Awesome gift

What's it like to be the church that has very little? It's interesting and yet so helpful in remembering that God gives us exactly what we need. For example:

Exhibit A: Kitten's preschool classroom at Olivet recently got a new rug for the kids. Kitten was commenting to the Director of how nice it was and how she hoped that she would be able to get something like it for the kids at Discovery. She stated that she would probably settle for something plainer though for pure cost purposes. A couple of weeks later, Kitten walked into my office at Olivet to find a gift. Here's what it was. One of her co-workers had overheard the story and had got online and ordered it for Discovery. What an awesome gift.

Exhibit B: Just got done talking with one of my talented debaters from North. He said the passage he read this morning was a great reminder to trust God. Read it for yourself. Luke 12:22-31.

The Exciting Announcement

As many of you know we have been praying for a space to become available for Discovery to have their Gathering (Sunday morning) services in. We've been through many options and discussed the possibility with numerous people. This past Friday we got the confirmation of a space. And the place where we'll meet is...



Kerasotes Stadium 16
5600 Pearl Drive
Evansville, IN 47712



Over the next few days, we'll explain what this will look like. Thanks for your prayers and encouragement. We look forward to seeing you on Sunday, June 22nd for our first preview service at Kerasotes Stadium 16!

Plenary Session 5b -- Rick Warren

Rick is the author of the NY Times best seller, The Purpose Driven Life. He has also recently made it his goal to work to bring P.E.A.C.E. throughout the globe. Here's the highlight of his closing talk.

• Listen to your wife. She's often the Holy Spirit.


• Before you marry, opposites attract. After you marry, opposites attack.


• The purpose of marriage is not to make you happy; it is to make you holy.


• God gave you your wife not just for sex, not just to mother your children, but to be a counselor to you too. You don't have it all together. You need other people, especially your wife.


• God said, “I never called you to compare yourself to others. If you do, you will limit what I want you to do in your life. I want you to be you.”


• Growing churches require growing pastors. The moment you stop growing, the church will stop growing. Leaders are learners. The moment you stop learning, you'll stop leading.


• There is one thing you cannot delegate and that is faith in God.


• Rest and relaxation are so important that God put it into the Big 10 right next to murder and adultery.


• Don't call it a day off, call it a Sabbath. If you call it a day off, you'll violate it.


• Don't pay attention to critics and compliments. They are both like bubblegum: chew on it, but don't swallow it. You have to do your work for an audience of one.


• A great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will grow a great church, Christian, community.

Plenary Session 5a -- Tim Keller

Tim Keller is a true inspiration to church planters. Tim and the congregation at Redeemer Presbyterian in Manhattan have taken the call to plant very seriously. In living it out the Great Commission, they have helped change the world. Here's the highlights from his part of the last session.

• It's pretty obvious that the DNA of a reproducing church has to be the gospel.



• The text says that gospel is power. It is the power of God in verbal form.



• The gospel completes the baseline cultural narrative of hearts and society. He's taking the baseline aspiration of the culture, he uses it to confront the culture, but also there is an invitation to repentance from the culture.



• The gospel is: In Jesus Christ, God emptied Himself and became a servant; In Jesus Christ, God atoned for our sins by substituting Himself for us; In the end times, God will come back to restore all things to Himself.



• God cares so much for His creation that He became materially and that He will restore it as well.
  

Big news coming in 4 days

God is amazing. We've got big news on the Discovery front coming down. We'll be announcing in on Monday morning at 8:00 a.m. right here. You won't want to miss it. Plan on stopping by and finding out what we're excited about. We'll start dropping hints soon.

Plenary Session 4b -- Dave Ferguson

Dave Ferguson is the President of the Conference this year. He does an incredible job in leading the New Thing Network. He also wrote an incredible book entitled The Big Idea. The highlights of his talk:

• Community :: grow in their love for God, their love for God's people, their love for God's world.


• From the very beginning of time, God has been all about community.


• If it is what God is about, maybe it should be what we're about.


• The most important question might be: Are we coming together to create community? Are we loving God and loving God's world?


• Be the community. Be the church and go create community.

Plenary Session 4a -- Steve Andrews

Can't find a good picture, so you just get the highlights:

• There is a fresh wave of the Holy Spirit in the church. There is a spirit of openhandness that is catching like a virus. There is a spirit that is rejecting the competitive, isolationist attitude.
• Every man or woman has to hear the call of God, decide what that is and then give their lifeblood for that.
• Live with the vision in an unwavering way.
• There is an exploding number of people who believe in the Great Commission who don't care who gets the credit. They just want to see Jesus Christ lifted high.
• No ego leadership means that we will change the world by allowing others to surpass us in every way.

Plenary Session 3 -- Alan Hirsch

Alan Hirsch wrote The Forgotten Ways. His talk in the main session was challenging and very entertaining. The highlights:

• Organizations exert a certain pressure on us to conform. Sometimes to wake up out of the mesmerizing effect we have to get kicked in the butt.


• It is Christology that lies at the heart of the renewal of the church.


• If we don't go back to Jesus, what are we doing? We get so busy with the stuff of the church that we can forget all about Jesus.


• You know that Jesus is like you when He hates the people that you hate.


• The embodiment of the faith is critical to transmission.


• We disciple in the context of consumerism, which is the overwhelming alternative religion of the day. It is the state religion.


• What we need are missionally responsive, culturally adaptive, organizationally agile, multiplication movements.


• Every believer a church planter, every church a church planting church.


• God sent and went to make a difference. We must be a sending people.

Breakout session -- Vince Antonucci

I confess. I have a church planter's crush on Vince Antonucci. Why? Ten reasons...

10. His church name has a golf term in it: FOREfront.

9. In a world of tall, handsome, perfect teeth church planters, I'm actually taller than Vince.

8. He has an awesome sense of humor.

7. He is a genuine great guy. I sent an email asking for some advice last fall and he quickly replied (multiple times). He wasn't too busy for others.

6. He told people not to join his church.

5. He has a church service in a bar. You could blame someone sleeping on them "passing out" and not on the fact that they didn't like the sermon.

4. He's really good at top 10 lists.

3. He is an incredible story teller.

2. He wrote an incredible book that I highly recommend.

1. He takes God's work very seriously. He doesn't take himself too seriously.

So I got to meet Vince in person today. Awesome experience. Here are some of the highlights of his talk:

• God is an uncivilized God. He acts in uncivilized ways. He calls people to act in uncivilized ways.


• If it seems like the right thing to do, it's probably not. If it seems like something that we can be criticized for, it's probably of God.


• Do what God is calling you to do, not what someone else is doing. The Bible says that God gives us visions and dreams. Perhaps God has a vision or dream for your ministry.


• To reach people who haven't been reached, you have to do something that has never been done.

So much more good stuff. I encourage you to look at his blog to catch even more details.

Plenary Session 2 -- Andy Stanley

The second followed the first, imagine that. Andy Stanley, the pastor at Northpoint in Atlanta, shared some of his thoughts. He mainly focused on the need to communicate vision. Here are the highlights:

• “I've never done what you've done. I know more about splitting churches than planting churches.”


• “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” That statement is the glue that holds all of it together.


• Vision is the mental picture of what could be, fueled by the passion for what should be. This isn't just what can be, but what has to be. Something needs be different.


• Memorable is portable and you need a portable vision.


• What is Barack Obama's vision for America? Change. We have a candidate who has done an incredible job of linking his vision to a word. You may say we don't know what it means. He'll have four or eight years to explain it if he wins.


• Define the problem. Offer a solution. Explain why and why now.


• Don't miss opportunities to systematically celebrate someone fleshing out the vision. Stories are powerful for communicating vision.

Exponential Conference -- Opening Session

Exponential has arrived. The volunteers are amazing. The worship team from 242 church are leading worship. They are amazing. I wish I could put some of our worship team, like Dan & Nick, in touch with them. They are great.

Ed Stetzer, one of the godfathers of North American church planting, opened the conference. He did a great job. Here's some of the highlights from his talk and the panel discussion he led.

• Many church plants are moving away from a denomination backing to more of a local church focus.


• Churches that plant aggressively: expect church planters to raise 50-80% of their support; provide less financial support to one church so they can support multiple churches; assign 10% or more of their overall budget to the church; had staff assigned to church planting; encourage their members to be involved in supporting church plants.


• Churches of 200 or less are 4 times more likely to plant than those of 1000 members or more.


• There's never a good time to plant a church, like there is never a good time to have children. Yet they are both very positive experiences.


• How awesome would it be if all our church plants were born pregnant.


• Neil Cole -- Your church is never better than the disciples you produce.


• Ron Sylvia -- Learn and return. What we learn from God, we are going to return to His kingdom work.


• Randy Pope -- They (people in the church) are going to seek what you celebrate.


• Ron Sylvia -- You are doing some of the greatest work. You are involved in the extreme sport of ministry.

Don't mess with Los

Carlos Whittaker, one of my favorite bloggers, had a bad experience at Enterprise Rent-A-Car. Read about it here. It's sort of funny. Great way to handle anger at poor customer service by the way.

Church in the ATL

Here's the highlights from my experience at The Midtown Bridge. Larry Grays began their series called Caffinated Conversations this week. Here's some of the highlights:

• God is always working but sometimes it feels like nothing is happening while we wait.



• The farther we get from God, the harder it is to hear His voice. Stay close to the bucket!



• However, proximity to Jesus does not guarantee you are a Christian anymore than being in a garage would guarantee that you are a car.



• When Peter began to sink, he wasn't doubting God. He was doubting whether or not God could do the supernatural through Him.



• He's an on-time God.



• God has adopted us! (one of my personal favorites)



• What are you doing with God's time? If God were to give you 15 more years, what would you do during that time?

On the whole, I had a great time visiting with TMB. The people there were extremely friendly, a great example of Southern hospitality. I really appreciated the way the staff and volunteers were so willing to share what God's doing in this relatively new church plant.

Tomorrow, the Exponential Conference kicks off. I'll try and keep updates flowing.

When you're just a little off...

Most of us have complained at one time or another about Mapquest. It's directions may or may not be accurate for whatever adventure you are on. Yesterday, however, I met something worse. When I booked the Doubletree, I clicked on the get directions map. They gave me directions through a program called MapPoint. I assumed..."Hey the hotel gave me this program. Everything else that Doubletree does is excellent. This must be good too." Or not.

I realized I would be in for adventure when I looked at it further on Saturday as I was jumping on I-65 to Nashville. I looked down and it said 150 miles to Nashville. That was very interesting since I was 100 miles from Louisville. The total trip according to MapPoint was 360 miles. In reality, the trip was much more like 585 miles. Not even close. It starts with minor errors though. Like one of the last directions was to drive 2.0 miles on West Paces Ferry Rd. In reality, it was more like 3.3 miles. Mulitiply that out over 360 miles and you nearly get the difference.

It made me wonder. How many times am I just a little bit off, not quite where God wants me to be. If I am off, where am I ending up and how far short of what He desires is that? My hope for today is that you and I might live according to His guidance, His direction. May you end up where He leads you.

Heading to the ATL

Kitten and I drove up to Kokomo yesterday to check on her mom. She looks to be doing alot better. I'm heading out tomorrow morning to begin my pilgrimmage to Orlando for the Exponential Conference. I'm spending the night tomorrow night in downtown ATL (Atlanta) at the Doubletree Hotel. I love that hotel. They know all about exceeding expectations. When you check-in, they give you some of the best cookies on the face of the earth...for free. When I was a kid, I loved when my dad stayed at a Doubletree when traveling because it meant I got cookies. Not so sure that my girls will be that lucky this time.

I'll be going to The Midtown Bridge on Sunday morning for worship. The Midtown Bridge launched in August 2007. I'm excited to see what God has been up to. The church meets in a movie theater in downtown ATL. It will be interesting to see what it looks like when the church meets in a non-traditional setting. Definitely something for us to keep in mind at Discovery Church.

Stuff Christians Like

I had a friend who pointed me in the direction of the satirical blog, Stuff White People Like. It definitely has a humourous approach to life.

Well, today, Carlos Whittaker pointed me toward a similar site, Stuff Christians Like. I have to admit that I don't necessarily agree with all that is written on either site. I think there are some factual inaccuries (like #124 and the reference to the name Trey...I never got the pretty girl...until Kitten...almost got myself in trouble there). Anyway, take a few moments and laugh. Definitely worth it.

Learning about Leadership from the Bible

Tony Morgan has been writing about leadership lessons that he learned from Scripture, particulalry the Gospel of Matthew. They have really got me thinking. More importantly they have got me reading. It hit me that God has been revealing much about what it means to be a leader and a Jesus-follower way before Warren Bennis, Warren Buffett, or Jimmy Buffett were around. So I've been crawling back through the beginning pages of Scripture and learning some amazing leadership lessons. Here's some of what I've learned.

• God is creative. A leader should strive to be creative as well. Who wants boring when you can create the Grand Canyon? (Genesis 1:1)
• God is waiting to move and work. Are we waiting in anticipation of what He is up to? (Genesis 1:2)
• All that God created was expected to produce results. Jesus reiterated this in John 15. What is my life producing? What is the church I am serving producing? (Genesis 1:11-12)
• All of God's creation has a purpose. Nothing is created by accident. You and I have a purpose. Does all I do reflect this purpose? (Genesis 1:17-18)
• We reproduce what we are. If I want those who follow after me to be something, I need to be that something. I do not have the genetic make-up to create a 6'5" skinny NBA baller. I can reproduce Jesus-followers though. (Genesis 1:24)
• God made me exactly like I am (though a few more inches would have been appreciated). I am not an accident. I bear His image and am sufficient to lead and develop leaders. I have the ability to be creative. (Genesis 1:26-27)
• We are called to be leaders. We have responsibilities and assignments that we are expected to fulfill (Genesis 1:28).

I am the Champion...Almost

Plantingspace.com hosted a NCAA Men's Basketball Bracket Challenge for church planters & bloggers. I entered not expecting much. After the first weekend, I was a miserable 59th out of 135. Less than impressive. Clearly I was not in the same league as these men and women of genius.

However the games were not over being played. I slowly began moving up the rankings. Going into Monday night's championship game I had risen all the way to 19th. If Memphis won (which they easily could have), I would have finished a respectable 25th. Not embarrassing, but not great. However, Memphis did not win, Kansas did.

Like the legendary phoenix, I rose from the ashes to new heights. No, I was not the champion. But I did finish 5th. Which put me firmly in top 3.7% of church plant prognosticators. I might not have been smart enough (or worked hard enough) to finish in the top 10% of my high school class, but in this competition I did. Thank you Derrick Rose. Thank you John Calipari. Most importantly, thank you Mario Chalmers. Thank you for making me special.

Final Four Cookout This Saturday

We're having a cookout this Saturday night for the Launch Team. Not a member of the Launch Team, but still want to come? Come! You're welcome.

We'll be hanging out at the McClain's abode (that means house) watching the Final Four. We'll have multiple environments for you to enjoy (living room with furniture & garage sans "real" furniture). We'll have great food...and you'll bring some of it! We'll provide the meat and bread-like items. You bring salads, side items, desserts and drinks. Don't miss out. Be a part. Should be lots of fun. Drop a note to let us know you're coming!