BLeach

Back from the Pitt

Had a great time Tuesday and Wednesday in Pittsburgh for Allison Park Church's 3rd annual young pastor's roundtable.  I think registration almost doubled this year.  I've really developed some great friendships with other church planters as this network of relationships has developed.

I really enjoyed making the trip with about ten leaders from our network.  It's not everyday you get to watch Sith's invade Heinz Field from the Duquesne Incline in Pittsburgh (had to be there). 

Nick Poole blogged some great notes from the teaching sessions.  Good stuff once again from Jeff Leake, Johannes Amritzer and Ron Johnson.  This year was special for me since they even gave me a session of my own.  I shared some of the theology that has shaped our vision for leading transformation in Metro Detroit.  You can read Nick's notes from the sessions here.

Jeff also shared our developing vision for creating a relational network of multi-church movements.  A multi-church movement is a network of churches that are planting churches.  Our dream is to create a multi-church movement in Metro Detroit.  I've been privileged the past twelve months to dream with Jeff about the potential of linking with other multi-church movements around the country.  It was great this week to go public with a sketch of the dream.

Summer Stories

Our current weekend series has really been enjoyable for me.  We're re-telling some of the famous Old Testament stories that you might have missed from Sunday School.  And I love telling a good story.

Since our podcast runs a few weeks behind, my first message from the series was updated this morning.  We started with the Bible's classic underdog story.

You can subscribe to the podcast here. 

Or you can also download the message.

Raising Dreamers

At Movements this month we're studying various metaphors that the Bible uses to describe the local church.  Yesterday afternoon Christy led us in a great discussion centered around church as family.  There are so many good parallels to consider.

Church as family should really impact our leadership paradigm as pastors.  I think that one temptation in church leadership is to begin viewing people in the church as a means to an end.  Because we're consumed with the corporate dream, we forget that within each of our leaders are unique, personalized dreams that God has planned for them.  It's good for us to call people to rally around the corporate dream.  But isn't our responsibility also to lead our people down the road of dream discovery, releasing them along the way to become as unique as God's fingerprint on their lives?

There's so much I appreciate about my dad.  At the top of the list is the fact that he never tried to live his dreams through me.  He allowed me to experiment and become.  He did things he didn't personally enjoy just because I wanted to try them out.  And in the end a funny thing happened.  I ended up loving most of the same things he loves:)

Here's my question for all the church leaders out there.  Do you see people primarily for what they can add to your dream, or as potential dreamers themselves?  When you sit down for lunch with a prospective member are you thinking only about selling them on your vision or are you also concerned with asking questions that might allow them to discover something about themselves?  Are you most concerned with recruiting a nursery director or raising a dreamer? 

Trust me.  I understand the fear.  What if one of my high capacity leaders discovers a dream that leads him out of my church?  But as long as we're most afraid of losing people we're least likely to develop people.

When I graduated from high school my parents let me go.  But do you know what I've realized?  I keep coming back home:)

I encourage you to see potential in your people this week.  Set them free to chase their dreams.  And don't be surprised when your own start coming true:)

My Experiment with Soap

I've been catching up this week on the National New Church conference via podcast.  I loved Wayne Cordeiro's talk from the first plenary session.  I was at the gym when I listened to it and actually cut my workout short when it ended.  I felt like moving to the desert for one year with nothing but my Bible.  It was an inspirational challenge to value Scripture.

For someone like me who loves to grab the latest and greatest as soon as it comes off the press, I needed a good reminder that the greatest collection of wisdom from the ages is at my fingertips everyday.

Wayne shared his personal Bible study method.  Everyday he gets alone with Jesus, his Bible and his journal.  He writes one journal entry each day, following the acrostic SOAP.

Scripture: He writes down the references he read that day.

Observation: He writes down one or two things the Holy Spirit seems to be emphasizing for him.

Application: He writes down one practical way his life should change.

Prayer: He captures his thoughts through a written prayer.

I've been experimenting with SOAP this week.  Gotta admit, I'm feeling pretty clean:)  It seems to be an effective strategy for listening for the voice of the Holy Spirit and prioritizing obedience.  And I love the simplicity of it.  It's definitely sparked some fresh energy into my devotional life this week.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

I just finished an interview with Steve Pike for his church multiplication podcast.  He's got a good collection of conversations with church planters of various shapes and sizes.  I think our conversation will be posted in a few weeks.  You can check out the podcast here.

No matter how many times I tell our story I'm always amazed at God's goodness to us.  The good that has happened through Church of the King traces back to Him.  I know that sounds cliche but it really is true.  If you're getting ready to start a church, be careful not to take yourself too seriously.  Jesus isn't depending on your great mind and charming personality:)

We worked hard during the summer of 2001 to prepare for the September launch of our church.  We networked.  We canvassed.  We prayed.  We shared the vision over and over and over.  But the large majority of people who attended our launch service did not come from all of our efforts.  They came because of something totally out of my control. 

We launched on September 16, 2001.  The Post Office delivered most of our 25,000 invitations to the community on September 11, the day America was attacked.  Most of the unchurched people who attended our launch didn't come because of our amazing outreach and marketing strategies.  They came because they were trying to make sense of 9.11 and our church "just so happened" to be opening on the right weekend. 

A well-meaning church planter who heard our story once asked me if I planned it:)  Nope.  Can't take credit for that one. 

I can't take credit for much really, other than stepping out with simple faith that God could do something bigger than me.

Reverse Father's Day

I was really looking forward to preaching a good message for my dad yesterday.  It's not often that he can attend our church on a Sunday.  Usually he's speaking in other churches.  But he tries to keep his calendar open for special days so our family can be together. 

It turns out he didn't get the day off afterall.  I called him late Saturday night when I discovered that I was going to be stuck in Tampa. 

From what I hear he did a great job and everyone was glad my flight was canceled:)  He's not a bad backup plan. 

Thanks dad for bailing me out...again.  I owe you. 

Can you add it to my tab?

Stuck in Florida

Church Planter's School finished Saturday morning on a high note.  I had the privilege of teaching the last session for the week.  Then after my talk I joined the other presenters in praying over each of the students individually.

That's when things started getting crazy.  On our way to lunch I noticed that my wallet was missing.  So I started retracing my steps.  About three hours and 180 cell phone minutes later I realized it was gone.  That's when I started trying to figure out how I was going to get on the plane without a photo ID. 

Phil and Emily faxed me a copy of my passport, but Spirit Airlines told me over the phone that they wouldn't accept it.  I looked into renting a car but even driving all night wouldn't have put me back in Detroit in time for our Father's Day Service.  Not to mention I didn't have my driver's license.  I even looked into buying a last minute ticket with another airline in hopes that they would accept my fax.  Finally I just decided to pray and give Spirit a try.

As it turns out there are some pretty creative ways to get through airport security.  I think Jesus knows someone at Homeland:) 

I breathed a sigh of relief when I finally sat down near the gate with my caramel machiato.  I even had a full hour before boarding to finish my message for the morning. 

That's when word came that our flight was delayed due to mechanical problems.  We waited a few hours.  By 9.00 pm our plane still hadn't left Detroit and I prepared myself for a 3.00 am arrival.  Then David discovered online that our flight was cancelled.  He actually informed the gate attendants:) 

There were no other flights leaving Tampa for Detroit on any other airlines.  So I ended up stuck in Florida after-all.  We finally got home Sunday afternoon.

It felt strange to be sitting in the airport Sunday morning while our Father's Day service was beginning back home.  I was so grateful for our fantastic team of leaders who stepped up and did a great job.  Most of all I'm thankful that Jesus didn't depend on a plane in order to get to the service on time.  So glad He knows how to be in more than one place at a time:)

Church Planters School

Having a great time this week in sunny St. Petersburg, Florida.  I'm speaking at a week-long bootcamp for church planters.  This is the third year in a row that I've been able to be a part of this event.  Love the planters.  Love the vision.  Love the beach.

The wireless at our hotel is pretty wild.  Blog posts and emails tend to end up short and sweet when you're walking around the lobby with laptop in hand trying to keep a signal:)

Young(er) Guys I'm Learning From

Okay, so I'm still sixteen months away from turning thirty.  But I'm realizing more and more that I'm not the youngest guy on the block anymore.  Here's a shout out to a few of the younger guys who challenge me.

Steven Furtick: His passion and raw energy might remind you he's still 27.  But that's about it.  This guy's turning Charlotte upside down.

Tony Sebastian: Tony's one of my best friends from Bible College.  He was a year behind me.  He's the best youth pastor I've ever been around.  And he's been recently commissioned to move to Greece as a missionary.  Can't wait to visit him in Thessalonica:)

Nick Poole: Nick's really a thoughtful writer.  He's just accepted a position working with Jeff Leake to create a church planting movement in Pittsburgh.  Looking forward to watching how God uses him.

Tory Farina: Tory started Highpoint Church near Minneapolis less than two years ago.  He's reaching a ton of unchurched people (including most of his own neighbors)!  Everytime I talk with him he challenges my thinking.

Josh Karrer: Josh is launching Crossings Church in Glen Allen, VA.  They worked out a deal with Chipotle to give burritos to their first time guests.  Josh is a goldmine for creative outreach ideas.

Paul Stewart: Paul serves as the adult ministries pastor at Oak Hills Church.  Everytime he posts to his blog I say "why didn't I think of that!"  Paul's really a great thinker.

George Washington: Oops, wait a minute; wrong list:)

These are just a few of the young guys who stretch me.  The list is so much longer.  And if you're reading my blog and I haven't met you yet, introduce yourself!  And to those of you who haven't started your blog yet, what are you waiting for?  You know who you are.  Jerome...

Don't forget to pray for all these guys.  They're just kids:)

Pittsburgh Roundtable

In a few weeks I'll be headed east to participate for the third year in a row at The Young Pastor's Roundtable in Allison Park, PA.  The event has become a highlight of the year for me.  It's hosted by my friend Jeff Leake.  And I mean hosted (as in there is no registration cost for the conference).

I know what you're thinking.  Free = Lame.  Not this time!  This time the equation looks more like this:

Free = Jeff's passion to see young pastors connect is strong enough that Allison Park Church pays the bill:)

I'm even more excited about the roundtable this year because Jeff and I will be sharing a dream we've been working on to launch a network designed to empower young spiritual entrepreneurs to plant churches in strategic cities.  Not to mention that this year I've got several friends going with me:)

The Roundtable is June 26 and 27.  Registration is limited to the first 100.  We're almost there but I think there are still a few spots open.

Go here to read more about it and find registration info.