- Zimmerman is leading worship. If you haven’t heard these guys, you will not be disappointed.
- Your friend might say “yes” to the invite.
- Many of you have been challenged by this series, why not share that? What does God want to do in the lives of those you know?
- We’ll be applying last week’s message, we’ll be talking about how to get rid of our baggage. Who doesn’t need help with that?
- Revolution is almost 7 months old, so we’re having a sundaes bar after church. That’s right.
- The U of A doesn’t have a game, so there’s no reason to watch the Final Four.
- We’re doing Q & A, always fun.
- We will be clearing laying out how to follow Jesus, everyone needs to know that. We’ll be looking at what the point of Jesus is.
Archives
All posts for the month March, 2009
“Mission is the result of God’s initiative, rooted in God’s purposes to restore and heal creation. “Mission” means “sending,” and it is the central biblical theme describing the purpose of God’s action in human history. God’s mission began with the call of Israel to receive God’s blessings in order to be a blessing to the nations. God’s mission unfolded in the history of God’s people across the centuries recorded in Scripture, and it reached its relevatory climax in the incarnation of God’s work of savlation in Jesus ministering, crucified, and resurrected. God’s mission continued then in the sending of the Spirit to call forth and empower the church as the witness to God’s good news in Jesus Christ.” – Darrell Guder, Missional Church
Assumptions can be a dangerous thing.
In churches, our assumptions keep us from actually reaching people.
We often assume that we can reach everyone. Churches will often say, “Our target is everyone.” While it is true that churches should want to reach everyone, (we want everyone to find Jesus and be a part of Revolution). The reality is, this is not possible. Many churches in this boat actually have no idea who they are trying to reach.
We assume that what worked for us will work for everyone. This just means we get to keep doing the same things and then complain that they no longer work. Only, we won’t say they no longer work, we’ll just start to complain about the culture, how sinful it is, how no one attends church anymore, how church isn’t a priority anymore. When the problem is, we actually don’t care enough about people to change our church to reach them. As Perry Noble said, “These churches give the world around them the finger.” In this boat, we also don’t evaluate our ministries and churches to see if they are still effective. We just assume that because about 10 years ago, we had a group of kids find Jesus in that ministry, it will still work.
We make the wrong changes. This is dicey. We often change the wrong things or don’t take our changes far enough. In many churches that are trying to reach our world, churches that actually do care about the world around them, they change the wrong things. We add some candles, loud music, the pastor wears jeans and talks about starbucks, we think this will work. Churches in this boat make organizational changes when in reality, they need to be making cultural changes. Lipstick on a pig still makes a pig, I don’t know where I got that, but I can see Alaska…
We need to get past our emotional ties and our assumptions about ministry if we are going to actually reach people.
- What a day
- It started at 5:30 am
- I did 3 leadership talks at a conference in Phoenix this morning and then came back to preach tonight
- Awesome night
- I love how God is moving and working in our church and the way he is sending people to us
- I love how passionate people are about the mission of Revolution and helping people find their way back to God
- I got there right at 5 and everything was done
- I was reminded once again about the incredible team we have at Revolution
- The band nailed “Rest” by Skillet after the sermon
- We mentioned that next week we are having a guest band in to lead worship, you can check them out here
- You need to be thinking about who you are bringing April 11, Easter weekend, don’t miss this opportunity!
- 56% of Americans would go to church if someone asked them
- It was awesome talking leadership today with other pastors and leaders
- I got to teach on Self-Leadership and What keeps us from reaching people
- I was also on a panel talking about how to do church more effectively
- I also got asked about an awesome opportunity today that will impact Revolution in an awesome way
- (Because it isn’t for sure yet, I don’t want to say anything…stay tuned)
- I’m taking a spiritual retreat day this week, looking forward to that and just the time to connect with God in that way
- I’m also meeting with my spiritual director this week, that is always helpful
- These are just some of the things that came from reading Leading on Empty
- Right now, Paul and I are reading Missional Renassaince, there are so many ideas in this that will help us have more focus at Revolution
- We’re changing the way we do our leadership meetings at Revolution, I’ll share more about this this week, but it is going to help us be more effective with our volunteers
- The Nightline debate of “Does Satan Exist?” was fascinating, definitely worth checking out
- I filled out a bracket and I have no idea what I was doing, it shows
- Mark your calendars, April 10 (Good Friday), we’re doing the Stations of the Cross @ Revolution, if you’ve never done this, you need to check it out
- I’m looking forward to a slower month, March kicked my butt
- April is a lot more open, once I get past Easter, so the end of April is more open (that’s me thinking positively)
- Click here to join our online conversation
- I’m heading to bed, I can barely keep my eyes open
I’m heading up to Phoenix this morning to speak to some lead pastors, small group pastors and other leaders.
I’m doing 2 talks on my own. One on self leadership and the other on what keeps us from reaching people. It is not what you think.
Then after lunch, I’m on a panel to discuss how churches can respond to the emerging culture and what we need to do and not do to be effective. Again, probably not what you think.
Then, I’ll drive as fast as I can to Tucson so I can preach at Revolution on “Rest.” Kind of ironic.
This is such a great post, that I had to copy it. Thanks Sam.
Ed Stetzer and team recently released one of the largest surveys on Americans’ receptivity to different methods of church invitations. Conducted last December, the study included a survey of over 15,000 adults.
It should not come as a surprise, but the best way to reach people is through friends, family, and neighbors:
Personal invitations are generally well received. It is yet another example of statistics screaming for us to be bold in sharing our faith and inviting others to church. This level of receptivity should encourage the church – our unchurched neighbors are not as adamant against attending church as we might think.
USA Today reported on the story from the perspective of the Southern Baptist Convention (with which my church cooperates). The survey was commissioned by the North American Mission Board and conducted by LifeWay, two agencies of the SBC. This from Cathy Lynn Grossman at USA Today:
The Southern Baptist Convention, which is launching a new national campaign to bring unbelievers to Jesus, is up against a major obstacle: motivating its own members to evangelize.
But it may be the only effective way to reach people, according to a survey of 15,173 people by LifeWay Research, a Christian research firm.
The survey found only two ways most people said they were somewhat or very willing to “receive information” about Jesus: 63% would hear it in a “personal conversation with a family member,” or with a friend or neighbor from the church (56%).
“Baptists like to talk more about evangelism than to actually do it,” says LifeWay director Ed Stetzer. Personal evangelizing is “a great concept that’s hard for people to get motivated to do.”
