July 27, 2010
There are some interesting numbers to run as it applies to Community Makeover. After several churches serve together in Douglas County, GA this weekend, here is where we will be.
70 schools in Paulding, Cobb, Douglas, Fulton, and Polk were served as part of our collective efforts. Close to 1,400 kids received school supplies. Many schools were supplied with school supplies, food, and clothing to be given to kids who show up in a couple weeks that still have needs.
We did approximately 700 projects. A large number of which could have been designated as having several different projects going on in the same place. For simplicity in communication we called them one project.
We have had approximately 7,000 volunteers serve.
Our website’s numbers in visitors, hits, and pageviews are off the chart! More than 105,000 pageviews!
Here are some other numbers we haven’t talked about anywhere yet. The following numbers combine our efforts from 2009 and 2010.
Through Community Makeover (after this weekend) and Flood Relief, Engage has spent between $200,000-$225,000 in the local community. That does not count what each church has done since they own the financing of their own projects
The dollar value of a volunteer in the State of GA is $19.75. In the last couple summers if 12,000 volunteers spent an average of just 3 hours serving on Community Makeover weekend that’s 36,000. 36,000 x’s 19.75 is $711,000
If you add volunteer hours to financial investment we are approaching 1 million dollars in help we have provided to the Metro Atlanta Community at a time when our community really needed it.
The most important stat, so far we have heard of 30 folks who put their faith and trust in Christ in 2010 alone. We believe this weekend is a catalyst event. In other words, most of the spiritual fruit comes later on as members of the community connect back to a local church.
The hottest weekend of 2010 could not stop the people of God from doing an incredible job loving their neighbor, and serving their community.
Everyone Belongs,
Paul
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July 26, 2010
Acts 2 tells us that the early church broke bread from house to house. That means there was lots of coffee, brownies, and perhaps an occasional Falafel being served. At least that is how we’ve come to interpret it in our churches. As small groups and house churches meet there can often be as much emphasis on the snacks being served as the prayer and worship.
Oddly enough, I believe these verses are about more than falafel. I believe they are about an invitation to be involved in each others lives, to share needs and hopes, and prayers. I believe they teach us to study scripture in community, and to not be afraid to ask the hard questions. I believe they teach church leaders to create environments where there can be no hiding, and no one gets lost in the crowd.
But I think there’s one more step to this. These verses always comes to my mind when I think of how the church should reach out to those around them. I happen to think there should be an element of our Outreach that goes house to house. I love street corner and open market give aways that we do to try and draw people into church. Those are great ways to create a presence in a community. However, when you go house to house you feel the tension and potential for a stronger relational connection to happen.
Now, I’m not a big fan of people showing up unannounced. Hospitality is not high on my gift mix. I wouldn’t necessarily suggest that you go cold calling and knocking on doors. What I would suggest is what a bunch of churches in Atlanta just did. They served their neighbors house to house.
We just finished hundreds of projects as part of Engage Atlanta‘s Community Makeover weekend. People ask, ‘Where do the projects come from?’ They come from neighbors who know about the needs around them, and just ask, ‘Can we help with the yard?’ ‘I heard you had an issue inside, can we have a look?’ ‘Do your kids need help getting back to school?’ All in all, it’s about not ignoring or just always driving by the houses on your street. It’s about stopping along the way long enough to see the needs, and then loving your neighbor as yourself.
If you live in Atlanta and you are feeling hungry, check out the Falafel King in Druid Hills.
Everyone Belongs,
Paul
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July 23, 2010
This weekend thousands of people will engage in hundreds of projects throughout Metro Atlanta through the Community Makeover. A whole variety of people will participate from every background and ethnicity. The initiators of all of this are Christ-Followers from 80 different churches. It is not required that you sign a statement of belief and proclaim yourself a Christian to volunteer. In fact, many Christians have invited their friends with no religious or church affiliation to be involved.
It is important that EVERYONE involved know a couple of things that are at the heart of this. First of all, we are not doing these acts of service because we like to sweat in what is proving to be the hottest weekend of 2010. Though we can take joy in knowing that toxins are leaving through our pores in merciless fashion, that is not the reason.
We are doing this because our belief in Jesus compels us to serve our neighbors as his disciples. He told us to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength’ and to, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” (Jesus) He has left his followers on the planet to proclaim good news to the poor (whether physical or in spirit), freedom for prisoners (whether physical or in spirit), to care for widows, and reach out to those on the edges of society.
He didn’t say to just do this one weekend a year, but all of us getting out together sends a loud message that cannot be sent by one just one church alone. It’s not about my church, your church, or where you live. It’s not about your singing style or mine or what you think about that verse, or how you dress on Sunday. It’s about putting Jesus on display through his followers in a way that removes everything that could prevent people from seeing him and only him.
Even as we work and sweat and hydrate, the most important thing to remember is the example that Jesus set, life is about people. Jesus told stories about stepping back from your normal routine to pursue one lost, hurting person at a time. You never know where they are going to pop up, or when you are going to realize that they are missing. Doing a project is not only about hitting the nail straight or keeping the paint off the trim. Serving in the community is about people. It’s about showing love to the people we volunteer alongside, and to the people we are serving. It’s about being willing to stop long enough to look someone in the eye and show them kindness.
My hope is the thousands of people serving in Metro Atlanta this weekend through Engage Atlanta‘s Community Makeover will prepare the way for people to encounter the Spirit of Jesus in a way that they didn’t know existed. We cannot and should not just get the job done and walk away. Everyone should know that the heart of what we do and how we live is to share the love of God with people, people, people.
Everyone Belongs,
Paul
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July 19, 2010
This Sunday night, July 25th at 7:00 pm we will end our Community Makeover weekend with a Celebration Service in the Hiram Pavilion on Hwy 278 in Hiram, GA. I would strongly encourage you to come early. For directions click here.
The impact of churches coming together in worship from different backgrounds, denominations, and ethnicity has been electrifying the first couple of years. As we all join together to lift up these songs as one voice before God I thought we would give you a chance to practice first. So here is the playlist for our Celebration Service with links to iTunes if you don’t yet have a couple of these. Burn a cd and warm up your own vocal stylings and get ready. Of course, these are subject to change and there are some other elements of the service not on here. We will see you Sunday night.
Awakening – Chris Tomlin
The Time Has Come – Hillsong United
Let God Arise – Chris Tomlin
Unchanging – Chris Tomlin
Healing is In Your Hands – Christy Knockles
Revelation Song – Kari Jobe
God of Second Chances – Carlos Whittaker
Our God – Chris Tomlin
Glory to God – Steve Fee
With Everything – Hillsong United
Music will be led by Atlanta area worship leaders Brett Stanfill and Rachael Gillis, and recording artist Carlos Whittaker.
Everyone Belongs,
Paul
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July 15, 2010
For the third summer we are gearing up for an event called, Community Makeover. This is a once a year catalyst event of churches serving their community in a variety of different ways. It is the largest event on the calendar for a non-profit that I direct called, Engage Atlanta. This non-profit was started by Pastor Brian Bloye at the request of other Pastors in our community. That’s a whole different story.
What is amazing is who the ‘We’ is participating in the Community Makeover. This year we have 80 churches in 5 Metro Atlanta counties serving together on one weekend; July 23-25. The churches are all of different size, shape, color, and denomination. It is an amazing, unifying experience that becomes a catalyst to ongoing acts of service all around the region.
I get some common questions about this:
Why? We are motivated to put a different face on Christianity in this area. People on the outside of the church often look at people inside the church as being nice (most of the time), but also as a group of stingy, closed off group of people who like to keep their own environments under control by creating a lot of rules about who gets in and who doesn’t. That would not be an accurate description of the people in most churches, but those on the outside of the church are not always willing to come find out how great a church can be because of the stigmas they have. So we go out in the community to them.
Why would a church participate in this?
I’ll give the most personally appealing answer to a church leader who asks this question first. People are added to our own congregation because we do this. We know the stories. The classes that define our path to membership bare this out in the months following the event. I now have people stop me in public (because they know I direct this crazy thing) telling me they have become part of other churches who have participated with Engage Atlanta in the Community Makeover.
We have now heard stories of people coming to Christ who had a project done at their home or who came to the Celebration Service at the end of the weekend. It just doesn’t get any better than those stories.
There is one last part to answering this question. The world is now a flat, intricately woven, social place. That includes the church. If you think what happens at the church down the road doesn’t impact how people feel about you, that is a sad mistake. For far too long churches have privately cheered and puffed up in pride when they hear that other churches are not up to their standard, or that something negative has happened. That means more people will visit your church instead of theirs right? Wrong. It probably means they are going home and will try again years or months later at best.
People on the outside of the church see us as all being on the same team from the same God. It’s time we start acting like it.
Everyone Belongs,
Paul
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May 11, 2010
I picked up my first Don Miller book recently. It was in the $4.99 bin at a local Christian bookstore. It was just laying there not hurting anybody. I had heard of him, but had not read any of his books or heard him speak. I was at Ben Arment‘s Story Conference the first time he really connected with me as a communicator. The book is called ‘To Own a Dragon’, and $4.99 is an acceptable level of risk. The premise is from the perspective of a guy that grew up without a Dad. The term ‘Dad’ might as well be fiction, like owning a dragon.
I grew up with a Dad. His job and life moved him away when I was 12 or 13, and then my Mom worked valiantly to play both roles, but that story is for another day. My parents were divorced, but up until I was 12 I got my Dad time in on the weekends. My Dad took me to basketball games, football games, gave me an allowance and was pretty engaged during our time together. So why does a book about a guy without a Dad resonate with me?
Early on Miller quotes a book by Dwight Eisenhour (‘At Ease: Stories I Tell To Friends’). “Eisenhour said his mother and father made an assumption that set the course of his life – that the world could be fixed of its problems if every child understood the necessity of their existence. Eisenhour knew the world needed him. If he wasn’t around somehow his family couldn’t function.”
At this stage of my life My Dragon is about the Dad that I want to be. I feel like the best gift I can give to my two boys right now is to let them know that they are both wanted and needed in my life. We have taught them that God has brought us together and allowed us to be a family. We have taught them how much God loves them, and tell them that we love them every day. But I don’t want them to feel like we live in the same house by default. I want them to feel like the reason we play games on the floor or throw the football in the backyard is because I want to, not just because I am trying to fulfill a job description.
I’m beginning to believe that one of the best legacies a Father can give his kids is to make them feel wanted.
Miller’s book has been released under a new title, called Father Fiction. I would recommend it no matter which bin/shelf you find it on.
Everyone Belongs,
Paul
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May 4, 2010
So what if no one remembers you? What if no one knows how great you are or your accomplishments? What if you plant a church or start a company that has a profound impact on people and no one knows who you are? What if the God who allowed you to accomplish much got all the credit?
Here is one of my favorite passages of scripture. It is found in Ecclesiastes 9:
13 I also saw under the sun this example of wisdom that greatly impressed me: 14 There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siege works against it. 15 Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man.
Christ-followers need to be willing to go to the place or do the thing that God commands us to do, and put all of our energy into that. I think we should strive to make extraordinary impact on the places we live and move and have our being. I just think the motive should be so that everyone remembers a name that is higher than our own, and above all others.
Everyone Belongs,
Paul
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May 3, 2010
Today I return from a time of sabbatical given to me by the Leaders and Elders at West Ridge Church. I am extraordinarily thankful to work at a church that values the wholeness of the Pastor. These times of rest are given to us proactively. No one walked into my office and said, ‘You look tired. Why don’t you leave for a few weeks?’ Instead, this is a built-in benefit.
Personally, I had let my life get a bit unbalanced and out of rhythm. I may talk more about that later. I took care of a couple of ‘work-related’ items while I was out. Even those few things helped me restore some healthy patterns.
When I really have a chance to sit and reflect there are some core values for my life that God reminds me of and restores. One is from an odd little parable at the beginning of Luke 17.
7“Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? 8Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? 9Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’ “
That last verse has become a mantra for me. Whether I am being a husband, a dad, a friend, or working as part of a church staff (or any vocation)….at the end of the day I’m just a servant of Jesus. Whatever he puts in front of me to do, I’ll do. Where he tells me to go, I’ll go. Having my name in some small realm of recognition would be nothing compared to being a servant of Jesus.
When you put the whole of Jesus teachings together there is a lot more to being a Christ-follower. This Master treats His servants like the apple of his eye. He treats us like Princes and Kings. He loves us more deeply than a handful of verses can describe. There are moments when I respond differently to his love, but let there be a time every day when I say, “Make me nobody. I’m an unworthy servant. I’m only doing my duty.”
Everyone Belongs,
Paul
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April 20, 2010
We have several projects still going strong in partnership with Samaritan’s Purse. As ‘SP’ responds to other disasters including Haiti Earthquake Relief and flooding in Rhode Island we have been asked to put out an invitation to our local volunteer base. Even as we prepare projects for Community Makeover 2010 we have a current opportunity for people from different churches and throughout the community to come together. If you would like to sign up to volunteer with Samaritan’s Purse please call Amy Corriher at 336-903-4968.
Last Saturday at West Ridge Church – Every month at West Ridge Church we invite people from our church to come volunteer in the community, and invite others to come along as well. We have multiple opportunities available every ‘Last Saturday’. This month we are serving new widow in need of some home maintenance, working in a community to encourage some of our neighbors with some acts of service, planting a garden that will be used to give healthy food option to those who cannot afford them this summer. Go here to register and we will let you know how to prepare.
Help us serve our neighbors in the week to come and beyond!
Everyone Belongs,
Paul
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April 18, 2010
There are a ton of issues facing the Metro Atlanta Community. Hundreds of homes still need help from the floods that hit Metro Atlanta in 2009. Many are unemployed and need encouragement. We have families of service people at home holding down the fort, while their loved ones serve us abroad. School systems and counties are under funded and need people in their community to gather behind them…you get the idea. Hundreds of projects are being proposed for Community Makeover 2010!
We won’t be able to do it all, but we will get more done if we work together. Why not have some fun along the way?
With that in mind we are throwing a Golf-Tournament on June 18th at the Creekside Golf and Country Club in Hiram, GA.
We have a facebook event page you can go join by going here **Please forward that around, will ya?**
On that page you will find a flier that you need to print and take in to your boss and tell him to become a sponsor and put a team together.
Should be a lot of fun and will help us pull off Community Makeover 2010 happening July 23-25!
Everyone Belongs,
Paul
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