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Transfer or Transform

August 4, 2011 in Leadership, Personal thoughts with 0 Comments

I know I am being way too simplistic, but lately it seems as though I am encountering two different types of people in the church. I’ve also come to believe that leaders typically come to a crossroads as to which one of these groups they are going to try to reach. Let me try to describe the first group. They are the Transfers.

They say things like:

  •      We want pure worship
  •      Deeper teaching
  •      They have brought their preferences with them, and occasionally, their agenda.
  •      They don’t trust leadership
  •      They always find something to criticize
  •      They have a lot of pride about their own opinion
  •      They get real excited when someone they encountered in their previous transfer comes to the place they have currently transferred to.
  •      They transferred to your church, and eventually they will transfer away and be replaced by other transfers.

Unless at some point they become a part of this group. I should really put more time into this, but for now I will just call them Transformers.

  •      They love the worship. They sing loud, and to be honest not very well.
  •      They are hungry and are applying God’s word to their lives as best they can. No matter how many times they hear the same passage, they seem to get something new out of it.
  •      They trust God’s leadership in the church (that’s why it’s important not to violate that trust)
  •      They are honest and forgiving, and willing to deal with their own sin.
  •      They get real excited when they see someone they know being transformed.
  •      They will multiply themselves in the form of other transformers.
  •      They are humble, and look for ways to serve and add to the transformation.
  •      They are in an ongoing state of transformation

You can have the largest church in town with just transfers. In fact, transfers normally line up on the first Sunday of a Church Plant. They love to sample different coffee.

The churches that make the biggest difference in the community are the ones made up of transformers.

It doesn’t take a very strong leader to lead transfers. Don’t worry. They will tell you what to do.

You can be in church your whole life and remain in a state of transfer. You can’t have an authentic walk with Jesus very long before you start in transform.

You can choose which you would like to be. You can choose which you want to lead.

 

This Post Is Not About Obesity

August 3, 2011 in Personal thoughts, West Ridge Church with 1 Comment

Does anyone else have an employee at your gym that is seriously overweight? I’m not trying to be mean, and this is not a post about obesity or gluttony. It’s just I’ve been in several gyms over the years where this has been the case. I’m sure they are valuable employees. They are probably great at PR. They are always very jolly people. However, I’ve never seen these people work out, no matter what time I find myself making it to the gym…when I make it to the gym. Like I said, this is not a post about obesity. Day after day there they sit, smiling, welcoming spandex of every color and size. It just seems odd to me that a person would regularly show up at a place, and not even attempt to reap the benefits.

It’s kind of like church. Week after week thousands of people all across the country stuff their faces on sermon after sermon, Bible study after study, and never attempt to put the truth they are listening to into practice. I wonder if people outside the church look in and think, “There lives are supposed to look different. They are supposed to have all of this amazing truth at their disposal, but at the end of the day I can tell they are really not practicing the preaching they are listening to.”

But what if we did? What if we took the consumeristic culture that has infiltrated the church and turned it on its head? That’s a little of what this Super Size Series is all about. It’s about turning the apathy that has infiltrated the church into a passion to live the life that God makes available to us every single day.

Join us this and every Sunday at West Ridge Church for a series that could change not just how you approach church, but how you approach every day life.

 

 

 

Why We Do This Voodoo

May 31, 2011 in Community Makeover, Personal thoughts with 0 Comments

When some people hear you talk about churches working together to serve their community or serve a common purpose, it sounds like this mystical, mysterious, crazy talk talkin’ that people just don’t understand. Well to some it is. Maybe we can clear it up with a couple of examples:

All of the storms in the US have given lots of churches the opportunity to be a part of something larger than themselves, and bring healing and restoration to places that need it. I think about what Casey Graham did when Tornados ripped through Alabama (Check this website for an overview). He began to challenge churches to tithe 10% of an offering to Tornado Relief to help those potentially being overlooked in rural areas. He raised 10′s of thousands of dollars in a hurry. No church or individual could have done that by themselves.

I love hearing about my friends at River Church in Charleston, SC who started Love Gave last year. This is a church plant! They began this initiative in their first year. I’m mean fresher than a newborn giraffe, and they have rallied a dozen other churches, and also area businesses, to provide bikes to kids at Christmas and do some needed work in area schools. Shouldn’t church plants be worried about their own growth, and not stuff like this?

Personally, I get to lead the Engage Atlanta Community Makeover. (Last year’s highlight reel, in case you missed it) Churches from all over the city are creating a movement of compassion that is bringing new credibility and opportunity in their communities. There’s also Engage Burkina that has friends all over the country now partnering together to bring clean water, build churches, and expand education.

There are dozens and dozens of examples of this now around the country.

Some people read this and say, ‘Of course’, that’s what you do. But for way too many churches all of this is all a bunch of voodoo. It’s a foreign concept, and they sit on the sidelines.

The amazing thing is that the churches willing to get involved in collaborating with others in Kingdom initiatives larger than themselves are the ones that are growing. In giving ministry away (sowing seed) they are reaping a new crop of people who are coming to discover the Jesus that commanded us to love them in the first place.

The churches working together are becoming a part of life change stories in formerly hardened hearts.

I love this voodoo that we do.

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

 

Foster Care Month

May 24, 2011 in Community Outreach, Personal thoughts with 0 Comments

Recently, I was sent this note from a leader in our community. If you and your family would ever be in a position to invest in a child this way it would be incredible. It is especially powerful when Christ-followers take on something like this. Perhaps God plants a seed in your heart to begin to pray about this from this brief note;

Did you know there are just over 7,000 Georgia children in foster care?

These youth need stable, loving care until they can either safely reunite with their families or establish other lifelong relationships with a nurturing adult.

May is National Foster Care Month. This month, Paulding CountyDepartment of Family and Children Services is joining thousands of individuals, government agencies, and child advocacy organizations across the nation in promoting National Foster Care Month with various events throughout the region to raise awareness about these children.

No matter how much time you have to give, you have the power to do something positive that will “Change a Lifetime” for a young person in foster care. For more information, please visit www.fostercaremonth.org today.

For additional information on becoming a foster or adoptive parent, call 1-877-210-KIDS or contact your local Department of Family and Children Services and speak with the Resource Developer, Patty Malone at 770-443-3754.  You can visit Georgia’s waiting children online by visiting www.itsmyturnnowga.com or at www.wednesdayschildga.com .

Christian TMZ

May 12, 2011 in Personal thoughts with 2 Comments

I have an idea for a website. If you steal it I will sue you.

One of my guilty pleasure is the website TMZ. If you are a Christ follower and you ever visit TMZ (which I’m not recommending) you will most likely laugh at a couple of things you see, feel guilty about it, and then find something really inappropriate and have to change the channel.

Plain and simple, it’s a gossip blog that follows celebrities and people love it. People love the wit and humor. TMZ thrive’s on their made up headlines. But they are so popular, and say things in such a creative way, that their made up headlines create a perception that people view as reality. They also break enough actual news stories that they have at least a measure of credibility. I promise you if there were a Christian version of this site it would BLOW UP.

I live in Atlanta. If I were able to walk around with a video camera and get a couple of Pastors on video and throw it on a blog it would be huge. If I could catch Andy Stanley at a Braves Game (which I did last year with his boys, but I left the guy alone), Louie Giglio at the Varsity, or get Bryant Wright to wink and smile while he’s taping “Right From the Heart” and throw it on a video blog, Christians would flock to it like the donut and coffee table on Sunday morning! The funny thing is that some of you are reading this thinking, “Why didn’t you video Andy Stanley at the Braves game?”

To be really strategic in my marketing I could just go church by church. If I could catch a Pastor walking through the grocery store and get a picture of the cart, it would be viewed by the tens of thousands. If I started a section of Pastors wives and their kids and catch a few discipline moments, I could probably be featured on 20/20. The Christian music section could really be a lot of fun. The magazine version of this could sit right next to US Weekly in every grocery store. I could go national with this. If I could catch Rick Warren at a beach, Rob Bell at an NBA game, Perry Noble at a tractor pull, or post the tweet of the day from Francis Chann, I could probably speak at conferences.

I don’t think anyone did it on purpose. I’m not going to accuse anyone of feeding this with their social media sites, but we have let the celebrity and gossip culture infiltrate the church and it is killing us. People in the seats look at decisions Christian leaders make and they create their own headlines. They make up their own realities about the worship leader, or the drummer, or the bass player. They would rather talk ABOUT their church and other churches around them instead of praying for them. They would rather talk ABOUT the couples in other small groups than to them. They would rather talk ABOUT the couple dealing with hurt, debt, brokenness, morale failure, than be a part of forgiveness and restoration.

Leaders have to do their part to confront this. It would probably help if we came down from the stage a bit more and walked through the crowd. It would help if people in the church knew we loved them for them, and not just for the ministry positions they fill. It would help if everyone had a sense of shared mission and battle, and that we are all waging war together to demolish strongholds. It would help if leaders said thank you a bit more to individuals and not just to the crowd.

While we were accepting compliments for our own glory from people we don’t event know, and making God’s kingdom about our own little kingdoms, the enemy was moving in with something much more lethal, and if we don’t confront it, the disunity will crush us from the inside out.

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

A Church You Have To See

May 3, 2011 in Personal thoughts with 0 Comments

There are some churches that just know what they are doing. They truly know how to appeal to the community.

The Journey Church NYC is one of those churches. As soon as you check out their website you will know what I mean. The Journey is a casual, contemporary, Christian church with four campuses in metro New York City and two conveniently located in Manhattan.  If you are looking for a church in Manhattan near the Upper West Side, Upper East Side, Village, Union Square, Midtown, and Downtown areas – The Journey is a great church to look at for options in New York City. If you are looking for churches in NYC, then the Journey Church NYC is the place for you!

They have their act together, and they are very creative. Visit them at http://www.journeymetro.com/, or just have a look at this screenshot. My friend Tony Morgan found this earlier.

 

Ninja Night and then some…

April 28, 2011 in Personal thoughts, West Ridge Church with 0 Comments

I am not even playin’ when I say life is rockin’ and rollin’ right now! We are planning for Community Makeover at Engage Atlanta. At West Ridge we are starting a New Series Called Make War, getting ready for Last Saturday (April 30th), and partnering with others to try and serve families impacted by storms in the Southeast. That’s just the tip of the iceberg folks! Did I mention I’m getting up at 4AM to watch a wedding with my wife of two people I will never even meet!

I would invite you to click on all the links above and get in the game!

With all of that said you may be wondering, “Where can you find calm in the storms of life?” I have two words for you, Ninja Night!

Straight up! My kids want to be ninjas, and I think that would be cool. I don’t know anyone who can claim that their kids are ninjas. I can’t either, but we are on our way. The last Friday night of every month is Ninja Night at Breakthrough Martial Arts. This is the best Tae Kwon Do instruction on the planet. Mr Jerrod Hicks and his staff are phenomenal with kids. Our kids confidence and strength has been raised from being a part.

Ninja Night is four hours of the best childcare you will find. It is the last Friday of every month from 6:00-10:30 (April 29th this time around). It is $20 per child. They feed your kids, and plan activities for all 4 and half hours. You don’t have to be members to participate in Ninja Night.

They are incredible! My kids ask to go to this, and it gives me time with my awesome wife!

We really like these people, so I am giving them a shout out! I’ll remind you again next time around. Call them and let them know your kids are coming so that they can prepare. The number is 678-333-6949.

By the way, Jerrod teaches the Martial Arts portion of SURGE Camp. The sports and arts camp that the KidQuest Ministry does at West Ridge Church every Summer. Brent Moxey pulls together an amazing group of volunteers from our church and community to make this happen. More on that later.

Be honest. It would be really cool if your kids were ninjas.

Paul

Layups and Free Throws

April 26, 2011 in Personal thoughts, West Ridge Church with 0 Comments

There is nothing more thrilling for a short, white guy (such as myself) that can’t dunk a basketball than a breakaway layup. It’s an exhilarating moment where your brain pictures you jumping higher than you actually are, and looking way more graceful than what people are actually watching. It makes no difference, it’s still a great feeling!

Over the weekend we had Easter Sunday, 2011! It was an absolute layup for churches all over the Southeast. I think every tweeting and facebooking Pastor said the same thing, “This was our highest attendance ever!” This is a tremendous show of humility for Senior Pastors who think using actual numbers makes them look prideful. :)  It’s a great feeling to have this kind of win under your belt. Let’s be honest, Easter Sunday in America should be a layup for your church. People who are ‘unchurched’ or ‘de-churched’ are open to attend Easter Sunday. Since God’s word never returns void, getting as many folks in the door and hearing the resurrection story as possible is a huge part of spreading the Kingdom. I hope you nailed it, and that your church got to be a part of a great harvest for the family of God.

The second easiest shot for short, white people in basketball is supposed to be a free throw. However, it doesn’t seem to always happen that way. The key to shooting free throws at a high percentage is pretty simple, do the same thing every time you step to the line. Dribble the ball the same amount of times in the same cadence every time. Hold the ball for the same amount of time. Look at the same part of the basket you always do. Do everything the same way in the same order every time. If you do that your percentage will go up, guaranteed. You can be the most amazing, lead-footed, free throw shooter in your rec league. How is this possible?

I think my friend Tony Morgan would say it this way, ‘Systems create behavior’. So here’s an Easter question; What system do you have in place for following up with people after Easter? If you have something in place to follow up with people after the biggest event of your week, which for every church should be Sunday, your percentage of success should slowly go up every time.

Here are a couple of rules for bringing up your percentage:

Every Day Counts – If you can follow up within 24 hours you will most likely see that person again. At 48 and 72 hours you still have a good opportunity to build a relationship with some new folks. After that, go ahead and put a message out to other churches that ‘The Smith’s’ are looking for a church, and you decided not to call them back.

Make It Personal – Emails are great. A form letter from the Senior Pastor is about as cool as it sounds, but voice to voice contact still seems to work best. Even if you just leave a voicemail that says, ‘Thanks for coming’, you’ve done more than a lot of people do. Actual conversations can lead to way more ministry than an auto call or a ‘do not reply to this address‘ email.

Fear Not – Lots of thoughts may go through your head about not wanting to call at the wrong time or spamming people. Get over it! Lots of organizations far less important that the local church will call and email people mercilessly to get them in the fold.

A Reason To Return – People need to know that you are going to be teaching something out of God’s word that’s going to impact their lives and their families. Don’t let ‘em think Easter is the only bullet you have in your gun. At West Ridge, we told people that this Sunday we are going to Make War! You can go here to check that out!

My hope is that after ‘The Biggest Sunday Ever Told’ we can see church attendance trend up, greater growth for disciples no matter where they are in their journey, and communities being impacted by God’s love on an enormous scale.

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

Throwing Rocks At The Bride

April 18, 2011 in Community Makeover, Engage Atlanta, Personal thoughts with 3 Comments

I was at Catalyst Conference in 2007 when Rick Warren walked out on stage, and one of the first things out of his mouth was about comments he was hearing like these: “I love Jesus, I just don’t like his body.” Pastor Rick suggested that this statement is the same as someone saying, “I love you, I just don’t like your wife.”

I’m a little sensitive to this I know. I have seen the Church (The Bride of Christ) do some beautiful things when they come together in unity. Through the Community Makeover I’ve had the privilege to lead for Engage Atlanta I’ve seen multiple denominations, and ethnicity, serve side by side and watched the kindness of God lead people to repentance, and build the community.

Lately, there’s not a more cannibalistic tribe on the planet than the American Church. We criticize Pastors we’ve never listened to, and books we’ve never read. Churches take shots at each others Easter Egg hunts and their method of making them happen. We conveniently time blog post on morality alongside the moral failures of Christian leaders instead of going to them privately to offer encouragement and help in restoration. You can recruit volunteers to paint faces at the local school spring fling, or paint over graffiti in an urban setting. Either way, to the opposite party, you are most likely an idiot. That’s just how it feels lately.

People throw rocks at the bride on twitter and facebook to try and gain more following, all the while hoping their stone lands the death blow so the rest of the vultures can circle. If you have a problem with the Bride, take it up with the Groom. We need to pray for the Bride. She needs all the love and support she can get.

The culture of our churches has to change. We need to do less to split and more to mend. When we do I believe every church that is doing the thing God has led them to do to reach their community, and joining together in love and unity with others, will grow and thrive as individual congregations, and God’s Kingdom will rise in total.

Maybe I’m throwing rocks at the rock-throwers, I’m not sure. But don’t be cynical. Don’t throw rocks at the bride. Don’t be that guy.

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

Holy Undershirts!

April 1, 2011 in Africa, Community Makeover, Global Outreach, Partnership, Personal thoughts with 0 Comments

Recently I got to sit down with some non-profits that are doing some incredible work all over the world. Of course, when I hear of someone doing something in West Africa, my ears perk up, the hairs stand up on the back of my neck, and I get all fuzzy inside. That’s how I felt when I heard about Sababu.

Sababu Conscious Clothing is dedicated to helping the people of Mali in West Africa by providing a sustainable employment opportunity. Each shirt that they make has a number on it that identifies who made the shirt that you purchase.  So you buy a shirt, get your number, go to their website and find out exactly who you just helped have a job. It’s a beautiful idea.

We have a great Engage Atlanta Community Makeover shirt being designed by Sababu. I would encourage others to use them for their events as well. Call them for pricing. They are really competitive when they are working with quantities for youth groups, special events, and things like that.

Right now they have a special promotion going called The Undershirt Club where you can get three new undershirts every three months. It’s a great deal. You can cancel anytime. Just click on the graphic on the right to fund out more.

It’s time to refresh those hole-ridden shirts you have on now anyway.

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

 

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