Catching Up On Life, Part 2

More from this past week:

• Mentor training was HUGE!! Gathering together with some of the pastors in our ABC Northwest Region who are getting it done for Jesus is always an up time for me. I'm blessed to get to rub shoulders with some amazing servants of God whose wisdom and experiences are so valuable for me to catch. They give of themselves for their communities and congregations, then gather a group of other pastors and share their lives and ministries with them, too. Our gatherings are always a highlight, and this past Monday and Tuesday were no exception.
• The subject was: SMALL GROUP MINISTRY! We spent the entire day on Monday talking about small group ministry, the many different ways it can be done effectively, the keys to making it work, and what is or is not working in each pastor's church. It was SO timely for where we are as a church, I just sat back and took it all in. Okay, that's not true; I pushed and pulled and got everything I could get from everybody there!! Thanks, fellas!
• Bonus: the heart of a leader: Dr. Charles Revis, our Executive Minister, shared his heart with us at this gathering, and it was inspiring and challenging to me personally. He shared how the struggles of the past few months had sharpened his focus on pursuing holiness in his life, and how the dream of our network of churches being the springboard of revival in the Northwest was still alive and beating in his heart. I am humbled by the gift of God that has come to me and to our whole region in the person of this man. Only Heaven will know how much of a difference has been made by him coming to lead with passion and vision in a dark part of the nation. May he be blessed, and may his tribe increase!!
• Another amazing staff meeting: We've been working hard to do budget and goal planning for the next ministry year that begins in July, but there have been some hard questions to answer first. So this past Wednesday, we as a staff took time to look at what we do as a church that shows what we value the most. We drilled down on where we spend time, energy and money to see what values we really hold on to as a church family. It was enlightening and challenging, and much good will come from this.
• My message this Sunday is a challenge: it's a challenge to me, first and formost. Most messages are, but this one is more so, because it's on pride, which for a long time now has been a 'popular' topic in my life. By that I mean, not only has God's Spirit been at work in sharpening my focus on making my life not be about me, but I've had several discussion with others who have challenged my thinking and my growth in the area of coming to terms with 'good' pride versus 'bad' pride. More on that Sunday, stay tuned!!
• The billboards are working: we've heard much buzz in town over the madatchurch.com billboards and the website, and traffic on both that site and the fbcpoky.com site have increased dramatically. Will it turn into increased attendance and lives changed by Jesus? Only time will tell, but first things first: it seems to have sparked the conversation we were looking for! Pray and Hang ON!
• Reading a dangerous book: on the plane to the training, I finally started a book I've been looking at on my shelf for months: Dan Kimballs The Like Jesus, They Just Don't Like the Church. Wow. It so lines up what God has been saying to us a s a church for a few months that has lead up to the madatchurch.com series. It's a classic good news/bad news book: the good news: we're doing some of the things as a church that the book suggests are a help to bridge the gap between where the culture is in their dislike for the church and our role as the Body of Christ. The bad news: we still have a long way to go to overcome the perception that we the church are in the way of people getting to Jesus.
  

Okay, you're up to date! I'll get back on a regular schedule here this week. Meantime, keep praying, God's up to something big!!