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3 Guiding Principles to Live On Mission

14 May

Catalyst_logoA couple of weeks ago, I attended the Catalyst conference in Dallas, Texas with four other members of the church staff of VALLEY Christian Church. While there, we heard some incredibly challenging, insightful and thought provoking messages. Below are some of my notes from a lab given by Matt Carter, pastor of The Austin Stone Community Church.

1. To be an effective missional leader you have to call people to be more in love with their savior than their mission.
“If you love your mission more than you love your Savior,  your Savior will say “I’m not going to be there anymore”. (See Revelation 2:1-5)

2. As a missional leader, you’re the one who moves people with the urgency of the Great Commission.

3. A missional leader is someone who leads their people to be an agent of transformation in whatever context they are in.

There are 4  kinds of churches today:

1. Against the city
2. In the city
3. With the city
4. For the city (Charles H. Spurgeon)

If your church closed its doors today, would your city grieve?

Recast the vision every year. Air war & ground war.

Give people more than a handout but a hand up!

Vision bleeds (will wear out & fade over time), if passion for Jesus is not 1st priority!

I’m still enjoying “chewing” on much of what we heard and experienced at Catalyst. Maybe I’ll post some more notes from this great conference in the days/weeks to come.

 
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Posted by on May 14, 2013 in Leadership, Preaching, Staff

 

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Time To Recharge!

29 Apr

CatalystTomorrow, I’m headed out to Dallas for the Catalyst Conference with four other members of the staff of VALLEY Christian Church (Josh, Brossia, Nnamdi Oparanozie, Andy Sileno & Tommy Niblack). It will probably be hard to sleep tonight because I am so excited! Sometimes, it’s important to get away as a staff and take time to recharge our batteries and receive, instead of giving all the time. This is something we try to do on an annual basis, and all the staff members are encouraged to attend similar conferences in their particular area of ministry to continue to learn and develop.

Take a look at the line-up of speakers we’ll hear from over the next few days, there’s is no doubt we’ll be fired up when we see everyone in church this Sunday:

Andy Stanley, Emmitt Smith, Lysa TerKeurst, Dave Ramsey, Craig Groeschel, Dr. Brene Brown, Erwin McManus, Mark Driscoll, Louie Giglio, Reggie Joiner, Amenda Brown Owen, Jon Acuff (just to name a few)

Please keep us in your prayers; for a great time of recharging and refreshing. We look forward to seeing everyone in the VALLEY Family on Sunday!

 
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Posted by on April 29, 2013 in Staff

 

Monday Morning Musings 4/15/13

15 Apr

MMcoffeeSitting here, drinking a piping hot cup of coffee on this Monday morning, my heart is full of gratitude and thanksgiving as I muse about how awesome God is and the blessings He is pouring out on the VALLEY Christian Church Family!

  • It’s absolutely mind-blowing to see God working through our, “What On Earth Am I Here For” Campaign!
  • Over the last three weeks, VALLEY has averaged 744 each Sunday in attendance (Each of these Sundays setting the top 3 attendance weeks in the 38 year HISTORY of our church)!
  • What a joy to see so many new faces to VALLEY at our GroupLink last night signing-up to join a Community Group to “do life with” over the next 6 months!
  • It’s so humbling watching over 180 volunteers every Sunday serving The VALLEY Family in our three gatherings. It’s hard to think of a greater example of Christ-like character than a volunteer serving others.
  • The stories we are hearing every single week of men and women receiving Christ as their Savior who have and are walking through heart-breaking and painful experiences are inspiring and leave us in awe of God’s power and love to transform hurting hearts.

I really can’t imagine how things could get any better than they are right now, but then again, I pretty much feel that way after every Sunday. The words I used to close the message, “Called To Be Loved” yesterday, ring in my ears this morning as I am overwhelmed by God’s love and goodness:

“God smiles when we love him supremely, trust him completely, come to him boldly, and praise and thank him continually.”

 
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Posted by on April 15, 2013 in Church Growth, Leadership, Preaching

 

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8 Signs Your Leading A Spirit-Filled Church

12 Apr

SpiritFilledRead this post quoting Dr. Crawford Lorrits a few weeks ago, and have kept going back to it in my mind ever since.

1. A Spirit-Filled Church Is A Place Where Christ is Exalted (1 Thes 1:2-10)

2. A Spirit-Filled Church Has An Authentic Passion For His Word

3. A Spirit-Filled Church Has Intentional Unity (Eph 4:1-4)

4. A Spirit-Filled Church Has Deliberate Dependance (1 Cor 2:1-4)

5. A Spirit-Filled Church Is Where Prayer Persists (1 Thes 5)

6. A Spirit-Filled Church Has Supernatural Discernment (1 Cor 2:9-13)

7. A Spirit-Filled Church Is Where People Are Loved (1 Cor 12-14)

8. A Spirit-Filled Church Is A Place Where Sin Is Uncomfortable (Eph 2:19-22)

Excellent food for thought. You can read the whole article HERE. Thanks for posting Brian Dodd!

 
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Posted by on April 12, 2013 in Leadership

 

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The Call Is For You – Prayer

08 Apr

WOE_Website_TransYesterday at VALLEY Christian Church, we kicked-off our “What On Earth Are You Here For” Spring campaign. At the conclusion of the message I closed in a prayer that I read in each of our three services. A number of people asked me if I could make the prayer available in some format, so here it is below:

“Heavenly Father, Thank you that you created me, that I’m not an accident. Thank you that I’ve been in your care, even before I was born. Thank you that you didn’t just create me, but you have called me. You have a purpose and assignment for my life. I’m not here just to waste time. Thank you that you’ve called me to your purpose. I want your plan not mine. Thank you that that plan began at the moment of my birth, and even though I’ve made many mistakes and sinned a lot, and other people have hurt me, it hasn’t changed my call one bit. Thank you that my calling is permanent. And I realize today, that I cannot fulfill my purpose disconnected. I need to be connected to others, in you Body, in your family, with the same Spirit, with the same calling. I thank you Lord, that you’ve promised to give me the power to do what you’ve asked me to do. That you won’t ask me to do something, that you won’t empower me and strengthen me to do. Lord, I want that prize in life. I want to live for that prize the rest of my life, that one day I would share in your glory with you. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.”

 
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Posted by on April 8, 2013 in Devotions, Preaching

 

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Great Expectations

05 Apr

great-expectationsThe famous missionary to India, William Carey once said, “Expect great things; attempt great things.” This weekend, at VALLEY Christian Church, we will kick-off our “What On Earth Am I Here For” campaign and we’re pulling out all the stops to reach as many people as possible with this important message. After “casting the net” on Easter, we now shift into a strong discipleship emphasis each year with our Spring campaign.

Traditionally, Easter Sunday is always the biggest attendance Sunday for churches. Last Easter was our highest attendance in the history of our church (up until that time), our kick-off to our campaign the week after Easter was attended by only 10 less people than Easter. We are praying, expecting and anticipating history to repeat itself again this year, and this past Sunday’s Easter attendance was up 34% over last year!

Tomorrow, will conclude 40 Days of Prayer in our church family that over 100+ people have been daily participating in. It was John Wesley who said, “God does nothing but by prayer, and everything with it.” We believe our prayer initiative is more important that the advertizing, utilizing social media or even encouraging those who attend VALLEY to invite friends. Everything we do for Him must be immersed in prayer.

So, as we expect great things and attempt great thing for Him, I’m asking you to join me in praying this weekend for the kick-off of this huge endeavor. Those of you who regularly attend VALLEY, I’d also like to ask you to invite an unchurched friend or family member to join us on Sunday. If you don’t have a church home, then you’re invited to be our guest this Sunday at 8:30, 10:15 or 12:00 at VALLEY Christian Church. There’s nothing in the world as exciting as serving Jesus Christ and watching Him change and transform lives! Join me in this exciting adventure!

 
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Posted by on April 5, 2013 in Church Growth, Preaching

 

How to Interpret Christianese

02 Apr

christianeseWe all need a good ‘ol belly laugh from time to time. I got one today when I read the post, “How to Interpret Christianese” by Mark Driscoll. In fact, I laughed so hard my stomach is now cramping. If you’re a leader of any kind in any church, I think you’ll probably get at least a little chuckle from his post. Enjoy!

Brilliant work, Mark!

 
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Posted by on April 2, 2013 in culture, Leadership

 
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