The first break-out session of the second day (that makes it the third break-out session of the conference, very confusing, I know). The session was called Pop Goes the Church and it was about leveraging pop culture for ministry and it was by Tim Stevens, who is the author of a book by the same name. Tim is also a fellow blogger (I’m not sure I blog enough to be calling others “fellow” bloggers, sorry if that’s an insult Tim). You should really check his blog out, it’s leadingsmart.com.
People are asking spiritual questions in our community, but they aren’t involving the church.
Reality #1:
Most churches aren’t impacting their community.
Three categories in our community:
1. churched - those a part of the church
2. un-churched - those who have never been to church
3. de-churched - those who have been turned-off by the church for one reason or another
Reality #2:
Spiritual interest is growing in our culture.
“The church isn’t for questions, it’s for answers.”
“How can you get the answers if you don’t ask the questions?”
- This was taken from a conversation found on the episode “Sunday” from the Desperate Housewives series you can find the clip here - Desperate Housewives - Sunday clip
Jesus would look for what grabs our attention and connect the dots for us.
Is it okay to leverage pop culture? - Acts 17
Three ways to use pop culture
1. Use pop culture to package a topic to attract a crowd.
2. Use pop culture to get people thinking or laughing. (Check out this video they did for their series I Love the 80’s - Hey There MacGyver)
3. Provide a new interpretation for a pop culture element.
Pop culture is used to raise issues that our neighbors are dealing with, the Bible is used to answer their questions.
*I was unable to attend break-out session four, I had to head back to town to design a wedding cake.
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November 17th, 2008
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Dwight Mason is the pastor of the nearby NewPointe Community Church in Dover, Ohio and I thought had a lot of good things to say the whole conference, but here are the notes I took from his main session.
Nothing happens without leadership.
Are you comfortable telling others what Jesus told his disciples? “Follow me.”
“There is nothing more powerful than an example.” - Albert Switzer
Leadership is all about Relationships.
You impress people from far way, but you impact people close up.
Most problems can be traced to incompetent leadership.
We teach what we know, but we reproduce who we are.
What needs to change in my life so that I can comfortably say, “Follow me as I follow Christ”?
Four Things we must have.
1. A Call
2. Character - Personal Identity, Emotional Security
- if we search for the following things apart from God, this is what they’ll lead to:
Significance → Performing → Fear of Failure
Acceptance → Pleasing Others → Fear of Rejection
Security → Control → Fear of Uncertainty
(sorry if this chart doesn’t make sense)
I am not valued because of what I do, but whose I am.
3. Clarity of:
- Who God is - Hebrews 11:27
- Who I am - Romans 12:3
- What my purpose is
4. Courage - 1 Corinthians 9:11, Isaiah 41:16
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November 17th, 2008
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Shannon O’Dell is the pastor at Brand New Church, he was pretty cool. He was actually pretty funny too, but from looking at him I didn’t really expect it.
Rural America is the greatest mission field.
“If you want to grow a congregation before growing congregants you have missed God’s heart for the church!”
It is not glamorous, but it is contagious.
Galatians 2:1-6
“We have the God of the universe inside us and we don’t believe it!”
Six most difficult decisions for a Lead Pastor
1. Church Structure - you can only grow as much as your current structure will let you
2. Fire your staff that’s not cutting it.
3. Protect your family.
4. Make sure you are called.
5. Dedicate yourself to a red hot marriage.
6. Are you willing to be hated?
“We are BELIEVERS! We believe in salvation. We believe in the Bible. We even believe in the Virgin Birth. But we DON’T believe that God can change our church!”
Matthew 19:26, Matthew 17:20, John 16:24, John 14:12
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November 17th, 2008
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Tim Stevens is an executive pastor at Granger Community Church, a blogger and an author of a few books, Simply Strategic Stuff, Simply Strategic Growth, Simply Strategic Volunteers and Pop Goes the Church (which I am about half way through and would recommend). I was looking forward to hearing from Tim and was not disappointed.
Keep changing stuff up. - consider the Pony Express vs. Text Messaging (check out this video they did).
Change is Good - Early Text Messaging
- change attracts people/attention
- change creates buzz
- change communicates “we’re not done growing.”
- change focuses people outward toward community
- creates momentum and excitement
Tackle alignment issues. - consider when a car is misaligned, it creates tension.
Make it easy to serve.
serving → relationships → life transformation
- can someone who is not a Christian serve?
- why don’t lost people come to church?
•there’s nothing for them (preaching)
•no way to be involved (small groups)
•no way to serve (volunteering is trendy right now)
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November 17th, 2008
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The second break-out session I went to was lead by Dwight Mason of NewPointe Community Church on Leading a Small-Town Church (although the stuff he gave could probably be applied anywhere). I wrote down a few things before he really got into what he was going to teach.
God will speak to your heart, then your mind.
God will give you the what before the how.
Admit poor decisions quickly.
Below are the notes from the sheet he handed out.
1. Cultivate a strong vision.
- make sure people know where you’re going and remind them
2. Deliberately build moral.
- low moral is the #1 problem of the church
- celebrate wins
3. Constantly, sincerely affirm the congregation.
- urban people think rural people are backwards and un-progressive, this is not true.
- you get what you think
- everything God wants you to do right now, he has already given you the resources for
4. Build a good name in the community.
5. Concentrate on the strengths in your community.
6. Highlight ministries regularly and make heroes of the ministers leading them.
- the best thing you can do for the people you are leading is to be secure in who you are in Christ
- if you’re not, you’ll clip their wings
7. Plan your people investments well.
- pastor must be a friend to everyone, but spend his time equipping leaders
- walk through the crowd slowly
- Jesus said ” I will build my church” our call is to “go make disciples.”
8. Emphasize excellence within your capability.
- don’t apologize for what you don’t have, celebrate what you do have
9. Plan big days.
- momentum is your best friend and makes you look better than what you are, and the opposite is true
10. Get organized.
11. Let leaders lead.
- let the vision and values of the church guide them
12. Making disciples is our primary responsibility.
- what makes a church grow is changed lives
- leadership is all about relationships and you’re responsible for them
13. Focus outward.
14. Be willing to lose a little to win big.
15. Continually look forward.
- celebrate from where you’ve come, but always look toward a preferred future.
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November 17th, 2008
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The first break-out session I attended was a Pastor Q+A with four guys by the names of Mark Batterson, Shannon O’Dell, Charles Hill and Dwight Mason. (If I haven’t posted notes on one of these guys’ session yet it’s because they spoke on day 2, I’m getting there.)
I didn’t really take a lot of notes in this break-out session, but it was really interesting, it was cool to just sit in on these guys sharing the wisdom they’ve accumulated over the years. Here are the notes I took.
God’s dream for us is NOT to spend 60 minutes in a pew each week. (Not sure what question that was in response to.)
I asked them what they require of the leadership team they surround themselves with. They gave me quick answers because we were in the “lightning-round” of the session.
1) They must bring something to the table.
2) Their to-do list starts out as 95% of what you give them to do, but should quickly turn around to you only giving them 5%.
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November 17th, 2008
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Okay, so on this session I didn’t take notes, but I did walk away with a thought.
Charles told a story about how his wife told his daughter not to ride this little pony thing near the stairs, and so of course she did.
That got me thinking about this part of our nature that makes us want to do the things that people tell us not to do. And usually people play that off as part of our fallen nature. But what if it wasn’t given to us as a result of sin, but what if God gave it to us as a gift to use for him? Or, say that it does come from our sinful nature, but what if we reversed it?
What if the same thing that drives us to touch something when someone tells us not to touch it was used to accomplish something that someone says can’t be accomplished? Like you can’t do church that way, or you’ll never be able to reach those people, or you can’t change the world from where you’re at.
What if we took that part of our nature and harnessed it to attempt and accomplish the seemingly impossible? What would that look like?
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November 17th, 2008
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Barry is from H2O Church in Ada, Oklahoma. They are a partner with Lifechurch.tv.
Population in 1950 = 2 billion
Population in 2050 ≈ 9 billion
Projected 7 billion population growth in 100 years, that is more people that need to be reached.
60 million live in towns with a population of 2500 or less in the U.S.
Exodus 6:12, Numbers 14:22-23, Isaiah 42:13
Failure will be part of what you do.
- Don’t let there be a failure to try.
- You must fail to know what it is to succeed.
There will be big things against you in a small town, but the challenge is the cause “to do church.”
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November 17th, 2008
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Many of you might know Mark Batterson as the pastor of National Community Church and author of In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day and Wild Goose Chase, but I know him as the Speaker of Session One.
“One’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.” - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr
I want a miraculous dimension to my ministry.
Don’t compare yourself to others, it will lead to either jealousy or pride.
Church is the primary vehicle for blessing the community.
Matthew 10:5-16
Innocent As Doves.
- We should be continually checking our motives.
- We should not do ministry out of what is wrong with us.
- Do the right thing for the right reasons.
Shrewd as Snakes.
- Contextual Intelligence
Trojan Horses:
- How do we get past impenetrable walls?
- Technology
- Servant Evangelism
Purple Cows (by Seth Godin):
- “If you’re not remarkable, you’re invisible.”
Broken Windows:
- Aesthetics are important.
- 1% of what you do makes 99% of the difference.
Check out Mark Batterson’s blog for more on these topics.
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November 17th, 2008
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I recently had the opportunity to go to a conference called The Sticks. It was in Loudonville, Ohio hosted by Charles Hill from New Hope Community Church and Dwight Mason from NewPointe Community Church. The tag line for the conference was “Small Town, Big Impact”. And believe me, it was a small town. But they had some pretty big names speaking, and I enjoyed almost all of them. I’ll be posting my notes from the different main sessions and break-out sessions. Enjoy.
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November 17th, 2008
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