Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Piece vs. Part

I was having a conversation with Heather about how things I oversee that seem unconnected actually fit together when I look at them from a high enough altitude. For instance, single women's small groups and new believer phone teams are not immediately connected, but both of them fall under my leadership. In the midst of this conversation I made the following statement:

I'm not looking for another piece, I need a part...

For me, there is a significant difference between a piece and a part:
A piece may be attached to an object, but a part in incorporated into it.
A piece may not be integral to the whole, but the whole without a part is broken.
A piece stands alone, but a part is nothing without considering the whole.
You can have a piece of anything, but you can only have a part from within a whole.

At Elevation we want people to become a part of the movement of God in our midst. To leverage their gifts, talents and resources to advance a common vision and purpose to see people far from God filled with life in Christ. The people who are just a piece, or, who just want a piece are going to miss out on the fulfillment that comes from being a part.

So here's the good news, if you have been a piece up to this point you can change that today. Even a piece of pie can become part of the meal.

Monday, February 25, 2008

The Best Part of C3...

C3 was a pretty phenomenal conference. Fellowship church has definitely pushed the envelope in the area of church creativity. If all we did was fly our staff to Dallas, walk into the facilities and see the stage set-up complete with hundreds of LED's it would have been worth it.

On top of that, however, we got to hear great messages from world-class speakers like Ed Young jr., Brian Houston, T. D. Jakes, and our very own Perry Noble.

All of our exposure to creative facilities, lights, music, and speakers was a huge success, but the best part of the trip was definitely the time we got to spend as a staff. I mean, how can you top being with the guys while they are making sound affects at take off. Or, almost causing a 50 car pile up on 121N while trying to merge across 35 lanes of traffic to keep up with Chunks who was leading our caravan. Or, when I accidentally called the female security guard at Avis Chunks (it's a long story).

The best time we spent as a staff was definitely the time we spent critically thinking through our strengths and limitations as a church and as a staff. Pastor challenged us to think through the things that we're doing well and the things that we need to fix and as a result we're walking away from C3 with a higher bar. And that, is irreplaceable.

All in all, C3 was a huge success.

Friday, February 22, 2008

6 Rows Back

I am sitting in a 4300 seat auditorium at C3 (Creative Church Conference) in Dallas Texas. Fellowship Church puts on a conference every year with the express purpose of challenging the boundaries of how we do church. Yesterday, we had a great day. It culminated with our staff challenging everything we're doing with the express purpose of making it better. Some people might look in from the outside and think we're too driven. I say, check out the disciples...

As excited as I am today about what God is going to teach me through the conference, the two things I am most excited about are:

1) The people on either side of me. Wade Joye is on my left and Jeremy Scott is on my right. They are some of my favorite people on the planet. In fact, the entire staff that I get to work with are some of the most gracious, fun, driven, passionate, creative people on the planet and I feel honored to be working with them.

2) WE ARE 6 ROWS BACK!!! Some of those same staff members ripped off the C3 logo and created "reserved seat" signs and then took down nice old ladies and children to beat the crowd to the sixth row. The coolest part about our seat is that later today we will be close enough to T. D. Jakes to read the label on his V-neck sweater.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Group Link

On March 2nd we will be having another Group Link. Group Link is an event we put on for people who are interested in getting plugged into a community group at Elevation Church.


I get all sorts of questions from people about how we do Group Link and what it's all about so I'm going to take a second to explain the vision of Group Link. You can also check out some blogs I wrote for Access Elevation about Group Link here and here.


First of all, I have to give credit to our Group Link event to North Point Church. They have been doing this far longer then Elevation and if we have a groups system that's running like a Honda Accord, they are a Maserati MC12.


The vision for our Group Link events is to provide people an opportunity to overcome one of the biggest barriers to getting plugged in; THE FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN GROUP LEADER!!! I think the most unspoken question for anyone who signs up to join a group is, “I wonder if these people are weird?!?”


At Group Link people have the opportunity to meet the leaders and interact with them. It has been amazing the see how much a 3 minute interaction between group leaders and prospective group members increases the likelihood that someone will get plugged in – for that reason I am committed to Group Link, for now…

I am very excited about this coming Group Link on March 2nd. Providence High School has been gracious to let us use their atrium to set out cocktail tables and put on our little speed dating, job-fair-esque, community groups connections extravaganza. I’m anticipating a very exciting result from this Group Link.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Happy (insert celebration day)...

Today represents a very special day for me.


Happy Anniversary Elevation Church

This past Sunday marked the two year anniversary of the church that has become the central focus of my life's calling.


Happy Birthday Anna

Yesterday was my little sister's Birthday. She lives in France and I don't get to see her very much, but I love her dearly.


Happy Birthday Pastor


My Pastor's Birthday is coming up soon. I'm not putting a date here because he may not want everyone to know, but it reminds me as he is turning 28 that he has been gifted in a tremendous way to do amazing things. Pastor, it's an honor to serve with you. I am challenged by your vision and leadership every day. What you have set in motion in my life, by calling me to pursue all that God has for me, has awakened more in me then I ever imagined was there.



Happy Valentine's Day Heather


Today is Valentine's Day. I have had the privilege of knowing my wife since I was in 8th grade and we have been together since I was 17 so I have had a long string of Valentine's Days with one of the most gracious, loving, supportive, kind, gifted, and beautiful women on the Planet. I love you Heather.

So there you have it. Today is a good day - That's it...

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Foolishness...

I used to approach the Scriptures like they were the help icon on a web page. When I couldn't figure out how to do it myself, I would flip open the Bible and wade through a bunch of information until I found an answer. I don't do that anymore and here's why,

Check out 1 Corinthians 2:14:
The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

When I was working in construction a few years ago I quoted this verse to a guy that was asking me about my faith. He was not a believer. In hindsight this was probably not the best verse to quote to a 'man without the Spirit...' The interesting thing, however, was his response. I had quoted all sorts of other verses to him in that conversation and previous conversations, none of which had made much of an impression on him, but this verse was different. He stopped and asked me to repeat it. Something about the straight forward nature of the verse struck him.

I'm not sure whether the guy ever received Christ, or if our conversation had more than a momentary effect on him, but it was very clear in the moment that God was saying something to him. Sometimes God uses the most unlikely verses in the most unlikely circumstances to make a profound impact. I guess that's why I don't go looking for answers in the Scripture any more. If there is one thing I've learned in my short 10 years as a believer it's that no matter what you're reading (that is, as long as you ARE reading...) if God needs to say something to you He'll say it!

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Unexpected Blessing in Correction

Have you seen that Liberty Mutual commercial where the woman jerks the pizza guy out of traffic? Have you ever noticed the expression on the pizza guy's face? For a split second you can see him wondering why this lady is jerking on his arm but then, almost immediately, his expression changes to say, "Oh, I see, you just saved my life..."

The commercial goes on to show the chain reaction of nice things that ensues. It has a nice concept, but what I get stuck on is the pizza guy's face. In about a second he realizes that something he perceived initially as an attack was, in fact, a much needed correction. Had that woman not grabbed his arm he would have blindly wandered into traffic...



In real life there is sometimes a much longer time between our arm being jerked back and our realization that it was actually the best thing for us.



When we were kids we got frustrated with our parents because they made us do things, or tried to keep us from doing things. But as adults, we look back and think, "Oh, I see, you had my best interest at heart..."



When you are corrected it will sometimes take a while to see the benefit of that correction but if the person who is correcting you has your best interest at heart then you can accept it as the gift it is!

Discipling Or Discipline

I was writing something the other day and a strange thing happened...I spelled a word wrong! Or at least, the little red squiggly line that the spell-checker places under misspelled words was indicating that I had. But, when I looked closer I realized that spell-check had screwed up. It was telling me that discipling was not a word. The ironic thing was its best suggestion for what it thought I meant was discipline.

Now, normally when I discover that spell-check is actually wrong and I have (for once) out maneuvered the Deep Blue of spelling, I celebrate. This time, however, I stopped and marveled at spell-check’s mistake; it was actually very profound! After all, what is discipleship without discipline?

In Hebrews 12:11 we see the full story. All of us have experienced a very difficult time in our lives that we could look back on later and recognize as a very positive, life shaping experience. Sometimes you can even see how that experience was pivotal in making you into who you are today, right? How much more profound is that statement when it is God Himself that disciplines us. He knows the whole story. He is the only one who can redirect us when we stray from His will. His discipline has no chance of leading us down the wrong path. Embrace it!

No discipline is pleasant at the time, but it WILL produce the right results for the people that embrace it! Become a disciple. Accept your correction. The benefits are not too far down the road.

Monday, February 4, 2008

The Broken Window Theory

Two weeks ago, I wrote two blogs about pain and problems in which I suggested it's silly to try to accomplish the overwhelming task all at once. The better plan is to tackle the small problems first. In my mind picking up the rock on the way is equivalent to knocking down Goliath when you get there: no rock = spear through the heart! Rock = you get to marry the king's daughter. You can read about it here.

What I hadn't necessarily connected (until Pastor Furtick tied this idea back to a book called Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell) is how powerful this principle really is. Pastor pointed to example after example this morning where as a church we have focused on the little things and seen big results. This principle isn't just found in a business book or in our church either. There are dozens of examples in the Scriptures where attention to little details produces big results (Pastor pointed to Nehemiah 1:3 as an example - Nehemiah didn't solve all the major issues of the nation, he fixed the wall...)

The broken window theory explains that broken windows send a clear message to the people who commit crimes - in this part of town, no one cares!

By fixing the windows, that message is reversed and crime is significantly reduced. In other words, no one connects broken windows with murders but as Gladwell points out when the windows are fixed there is a precipitous decrease in violent crime.

Pastor ended our meeting with this thought: "Where are our broken windows? Personally and/or professionally?"

Maybe it's not that your marriage is doomed, but that you are stubbornly committed to a selfish outlook. In other words, start taking out the trash and helping with the kids instead of watching TV. Put your spouse's needs first and watch your marriage be revitalized.

It might not be that everyone who works for you is lazy and you should fire everyone today and start over. Maybe it's that you need to pay more attention to your calendar. By more clearly communicating dates, times and expectations you might see a huge upsurge of quality work from your staff.

I don't know where your windows are, but I'm diligently looking for mine!