to others to be good neighbors and meet needs in our local community and across the world.

Jump on board with us as we redefine church for the lost, broken, hurt, confused people in the Delaware Valley.

Urban Promise

There is a guy at Urban Promise who’s name is James. James is from England and James was created to work with the street leaders from Urban Promise. I was blown away by his ability to connect and earn their respect. He does an incredible job in leading them as they lead others.

I met James last September because of a connection that Mary Davis had and instantly we there was a chemistry when it came to teenagers. He is basically a youth pastor to inner city youth and he does a phenomenal job. Every street leader had great things to say about him. He mentioned to me in September about speaking for their street leader retreat and since I like to talk I was really excited about it. On Saturday I had the privilege of speaking twice and seeing 11 students cross over from death to life. To be honest they are so gracious in that very few people from the African American culture go to serve them, typically it is white churches going and they are always so respectful and attentive even though I am sure that they don’t relate to a lot of what we are talking about.

As I would talk about divorce to our teens these street leaders don’t relate because they have never met their parents. If I talk to our teens about a friend committing suicide the street leaders don’t relate because they have to be aware of being killed. Even though we are so different in so many ways we are still in love with the same Jesus who transforms and changes lives. It was such an honor to speak to these street leaders who this summer will pour into and shape the next generation of kids in Wilmington.